Katie Roche's Blog

This International Women's Day, Let's Explore Female Erasure

Today is International Women’s Day. A day to celebrate the achievements of women past and present across the globe. But sadly, we’re living in an era where women are increasingly being overlooked. And one cause of that is female erasure. “Women”, “female” and related words are increasingly being replaced by purportedly inclusive terms, like “menstruator” or “birthing bodies”.

One recent example is ASDA, one of the UK’s largest supermarkets, who made the decision to rename the feminine hygiene aisle to period products. Some have praised the move on the grounds that the term “feminine hygiene” implies that menstruation is dirty. My problem is the removal of the word “feminine”. Indeed, ASDA say they changed the name to be inclusive of trans and non-binary customers.

What’s wrong with this? Isn’t making customers feel included a good thing? Female erasure is about de-emphasising female biology. It furthers the presumption that the body is male by default. By making menstruation into a “people’s” issue rather than specifically a woman’s issue, we overlook the importance of women’s unique issues and the necessity of women’s voices. Take the issue of tampon tax, for instance. VAT on sanitary pads was abolished in 2021. (For non-UK readers, VAT is a sales tax that was introduced in 1973. It doesn’t apply to items classed as essential). But why was VAT on these products in the first place? Especially seeing as men’s razors have always been VAT exempt. Women were (and still are) underrepresented in politics and policy-making. Presumably, the men who designed the VAT system had overlooked menstrual products. They don't use them. So they didn't think about them. Think now of a future where biological sex is completely disregarded. Will “people who menstruate" be adequately represented in policy-making? And will the needs of “people who menstruate” be considered?

In truth, I doubt ASDA or any other large company cares about either women’s rights or transgender inclusivity. They care only about money. This move isn’t about including transgender men or nonbinary people. It’s purely a marketing exercise aimed attracting the custom of young, socially-conscious non-transgender women and girls. The number of customers buying menstrual products who identify as men or nonbinary must be minute. Too small alone to justify this change. But trans rights are a big concern amongst young people right now. And businesses love young customers. People tend to form their consumer habits early in life. So, companies want to get customers while they’re young and create life-long loyalty.

ASDA isn’t the first organisation to be complicit with female erasure. Indeed, I’ve written about this topic many times before. But it’s disappointing. Especially so close to international women’s day. ASDA alone isn’t to blame for female erasure. But ASDA is joining part of a damaging trend. We risk going back to a time when women didn’t matter. And as for trans and nonbinary representation, remember that you’re not being seen, you’re being sold to.

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