The W-Word

‘M enstrual Hygiene Day” is an annual awareness day that occurs on May 28, a date symbolically chosen to represent that the average healthy cycle lasts five days every 28 days. The campaign seeks to create a “period friendly world” by improving access to sanitary products and mitigating “taboos” around menstruation. In the ten years since its founding, the Menstrual Hygiene Day movement has gained significant traction and been formally recognized by governments.

On Wednesday, to commemorate Menstrual Hygiene Day, the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau recommended “5 ways employers can make workplaces more menstruation-friendly.” The suggestions included providing free period products in restrooms to be “access[ed] . . . privately,” allowing darker uniforms, and recognizing menstruation as a qualified reason for paid sick leave. These policies seem counterintuitive: Dispensers in multi-stall bathrooms are hardly accessed privately, wearing a different uniform might signal an ongoing menstrual cycle, and businesses granting paid time off each month will be incentivized to hire men. Aside from the dubious recommendations, the bureau’s statement mentions the “stereotypes and stigmas” that have made menstruation a “taboo” topic in the workplace. But certainly most bodily functions are inappropriate topics in circumstances outside the private realm. And who would want to talk about menstruation in the office?

Ironically, another taboo is apparent in the menstrual-health activism: the word “woman.” The bureau writes that “menstruation is a natural part of half our population’s life” yet entirely avoids using the words for describing that relevant half of the population. The statement — released by the Women’s Bureau — does not use the words “women,” “girls,” or “females” at all. Instead, the bureau attempts gender-neutrality by referencing “menstruators” and “menstruating employees.” The recommendations conclude by arguing that, “by providing basic protections and accommodations, employers can signal a commitment to ensuring all workers maintain the dignity they deserve.” But surely the word “menstruators” is undignified, for it identifies women with respect to a monthly biological process.

Although one must assume that the number of women who prefer to be called “menstruators” is statistically insignificant, that label has become popular among progressives, and even within organizations that claim to advance women’s rights. A New York Times article from 2022 stated that “the average menstruator can use thousands of tampons in their lifetime.” A Planned Parenthood Action Fund branch noted the “inability of menstruators to access sanitary products due to financial obstacles.” PERIOD, a nonprofit working to “eradicate period poverty and stigma,” believes it is “important” to “be inclusive of all period experiences” and “understand that it is not only women who menstruate”; therefore, it uses the word “menstruator” in some of its (supposedly educational) materials. The advocacy group Aunt Flow has donated “MILLIONS of period products to menstruators in need” so that “menstruators will feel safe, confident, and comfortable.”

The organization that founded Menstrual Hygiene Day does use the words “women” and “girls,” although it does so with a linguistic caveat by specifying in a “terminology” subsection on its website that “not everyone who menstruates identifies as a woman” and “not all women menstruate.” Yet self-identification doesn’t affect the menstrual cycle because reproductive organs are independent of speech. I am not freed of my cycle if I identify as a non-menstruator, as is the case for a woman who identifies as a man. Of course, it is true that not every girl or woman menstruates, whether because of a reproductive disease, menopause, malnutrition, or some other factor. But being a girl or woman is a necessary precondition.

As Madeleine Kearns asked, “How are we supposed to overcome a taboo if the affected population themselves are taboo?” Indeed, the efforts to stop portraying menstruation as dirty treat “woman” as a dirty word. As some might say “the f-word” or “the n-word” to avoid using (or even quoting) offensive terms, progressives say “menstruator” to be “inclusive” and avoid offending transgender activists. But pseudo-synonyms like “menstruator” and “people with uteruses” offend women. The same activists who demand we use their “preferred pronouns” insist that we replace the nouns that roughly half the population uses as self-descriptions. Using the word “woman” is not sexist, but treating it like a slur is. Neither periods nor saying “women” should be shameful.