Gender dysphoria and menstruation

2012 was a historic year for trans and intersex folks, and humanity at large, when the American Psychological Association (APA) declared that inappropriateness or discomfort with the sex assigned at birth was NO LONGER a mental disorder. These people were earlier said to be diagnosed with "Gender Identity Disorder". The APA then, removed the diagnostic label 'gender identity disorder' from the diagnostic manual used by psychologists. Today, the term 'gender dysphoria' is used.

Now, if you don't already know what gender dysphoria actually means, let me try to explain. Gender dysphoria is the "psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity". In other words, gender dysphoria is when a person feels distress due to not identifying with the sex (female/male/intersex) that one is assigned at birth on account of their biology. That is one thing I feel many don't understand; sex and gender are not necessarily one and the same!

With me so far?

This situation might seem very menial — especially for those that might consider the break from a bi-gendered society as just another fad — but gender has become a major part of our identity since birth. So many children are given toys and other paraphernalia based on their gender. Students are often identified by their gender. Heck, everything in society, from washrooms to bathroom products to lines for some movie or counter has been bifurcated based on one's gender. All these factors can cause a person identifying with a different gender feel distress and unease within their own body for not fitting the mold of the society.

Is there a place in this society for those who might not belong to either or are unsure about where they belong? Not yet.

So, this is where we stand with gender dysphoria: major distress only exacerbated by society's lack of accepting anything and anyone different. This kind of situation can lead to depression and anxiety and harm daily life!

Like we said in the beginning, gender dysphoria GID is no longer considered a mental illness, but a person can develop mental health problems because of gender dysphoria.

The purpose of this blog post is not to solely discuss gender dysphoria, however. We wanted to understand if gender dysphoria can have some effects on the experience of menstruation and vice-versa.

Thus began a journey into the web of internet. Here are a few ways we could identify how gender dysphoria and menstruation affect each other:

Period products: Period products are already very hard to come by, but when you are experiencing gender dysphoria, the issue becomes just that much worse.

In this article, transgender model and activist Kenny Ethan Jones says, “I felt isolated; everything about periods was tailored to girls, yet me, a boy, was experiencing this and nothing in the world documented that.”

Rarely do period products come in colours and designs that cater to all genders and instead seem to advertise — 'Just for girls'. I honestly can't imagine how the situation would feel like, when a person menstruates despite identifying with a gender that doesn't. Of course, that wouldn't be that much of a problem (I reckon) if society just sat up and said "Anybody can menstruate. It's aight. You be who you are hon" instead of propagating who they think should menstruate (which is bloody ridiculous and I could write up a whole new blog on just this).

Sanitary bins: As one article pointed out, most "men's" washrooms do not have the facility of a sanitary disposable bin. Imagine that you are rushing to find a washroom in a mall, coz you need to change your period product (say a sanitary napkin), and in your rush, you accidentally go into the men's washroom. Now you don't realise that until you've changed your product, exhaled a sigh of relief and rolled up the used product as well as you can. Then you exit the stall and look around for a sanitary bin, only to finally notice that you're in a different washroom.

In an ideal world, you could easily walk out, head held high, chuckle if someone notices you exiting the washroom and holding a sanitary napkin in your hand, but instead here you might cover up the sanitary napkin as best you can, rush out of there with your head covered (as if that would make people stop staring), look around for a women's washroom, not find it, ask someone else in a hushed voice, rush to the washroom and dispose of the sanitary napkin.

If you could relate to the situation with some amount of panic, I just want you to think about those that will have to experience this amount of panic day after day, especially when they cannot sneak into the women's washroom to dispose of the sanitary napkin.

Terminologies: Now many apps are changing their tune and being more inclusive but many still offer menstrual health services or information just catering to "women". As far as I understand, the issue is again the same: lack of acceptance in the society. I imagine the feeling would be similar to if you opened your phone one day to check symptoms of back pain and instead got results about back pain in pregnant individuals. Maybe relevant, maybe not, but wouldn't it be jarring if all you see are results more or less meant for pregnant individuals. (Keep in mind that you are not really pregnant... If currently you are pregnant then first off, congrats! Second off, reverse the situation).

It may seem like a simple issue — "what does it matter what the tin says? The content inside is still the same right?" (of course this doesn't apply to ridiculous beauty standards but moving on...) It is more than just the information though. It's about a person's identity and being seen for what they are. And especially on one of their most vulnerable moments, where their own body is betraying them, where cramps are driving them crazy, when so much is already happening — just that one word (woman) can wreak havoc on a person's psyche.

Their own identity: As with everything, there exists an external and an internal factor relating to gender dysphoria and menstruation. So, while there do exist a lot of external factors that make menstruation an especially annoying and distressing experience, there also is the issue of the person themselves having an unpleasant dysphoria for the time of menstruation (though part of it is also due to the society and their rules for what makes a "woman").

In an article by Clue, a person identified as "B" says - "When my period arrives, the dysphoria is most unpleasant: I’m unable to ignore the fact that I have a vagina...I hate that it makes my assigned gender at birth immediately apparent to anyone who cares to glance at a calendar."

I cannot imagine experiencing this for myself; knowing that I do not identify with having a vagina and yet I do, is nothing short of unthinkable. And yet these individuals go forth with their days, experiencing all that we've discussed so far and not even being able to openly talk about it because they deal with two stigmatized topics — menstruation and gender dysphoria.

What do we learn from this? It's hard to deal with both gender dysphoria and menstruation. While people have gotten more aware about this issue, have started spreading out their wings to shelter others, have begun understanding, we are still a long way off.

I implore everyone reading this — be kinder, more considerate and more accepting of those around you. Ask the next person you meet what their preferred pronouns are. Let's try and create a world where acceptance is the norm. Because, gender dysphoria is just 2 words, but to the person experiencing it, it might be more like 2 worlds colliding.

And to the person who might themselves be experiencing some amount of gender dysphoria — you are amazing! We at Neev extend our appreciation and acknowledgement of you and the gender you identify with! No one else can decide who you are, so fly and soar oh beautiful person!

P.S. While scouring the net for amaze articles, we stumbled on an article which we feel is very helpful to dealing with both gender dysphoria and menstruation.

P.P.S. This is a safe community, so if you have any questions about gender dysphoria or just want to talk with our writers/admins or connect with others who might be going through something similar, you can message us, spam the forums page or simply input a comment on this blog post. This holds true for anything you want to discuss and talk about.