About two years ago, Thinx introduced a product named “period underwear” into the market. With the tagline “Women with periods”, this product sought to relieve the stress of menstruation by providing women with highly absorbent underwear. This great, noble idea has the potential of improving the lives of many girls and women around the world, especially in poor nations where tampons and pads aren’t easily accessible. It can also be great for women postpartum. Genius!
In the quest to be tolerant and “conscious” however, Thinx has recently decided to drop its “women with periods” tag line, seeking to be inclusive of those who do not consider themselves female but by a mean action of nature have periods, namely, transsexual individuals. The company has now adopted the line “people with periods”.
Thinx has released a video that explains the change and in an email shared their new initiative:
“We wear our tagline, “For Women with Periods,” with great honor. We are proud feminists, and our mission, as a company, is to empower girls and women around the world. But this week — Transgender Awareness Week(#TransWk) — we are humbled. Being a conscious company, we feel it is our responsibility to send a reminder that menstruation is not a trait of, nor a defining factor of, a specific gender. It is something that can occur amongst all people.”
I get it. Some men and women will never fit into the stereotypes of their gender (women always do this, or look like this, such and such…) . There are also individuals who for one reason or another (or perhaps for reasons we may never understand) do not feel that they belong to the gender they’ve been assigned at birth. I may not fully understand it but I get it. It is also important to note that many of these individuals will suffer unjust discrimination, violence and are at a higher risk for homelessness. I get it. This is wrong and contrary to Christian values of charity and respect for human life. However, while initiatives such as the one by Thinx may be sweet or cute, they are not based on truth. It is simply not true that menstruation affects all people. It does not affect male persons. It is a female experience. As childbirth is and are all things related to nurturing a new life.
It seems to me, and Thinx is a perfect illustration of this, that in an ongoing quest to be inclusive, our culture has become idiotic and completely out of touch with reality. While certain things may be nice and thoughtful to assert, they are not necessarily true. Indeed, if it is true that body parts have absolutely nothing to do with whether an individual is male or female, as trans advocates assert, then the whole process of gender transition is ridiculous. When a man decides to transition and become a woman, he alters his body in order to make it look “female”, in other words, to possess female organs and appearance. This act in itself indicates that bodies matter in the sense that they reveal who we are, whether we feel it or not. Therefore, gender is not fluid, but rather, assigned, as cultures have realized since the beginning of time. Women are women, and not men. Men are men, and not women.
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