Taboo
I had traveled to the Silicon Valley headquarters of a startup called Qvin, pronounced “kwin,” derived from the Danish word meaning “woman.” Since receiving clearance from the FDA in January, Qvin has begun selling a new menstrual pad that it says will help people tap into the “power in your period.” Rather than undergo a blood draw, a woman (and anyone who menstruates, but for this story, I will sometimes refer to women because they dominate the group that does)…
No, women don’t dominate the group that menstruates; women are the group that menstruates. Men don’t menstruate; the end. For this story a sane journalist should always refer to women as opposed to “sometimes.”
The uterus is an incredible organ for many reasons, chief among them is that it repairs itself—without scarring—after shedding its tissue every month or so during a person’s reproductive years.
Ding ding! A woman’s reproductive years. Men don’t have the incredible organ called the uterus.
Even so, scientists studying menstrual blood say they have been met with a reluctance rooted in cultural taboos about menstruation. The queasiness continues to hamper research, obscuring discoveries that—considering every single day, hundreds of millions of people worldwide are menstruating—may be hiding in plain sight.
Women. Not people in general; women. It’s not a dirty word. You’re not (or at least you shouldn’t be) the Taliban.
She goes on to talk about the disgust and taboos around menstruation, which is ironic, given her own taboos.
H/t Mike B
There was a time when I would have appreciated this formulation as a recognition that women, not just men, are people. Nowadays… well, TRAs are yet another reason why we can’t have nice things :-(
And after all this time of paying attention to this subject (spurred on partly by what I learn here), I have yet to hear any program or newscaster refer to “people who ejaculate,” “those with testes,” or “anyone with a penis.” I have yet to see “trans-men” clamoring to get into boxing rings with men or to join men’s football teams. I have yet to learn that there is a group of trans-identified females lobbying to enter men’s restrooms and stand at their urinals.
This one-sidedness is a bright, flashing warning sign that there is something fucking wrong with this gender shite.
Could it mean that there are indeed two sexes, and that they are in some fundamental ways different??
Blasphemer!
You’ll get a lot more push back from men if anyone tries taking the urinals to make bathrooms more “inclusive”; urinals are a lifesaver for any pub goer of the male persuasion.
That said, go to an event that has a large “queer” following and see how many aged twenty-something “twelve year old boys” are clogging up the line to the men’s room and ignoring the urinals. It is *very* noticeable.
I’m not sure if I am reading you correctly. Do you mean they are entering the men’s but are then going for the cubicles instead of the urinals? If so, I’m not sure what the significance of that might be.
Heh, I wonder if those “twelve year old boys” will grow out of it?
As for cubicles in the men’s toilet, sometimes at crowded events in older facilities my wife has resorted to them if the line for the women’s toilet is very long, and the men have been decent about it. It would be odd though to see a long line of twelve-year old boys outside the men’s toilet.
BKiSA,
Since I am not of the “male persuasion”, perhaps I am missing something? How is it that the urinary needs of male pub-goers so uniquely important as to be considered a matter of life and death?
@Holms #5:
Yes, the cubicles; I know it’s significantly worse for women but in a crowded theatre with a narrow hallway and a line fifty feet out the door it’s really shitty that the urinals are free and no one is using them because the real men aren’t even aware there’s space. As J.A. says it’s one thing if women are using the stalls but when these “men” are fucking up the queue it’s problematic. Not something I’ve encountered outside of Portland, but that *is* their turf.
@Seanna #7:
Using “lifesaver” in a hyperbolic fashion in the US is probably more common than it’s literal usage; that was the spirit I intended it in. Urinals are awesome (though difficult to clean) and are essential for the intoxicated males to not make a mess.