People who menstruate

February 14, 2018 8:04 PM

I have an academic theologian friend, who is writing about menstruation. She is looking for a good inclusive noun for people who menstruate. Any ideas?
posted by PinkMoose to Human Relations (26 answers total)

"Reproductive-age women" is decently inclusive. If you need to include people who don't identify as women, I think "people who menstruate" or various awkward neologisms are your only options.
posted by killdevil at 8:09 PM on February 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I ma looking for gender diverse terms.
posted by PinkMoose at 8:13 PM on February 14, 2018 [7 favorites]

"Bleeders" is too flippant for academia. "Menstruators" is technically correct but hard to pronounce, even in my head.

One option is to make up a term, like "M-people" or "mensers," and define that in the first few paragraphs and use it through the paper/article/series etc.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 8:15 PM on February 14, 2018

Best answer: Not all reproductive age women menstruate. Eg pregnant women.
Menstruating people may be your best bet. Of course, some may argue that 'people' should be replaced by 'women', but they'd be wrong.
posted by Thella at 8:15 PM on February 14, 2018 [24 favorites]

Menstruant (pl. menstruants) is a noun with this meaning (dictionary.com, wiktionary.org). A Google search suggests that it does get some use in theological writing.
posted by Syllepsis at 8:25 PM on February 14, 2018 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: Menstruant has been deemed awkward.
posted by PinkMoose at 8:37 PM on February 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

‘Mentruating people’ would imply to me people who are actively menstruating. I.e that time of the month, aunt flo, etc. Especially in academic or scholarly writing, where I expect words to be used precisely and formally.

‘People who menstruate’ is the more inclusive term, because it includes people on any part of their menstural cycle, not just the discharge phase of menstruation.

If Pat expects to menstruate next week but is not currently menstruating, they are a person who menstruates but not a menstruating person. Continual aspect vs punctual aspect is the linguistic distinction, I think.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:37 PM on February 14, 2018 [33 favorites]

Best answer: Yep, "people who menstruate" is your best option here. This construction is used frequently in LGBTIQ health promotion, for example "all people with cervixes" are encouraged to get Pap smears (because people of all genders can have cervixes), or "men who have sex with men" are targeted for safer sex messages (because not every man who has sex with men identifies as gay). If it feels awkward or forced at first, that's okay, but it's probably ambient transphobia and heterosexism making you feel that way. Know that accurate terminology about bodies and identities is important, especially to trans people, and that you are doing something small but helpful by committing to using inclusive words. Phrasing things this way is not just kinder and more inclusive, it's more accurate. I have found that trans-inclusive language is actually an aid to clear communication. When we write in ways that are inclusive of all bodies and identities, we're often forced to abandon polite euphemisms and vague generalisations in favour of the raw physical realities we are actually discussing. This is a good thing! You are talking about people who menstruate. Since this could include people of many different genders, the most accurate way to say that is "people who menstruate". Keep saying it until it stops feeling weird.
posted by embrangled at 9:01 PM on February 14, 2018 [36 favorites]

Menstruoids? Err... no (a term better saved for the day when menstruating robots start rolling off the assembly line).

What's wrong with menstruators, anyway? The meaning is clear, and I don't see any issues with pronouncing it easily and clearly; it's certainly much less cumbersome than person who menstruates.

A fornicator is someone who fornicates, but use of the term does not imply that they are currently fornicating; why should menstruator imply that the person is currently menstruating?
posted by tenderly at 9:02 PM on February 14, 2018 [4 favorites]

Best answer: If she's writing in/about the Judeo-Christian tradition, and depending what she's writing about, the term in Leviticus for one who is menstruating is "niddah" (BDB 5079), although its strong associations with ceremonial impurity (and its use elsewhere to mean things that are immoral or ontologically impure) probably make it a bad choice except in a few limited settings (like where some explicit reclaiming was going on).

I'd probably say "people who are menstruating" or "one who is menstruating."

