Did you know that there are individuals across all spectrums of gender who menstruate?

In a world where we are fighting for gender equality, it is important to focus on the terminologies that we use while discussing or talking about gender related issues especially menstruation. It is important for us to know that not all women menstruate and and not all those who menstruate are women. There are individuals other than women who also menstruate. Persons from the transgender community and non binary individuals also menstruate. However, all of our advertisements, digital and print media as well as educational materials like books, videos, podcasts, and audios only use the term "women" to describe menstruation. It is important that we use the term "menstruators" in all our conversations and representations to ensure inclusivity and start a dialogue around the much needed issue of menstrual health policies for menstruators other than women. 

In a survey conducted through a campaign called "My Red Story" that I have been running since November 2020, multiple transgender menstruators came up to share their ordeal where they stated how they didn't have access to menstrual health products and how they were discriminated against in public washrooms etc. Moreover, a survey by an organisation called Humsafar Trust, it was found that more than 59% of the respondents from the Transgender community experienced violence. In major metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, the percentage of transgende respondents experiencing violence stood at 57%, 55%, and 70% respectively. 

It is important to keep in mind that transgender and non binary menstruators hardly have any representation anywhere which leads to them being ignored and discriminated against. Be it the pop culture or media, news, and government policies, they are not completely recognised as menstruators yet. In such a scenario, it is extremely important to make our daily conversations more inclusive to spread more awareness. This change can happen only when the term "women" is replaced with "menstruators" across all official representations, documents, media, and government policies.