Our society views menstruation as ‘women’s thing’. It is seen as something only cisgender women experience. But that’s not the case; not everyone who gets a period is a woman, and not every woman menstruates!
Transgender Men And Non-Binary People Bleed Too
Women go through a hard time opening up about their periods. It’s even more exhausting for the transgender and non-binary people. This is greatly attributed to us as a society—failing to have a normal conversation about periods.
We have been programmed to think that periods exclusively affect women. This promotes a myth that they don’t affect men and can be stigmatising for transgender men who menstruate. On the other hand, transgender women are excluded because of the link that is created between menstruation and the idea of femininity. The societal model of womanhood still rests upon reproduction and children
Transgender model and activist Kenny Ethan Jones states in his article that “Having a period already causes me a lot of [gender] dysphoria, but this dysphoria becomes heightened when I have to shop for a product that is labeled as ‘women’s health’ and in most cases, is pretty and pink.” And in general, when the products are categorised as women’s products, they might feel alienated and may avoid purchasing.
The hurdles some transgender men face include the high cost of period supplies, lack of access to the products, safety concerns and inadequate medical care. This can also be seen in just about every advert for sanitary napkins in India, featuring only cisgender women. This also may cause transgender men to shy away from menstrual hygiene services, which can otherwise help in their discomfort.
Then there is the usage of public toilets which are gender-specific. Again, they may fear being exposed by carrying tampons or pads and the sound of opening the product in restrooms leading to unwanted attention or violence and having the real challenge of discarding the used products, having such no facilities in men’s bathrooms. According to a 2015 survey conducted in the US, it was found that 60% of transgender respondents reported being too afraid to use public restrooms due to fear of confrontation and 12% reported being verbally harassed while accessing a bathroom.
The data is shocking. We can construct a similar scenario in India in 2020. Though menstrual hygiene management guidelines under the Swachh Bharat Mission 2015 do mention providing separate toilets for transgender folks, it is still a far fetched reality!
Time To Start A Discussion
We barely have a society which allows women to speak openly about their periods without hushing and shushing, especially in the presence of a male company— diminishing a chance for the other genders to speak and share their feeling on menstruation. In terms of language, using the term ‘menstruator‘ rather than ‘women menstruating‘ can be influential in changing the perception of menstruation. It can lead to trans-inclusivity and period positivity.
When menstruation gets essentialised as a woman’s thing, menstruators are excluded from benefits by the government as we saw during the pandemic. Amidst the prolonged current lockdown, one in three girls finds it hard to search for sanitary products, according to Pacific. People may avoid going to the market to buy essentials in fear of getting exposed to Covid-19, and women are forced to use unhygienic methods, increasing their risk for reproductive and urinary tract infection.
All the data on menstruation hygiene during the pandemic is discussing women’s menstrual health and rarely any media coverage is saved for transgender people, who are incredibly vulnerable during such unprecedented times. The government had classified sanitary napkins as non-essential items, even after the reversal of the ruling, accessibility for cis-women was a problem, so for marginalised groups, this was further a problem. Fear of access, lack of medical care put them into a fragile state. Care has to be taken to ensure menstrual health for all and not just one gender.
The author is a part of the current batch of the #PeriodParGyan Writer’s Training Program