UK Sanitary Pad Ad featuring "trans women"

[valyn_faer]

If you want to use the hierarchy angle, you could say transwomen are better than ciswomen because they aren't strapped down with days and even weeks per month with menstruation and PMS. 

I grew up in a house with five women, four sisters and my mom.  Back then no one spoke of things like this so male born people were kept pretty much in the dark.  All I knew was there were times when walking into the house was like walking into a war zone.  I thought they were, at times, nuts.  And while I longed to be a girl, I never wanted to be like my mom or sisters.  I have no problem with this life, outside the stigma crap.

"Strapped down"? Hardly. While I don't necessarily take the following view, I would hardly say that ciswomen are "strapped down" by menstruation or PMS. I have four sisters as well, by the way. Some scholars have argued, and specifically one anthropologist whose name escapes me at the moment, that PMS is largely a social construct. Her argument is based on examinations of other cultures in which she found the typical, western PMS behavioral phenomenon to be notably absent. She argued that the behavioral response to PMS in many western societies is learned, socially accepted, and even encouraged, and, because of this, is socially expected. When a particular behavioral response is socially expected, it becomes problematic for those who don't exhibit such behavior. This creates social pressure to conform to what is perceived to be the "normal" behavior. In this case, a particular PMS behavioral experience. Again, I'm not saying I take this view, but there are scholars who have argued this.

I had a co-worker just the other day tell me that I'm "lucky" that I don't have to deal with PMS and "raging hormones." I didn't bother to point out to her that my hormone levels are basically that of a 12 or 13 year old girl and that I am going through a second puberty at the age of 30 while going through college, yet, despite that, still maintain a 4.13 GPA. I also didn't bother to go off on a rant, rattling off numerous statistics which illustrate how much more discrimination and oppression us trans folk experience than ciswomen ever have in this country (the US or the UK, really)--how much more likely we are to lose or be denied employment or harassed and/or discriminated in the workplace, how much higher suicide rates are for us, how much more likely we are to be raped, murdered, or sexually assaulted, as well as the discrimination we often face in navigating gendered spaces prior to, during, and for some of us even after, our transition. And this is really just the tip of the iceberg. I would gladly trade all the discrimination we face, gender dysphoria, etc., for some discomfort from PMS and menstruation. Yeah. . . I'm ever so lucky that I was born in the wrong body and that I live in such an intolerant, unaccepting society. Yay me.

Edit::
Caveat: I really want to add that I'm not trying to bemoan our sorry lot in life or to encourage anyone to wallow in a sense of victimhood. There are some transwomen and transmen out there who are doing some pretty amazing things and I plan to be one of them. However, it is important not to gloss over the discrimination we experience that is very different from that of ciswomen--and cismen, for that matter.

[Zelane]

Happy period? The only happy part of a period is when it ends.

The "ad" its insensitive to all parts involved. But it seems to be either a rejected ad or a fake one just to stir up people.

[Pica Pica]

Aside from the bad taste, the only good part of the ad, the surprising phrase 'have a happy period' was nicked from Red Dwarf

[pretty]

I don't really know why people get offended at every little thing they see. It's silly but it's not really going to change anything. But everyone wants to be *so* offended at every little thing. Oh well. I don't know if you realized but the media has like... always misrepresented everything.

Anyway, I never understood the period envy. If only women were capable of vomiting, would you want to vomit as well? There are a lot of gross things about the human body and sorry, periods are one of them.

[Joelene9]

Anyway, I never understood the period envy. If only women were capable of vomiting, would you want to vomit as well? There are a lot of gross things about the human body and sorry, periods are one of them.

I thought about it growing up, but sharing a house with a pre-menopausal mother and two sisters, I had a change of heart of this.  My mom and her friends would talk about their menstruation woes and remedies over coffee while us kids were playing nearby.  I, being the oldest, was the only one that understood the conversations.  My brother has been married 4 times since then and still does not understand this process!  My sisters found out very fast with their first period.  Luckily, I was in the Navy when those explosions occurred! 
  Joelene

[yaka]

Procter&Gamble confirmed it as fake, see the second top comment.
ALWAYS_crying.mov

[Cindy]

That's interesting. A new form of crime? Adscam? I wonder if it did hit P&G products?

Cindy

[apple pie]

Procter&Gamble confirmed it as fake, see the second top comment.
ALWAYS_crying.mov

Thank you for finding out that it is not a real advert!

And yes... let's just laugh it off instead of cry over it. There's a word in Japanese that means something like "laugh and make it fly away"—let's do exactly that. Otherwise we'd be sad all the time (considering that probably over 99% of the world doesn't understand transgender stuff)

[barbie]

About 7 yeas ago, a similar theme was adopted in pad advertisement featuring Ha Ri SU, the most famous transgender celebrity here in Korea.



The narration in Korean basically says like "I want to have my period, because I am a woman."

All of her ads became big hits in Korea. I do not understand well why most ad producers in UK or other western countries even try to deride social minorities. By derision, they can not sell anything well. There are many other ways of featuring gender minorities in making successful commercial ads.

