What exactly is a "feminine product"?

1) I spotted this sign in the bathroom at Filter the other day. There's a lot of political graffiti in the bathrooms there, which are both single stalls. They used to be designated male and female, incidentally, but that changed some time in the past year or two. Anyway, on a sign telling people not to put "feminine products" in the toilet, someone has crossed out "feminine" and replaced it with "menstrual," observing, "Trans inclusion, yo!"




I had thought of "feminine products" as a dumb euphemistic phrase for tampons and pads. It's one of those phrases that you see everywhere without it quite occurring to you that it merely reflects the strange fact that it's considered unacceptable to refer with any greater specificity to menstruation in a sign. (I had a similar moment occured this week when I read in the Tribune that former Bears coach Mike Ditka, in testifying against a proposed smoking ban in Chicago restaurants and bars (incidentally: what a jerk!), "drew a strong reaction from the audience when he used an expletive to describe the proposed smoking ban." I mean, what did he say?!)

I had never really thought of the term "feminine product" as a word that marginalizes trans people. Clearly, it does, though - and it makes you notice the implication built into the everyday term that everyone who menstruates identifies with "femininity." It's also one of those situations where accommodating those on the margins has the effect of showing the arbitrariness of the assumptions the rest of us make. I mean, even if you're not trans, is "feminine" really the best way of referring - even euphemistically - to tampons and pads? Wouldn't it be more logical for the phrase "feminine product" to mean, say, lipstick?

The secondary graffiti about "masculine" products, apparently added later seems dumb to me. It's as if, if there's a feminine product listed as unacceptable, plumbing-wise, then there must be an unacceptable "masculine" product, too. It seems pretty unlikely to me that two people would choose this particular public restroom to have sex in, though I admit it's possible. But - most importantly - if we're really going to get into it, what's so masculine about a condom? What if lesbians used the condom on a shared sex toy? It sounds dumb, but frankly it's same logic that gets us the so-called female condom - which was not approved or tested by the FDA for anal use, thanks to sodomy laws then still on the books in many states.

2) Check out a fabulous animation that Basic Rights Oregon has created, reminding voters that when the marriage amendment was being discussed in the fall, the antigay side repeatedly stated that the amendment applied only t. It's brilliant. They're holding a rally on July 20 to demand a vote on civil unions in the Oregon house.