I kind of want to get silly and go with menstruatrix, but that's not necessary.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:29 PM on February 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Using “niddah” in a “Judeo-Christian” and not explicitly (Orthodox) Jewish setting will immediately wreck the potential for respect any Jews who encounter it in an academic paper will have for the project, so if your friend isn’t Jewish writing about Jewish traditions, don’t... do that.
posted by moonlight on vermont at 9:36 PM on February 14, 2018 [11 favorites]

In the process of thinking about this question, I too dabbled in such (made up?) words like menorrheic or menorrheal people, but sensibly came back to "people/persons who menstruate." Because if menstruant is too awkward, probably invented words just won't do.
posted by xyzzy at 9:45 PM on February 14, 2018

Best answer: I keep wanting to yell “Menstruators! You have nothing to lose but...some uterine lining?” So count me into the menstruator sounds awesome crowd.
posted by corb at 10:28 PM on February 14, 2018 [20 favorites]

Just want to clarify that while I do, of course, understand why some here are recommending people who menstruate, I know that I would find it irritating if I was reading something and kept coming across the same multi-word term where a single word would suffice (e.g. people who play the guitar instead of guitarists).

Perhaps her first reference in a particular piece to those who menstruate could be, people who menstruate (menstruators), and then go on to refer to them simply as menstruators.
posted by tenderly at 11:02 PM on February 14, 2018 [22 favorites]

+1 for menstruators. Please pass on thanks to your friend from a nonbinary menstruator for considering this. :)
posted by daisyk at 2:51 AM on February 15, 2018 [6 favorites]

Those who experience menstrual periods
posted by bearette at 3:55 AM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

My reproductive health nerd friends (all SJW-ish, some trans, some cis) say "people who menstruate" nowadays, so nth-ing that.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:11 AM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

i'm so disappointed that no one suggested 'menstruteers'

(but yes, agreeing that p much everyone i know uses 'people who menstruate' for this)
posted by halation at 6:23 AM on February 15, 2018 [6 favorites]

Menstruators! Again, easy to understand, less unwieldy than "people who menstruate," immediately understandable.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:21 AM on February 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

Huh, I googled ‘menstruator’, and a few of the top hits were feminist forums with women saying that they found the term offensive, (apparently as reductive?) ymmv.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:18 AM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Cyclists?
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:20 AM on February 15, 2018 [7 favorites]

More seriously, since this is theology, I would guess that some of the discussion will specifically need to refer to people who are menstruating vs people who can or could menstruate. So awkwardness may ensue.

For example, I would probably go with "menstruant" for people currently menstruating, and "menstruators" or "people who menstruate" for a general term.

I have also used "women and others" for an umbrella term. Depending on context it can be clunky, but in some sentences ("Women and others are increasingly opting for IUDs as a preferred form of birth control.") it feels natural.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:30 AM on February 15, 2018

To add on to tenderly's suggestion, you don't even have to make up a word. You could just start off the article (or each chapter or whatever) saying 'people who menstruate (PWM)' and then continue on using just 'PWM'.
posted by yeahlikethat at 8:48 AM on February 15, 2018 [9 favorites]

In the disability world, we always use People First Language (e.g. a person who is, a person who uses, etc), because no one is defined by a single aspect of their body or circumstances. While menstruation is obviously not a disability I think the same principle applies. "People who menstruate" is, imo, the most appropriate and is not unwieldy to anyone who has any passing familiarity with inclusive language.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:50 AM on February 15, 2018 [7 favorites]

Eh, just to point out, there is also backlash to the 'people with' language. For example, for a while, 'people with autism' or 'men who have sex with men' was considered the pinnacle of sensitivity and awareness. And then some autistic people and some gay men spoke out and said they felt reduced and dehumanized by that language. E.g. An autism rights activist to me: autism is who I am and is a primary part of my identity, please do not 'other' my autism as though it's a flaw on top of me; I am not ashamed of my autism.

I think the bottom line is, language is never going to perfectly capture all of the nuances inherent in any experience, especially experiences of marginalization, which is why it constantly evolves as long as people still feel marginalized. The issue isn't the language, but the marginalization it inevitably comes to represent until society evolves past it. It's possible that in 15 years someone will read 'people who menstruate' and it will sound to them the way that 'colored people' or 'imbeciles' sounds today. If PWM is today's preferred convention, great, stick to it, but I wouldn't sweat it too much.
posted by namesarehard at 1:34 PM on February 15, 2018 [10 favorites]

Best answer: Most of us have gotten used to "people of color." It'd be terrible to say "coloreds," right? Therefore you can get used to "people who menstruate." I'm a trans guy and I greatly appreciate feeling included.
posted by AFABulous at 8:50 AM on February 16, 2018 [4 favorites]