Tampon brand Tampax sparked a firestorm on social media after it said that “not all people with periods are women.”
The company, owned by Procter & Gamble, shared the message on Sept. 15, but it has recently sparked fierce debate and gone viral — with some bashing the company for alienating biological women.
“Fact: Not all women have periods,” the tweet says. “Also a fact: Not all people with periods are women. Let’s celebrate the diversity of all people who bleed!”
Tampax included the tags #mythbusting, #periodtruths and #transisbeautiful.
But the tweet prompted some women to boycott the brand.
“This ad is misogynistic and advocates erasing women. So goodbye 4ever!!!” one critic wrote.
Others slammed the message as “anti-woman.”
“I’m genuinely interested to know who at @Tampax thought it might be a good idea to gamble your entire client base (Biological Women) against this anti-factual and anti-woman, virtue vomit,” another critic said.
Meanwhile, others praised the company for being inclusive of the trans community — and blasted those who took issue with the message.
“Lovely as always to see bigots absolutely bewildered that the world has left them behind and science didn’t permanently freeze during their 5th grade biology class in 1983,” one person wrote in defense of Tampax.
“Yes. Yes. Yes,” another supporter responded. “A million times yes. Inclusivity hurts no one. If you’re mad about this, let’s talk.”
“Literally yes, trans men and non binary people get periods,” another person wrote. “How is that so hard to understand?”
As of Monday morning, the initial post had attracted more than 14,000 likes, nearly 11,000 shares and 23,000 comments.
The post comes more than a month after UK-based health and beauty retailer Superdrug launched a line of plant-based sanitary napkins and towels for “people who menstruate,” the Evening Standard reported.