Last month shoppers praised supermarket Asda when it changed the name of their ‘feminie hygiene’ aisle to period products. And now, health and beauty retailer Boots have followed suit.
The move to the more inclusive name will mean that people who have periods, but don’t necessarily identify as female, such as trans men, will feel more comfortable shopping the section.
The aisle name will drop the word ‘hygiene’, much to the delight of campaigners, as the word implies that periods are unhygienic, adding to negative stigma that surrounds menstruating.
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Shoppers have praised the change on social media, hoping it will help fight the negative connotations surrounding periods.
One wrote: “The words "sanitary" & "hygiene" pushes the connotations that periods are dirty. Well done to @BootsUK.”
Another added: “Well done to Boots&Asda. It’s not ‘time of the month’ it’s not ‘aunty flo’ it’s a period. We must challenge period taboo.”
“I noticed on Asda shopping online the other day that they are now calling it "period products",” said a third shopper. “I was surprised but agree it needs to made to feel less shameful.”
Others have not been so accepting of the name change, which has already been seen on the Boots website and app, with plans for in-store labelling to be reviewed and follow suit.
One social media user wrote: “Feminine hygiene products cover items other than period products (tampons & sanitary pads). @BootsUK are wrong to change labelling etc online and in stores.”
Jamie Kerruish, beauty director at Boots UK, told Tyla why the rebrand of the aisle is so important. They said: "When it comes to periods, we know retailers can play an important role in changing people’s perceptions, including the words we use to describe products.
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“We are proud to be implementing this change at Boots, starting with removing words like ‘hygiene’ and ‘sanitary’ and much more proudly saying ‘period products’ on boots.com and the Boots App.
“We are currently reviewing signage in store too, which will be updated later in the year.
“Period products are essentials, and we want to ensure our customers can find and access all of the products they need with ease at Boots.”
But discussing the change on Loose Women, Sunetra Sarker and Nadia Sawalha clashed views, which divided viewers, The Mirror reports.
"I'm really excited about this," Nadia said. "They are no longer going to call sanitary products 'Feminine Hygiene' and then later in the year, also in the aisles of the shop, it's going to be called 'Period Products'. Hallelujah!
"People have been campaigning for this.”
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"Really? I disagree," Sunetra quickly fired back, before adding: "I like it. Female Hygiene is for a lot of things which cover periods and everything to do with what I don't want to actually tell everyone about all the time.”
Loose Women viewers appeared to side with Nadia, agreeing that there should be a move to neutral language in terms of hygiene and gender, and that generally, periods should be talked about more openly.
A viewer commented: "As a man, I am baffled by why women don't want to mention periods. It's actually annoying that they don't tell you about it, I don't want to be ignorant. Half the population have them, it's normal, it's not shameful or dirty or anything. #LooseWomen @loosewomen."
Someone else posted: "It shouldn’t be feminine hygiene because nothing about your period is unhygienic, periods say exactly what it is, we shouldn’t ever be ashamed of having periods and we need to be inclusive of all those who bleed. #LooseWomen."
