Hasta La Creative!

Planned Parenthood, the non-profit organisation whose motto is “Care. No matter what.” are always engaged in women’s reproductive health, so it comes as no surprise at all that their Twitter account would comment on the tax break on tampons in NYC.

The issue arose in the words chosen to describe the news. “Menstruators in New York started to #TweetTheReceipt celebrating …..”, the official account tweeted. The backlash was immediate. Planned Parenthood’s target – women – felt as if they were reduced to a bodily function by this choice of words. It is possible that the Social Media handler wanted to attempt a pun, using “menstruators” as it sounds similar to “demonstrators”, but the similarity to “bleeders” was impossible for women to ignore. A “bleeder” is a term used derisively in reference to any woman, and english speaking women feel it is a slur on par with the N-word. Similarly some people use the term “breeder” to mean hetrosexual in a very negative way. It didn’t take long before feminist blogs like Real For Women and feminist subreddits to promise no more donations to Planned Parenthood. “We’ve been demoted to “Menstruators”. Really PP?” These are usually the women who will defend Planned Parenthood every time they need defending, which is quite often in US media. Planned Parenthood basically just pissed off their army of staunch defenders.

Moral: When you only have 140 chars you need to be careful with the words you chose. Avoiding the use of the word “woman” has the chilling effect of erasing women, dehumanising women to body parts and functions. That a writer didn’t see this possibility is beyond me. Here are a few reactions.

@PPact @msolis14 This is insulting. Conservatives trying to shut you down. Call women ‘menstruators’ & you’ll lose the rest of your support— Dina McMillan (@drdina1) September 3, 2016

@Bagofpoo @rachelherriotts @FemalesLikeUs @PPact Make sure to replace the term “men” with ejaculators.— Anne Bevan (@AnneBevan1) September 3, 2016

@DANeverYouMind @PPact Fucking hell. I donated all that money & fought all those years to be reduced from “woman” to “menstruator”?— Natalie (@ghostinmarble) September 3, 2016

@RebelleYellow @AnneBevan1 @Bagofpoo @rachelherriotts @FemalesLikeUs Please may I suggest ‘sperminator’ ? @PPact— Monica Larkin (@Theladyinthevan) September 3, 2016

Feminists: Menstruation is a female issueTrans activists: Not all women menstruate! Planned Parenthood: “Menstruators”Patriarchy: Thanks!— No Anodyne (@NoAnodyne) September 3, 2016

Planned Parenthood has reduced women to ‘menstruators’. Not surprising since they also see babies as Lamborghinis. https://t.co/CBYuUxJrnJ— Kimberly Madison (@SmartChix) September 4, 2016

“Menstruators” not women, but “menstruators”. Who are planned parenthood helping with this 1984 crapola? https://t.co/dDAVKcgkpI— Gabi (@Gabcsika_Me) September 4, 2016

Wtf ! Planned Parenthood ? Menstruators! You mean women,this language is dehumanising and unacceptable @PPact https://t.co/Vx92ui25Rb— gena hopkins (@GeorgenaGena) September 3, 2016

5 ppl told me to kill myself yesterday, all in the name of trans activism, all bc I objected to @PPact referring to women as “menstruators.”— Natalie (@ghostinmarble) September 5, 2016

@PPact You’d better wake up & see the female RAGE headed your way. We are not “menstruators”. We’re WOMEN, damn it. https://t.co/EoS53tyw3T— John Stuart Mill XX (@Shy_Survivor) September 4, 2016

@PPact Is the word “menstruators” supposed to be like an ostensibly less offensive variant to “bleeders”? Did you perhaps mean “women”? WTAF— Taylan Ulrich B./K. (@TaylanUB) September 3, 2016

@PPact needs to decide who pays their bills, who has worked tirelessly on their behalf for decades? WOMEN or “uterus-bearing menstruators”.— John Stuart Mill XX (@Shy_Survivor) September 3, 2016

@lavenderlezzer @PPact Menstruators? R u fucking KIDDING me???? Men singlehandedly took the word WOMAN away from women in 2016. Fuck men.— Starri XX??? (@StarriDevil) September 6, 2016

@PPact you realize calling women menstruators is misogynist, right?— Riverstreet (@riversoldier) September 6, 2016

@PPact recently called women “menstruators.” Talk about biological essentialism and erasing WOMEN from existence! Only women menstruate!— Carrie-Anne Brownian (@Anyechka) September 5, 2016

@PPact Menstruators? give me a break. Out of their “front hole” I suppose.— (((Katha Pollitt))) (@KathaPollitt) September 4, 2016

@PPact @PattyArquette Oh so if we’re PREGNANT we’re women, but if we bleed we’re just menstruators right?— WoodenLucy (@WoodenLucy) September 4, 2016

@PPact “menstruators”? wtf say WOMEN when you mean it. don’t let the trans cult set us back further than the republicans are trying— ashley anne (@idealismprison) September 4, 2016

I always thought the goal of inclusive language was to center the person, not their trait. “Menstruators” doesn’t do that. @PPact— Salena (@Salencita) September 4, 2016

@PPact excuse me-did you just call women fucking menstruators? Am I trapped in a fucking Atwood novel here? Have you lost your fucking mind?— Grace Hughes (@gracicusminimus) September 4, 2016

Women are told talking about our Female Reproductive Genitals is reducing women to vaginas. But now @PPact says we are just “menstruators”?— GirlsLikeUs ? (@FemalesLikeUs) September 4, 2016

@FemalesLikeUs @Bagofpoo @rachelherriotts @PPact I was referring to calling us menstruators in the first place. 1step short of “bleeders”— Grace Hughes (@gracicusminimus) September 4, 2016

.@PPact: Putting the Men in Menstruation since 2016.Erasing “Women” through terms like:#Menstruators#Bleeders#Birthers— (((Flora Poste))) (@FaunaPoste) September 4, 2016

@PPact Menstruators? Surely you mean women… pic.twitter.com/INwVnChWxY— DYKE A Quarterly (@DYKEaQuarterly) September 3, 2016