Harisu first gained public attention in 2001, after appearing in a television commercial for DoDo cosmetics. The commercial was a big success and ended up launching her career, allowing her to branch out into other fields such as music and acting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harisu



Barbie~~

[~RoadToTrista~]

<<<<<<<<<<<<<Harisu ^.^

[apple pie]

There's a famous transsexual singer in Japan too called Haruna Ai. You can see her web site here together with a tiny little music video of her http://www.avexnet.or.jp/haruna-ai/index.html
And in Japan there's this show where they get some teenage boys and then put make-up, wig, pretty clothes etc. on them to make them look just like girls. The whole show emphasizes throughout that they are boys. I think there might be an outcry if a show like that were to be shown in the West.
So in a sense it's accepted in Japan... but it is still also somewhat acceptable to talk about transsexuals in a not-very-respectful way, which isn't acceptable in the West.
It's almost like if you're pretty then you're accepted. If not then it's okay to laugh at you.
So in terms of actual social acceptance, I think the Western countries are actually further ahead than Asia...

[barbie]

It's almost like if you're pretty then you're accepted. If not then it's okay to laugh at you.
So in terms of actual social acceptance, I think the Western countries are actually further ahead than Asia...

Many people here have said that transgender people could not be accepted by Koreans so well if Ha Ri Su were not so much pretty. The stereotype on M2F transsexual is that M2F have to be prettier than ordinary young women, even than entertainment stars. This initial expectation was created by Ha Ri Su.  A lot of plastic surgery, including Ha Ri Su.

Although I have never been to any 'Transgender Bar' here, some of my colleagues said to me that most m2f transger employees there were so much prettier, and they confessed that they were awed by the fact that men can be more feminine than biological female. That is the power of plastic surgery. Korea is famous for it, and many Chinese and Japanese women visit here for that. Among plastic surgeons, successful surgery for m2f transsexual is their ultimate goal. Once they get a fame from m2f, the rumor quickly spreads to biological women, guaranteeing their business success. M2f transsexual are a benchmark for plastic surgeons here, as m2f are so much difficult and tricky to satisify after the surgery.

In my personal experience, Asian people are more acceptable than Westerners. I surmise that the diffierence basically comes from religion. Judo-christianism and muslism are infamous for their dogmatism, whereas Buddhism is generally open-minded and tolerant. When I was in the US, a few Catholics were vitually violent against my crossdressing. This kind of offensiveness has never happened to me in Korea. Even most catholics were more tolerant than ordinary people here.

A most famous Japanese crossdresser is Ikko. She/he was appointed as honorary goodwill ambassador for Korea: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/03/03/2009030361002.html

This kind of news still can not be heard from the western countries.

Barbie~~

[apple pie]

Hmmm I am not so sure that Buddhism makes people tolerant of LGBT stuff... I seem to have heard more than a few prominent Buddhist figures such as Hsing Yun speaking out against homosexuality for example, and even making a remark to the effect of "when I go to Western countries I can't openly criticize homosexuality but here in Asia I can", which I think is kind of true. You can't really say anything unfavourable in the West without being labelled homophobic, but in Asia there's a higher chance you can get away with it still. With transsexuals, the media can still use the wrong pronouns without starting a storm.

And well, Thailand, a heavily Buddhist country except in the south, is famous for its kathoeys. You would think that would make Thailand accepting of transsexuals, but not so... yes they are viewed in a Buddhist manner, but in the sense that they are considered to have done something wrong in their past lives and that's why they end up being transsexual.

But yes, Christianity and Islam are clearly against LGBT whereas Buddhism doesn't exactly have a clear dogma that says the same thing.

[Joelene9]

That's interesting. A new form of crime? Adscam? I wonder if it did hit P&G products?

Cindy

Whomever made that can be hit for a trademark violation and can be sued.  The 'Always' logo and font style are registered by P&G.  Try that to Disney Corp. products and see how fast the lawyers come to your door!  There will be more spoofs of products and services to come and some of those will be in as bad taste as this one. 
  Joelene

[tekla]

The legal requirement of 'parody' are such that it's highly doubtful they will be fined.  C&D is about the most P&G can do.

[regan]

The legal requirement of 'parody' are such that it's highly doubtful they will be fined.  C&D is about the most P&G can do.

All that's going to do is attract more attention to it, P&G is better off doing nothing and hoping it quietly goes away.

Where's Ann when you need a lawyer to explain what a professor of mine called the "there ought to be a law law"? 

[Arch]

Some scholars have argued, and specifically one anthropologist whose name escapes me at the moment, that PMS is largely a social construct. Her argument is based on examinations of other cultures in which she found the typical, western PMS behavioral phenomenon to be notably absent. She argued that the behavioral response to PMS in many western societies is learned, socially accepted, and even encouraged, and, because of this, is socially expected.

This may be true, but it is definitely true that a lot of women (and trans men) are in misery DURING their periods (or right before the bleeding starts). I was one of them. And my moods were definitely affected. I wasn't a raging madman, just extremely depressed for a couple of days before the bleeding began.

I used to joke that I didn't get PMS every month; I got MS. Not multiple sclerosis, of course, but "menstrual syndrome." (This was not meant to be a joke at the expense of people with multiple sclerosis; most initialisms have multiple meanings, and I was making up my own.)

Do drag queens in drag use the men's room or the ladies' room? Or does it vary from person to person?

[regan]

Do drag queens in drag use the men's room or the ladies' room? Or does it vary from person to person?

Every gay bar I've been in, it doesn't seem to matter...

[Arch]

Every gay bar I've been in, it doesn't seem to matter...

Interesting.

[RyGuy]

while i can definitely see the side where transwomen (and other people with a conscience) would take offense, i also see it as a bitch slap towards FAAB people, reminding them that there are those that desire for one of the most "unpleasant" things in life. i can imagine you girls' dysphoria over the subject (because i have mine over male issues) but i can't imagine exactly how you feel about the ad. i don't necessarily find the message offensive, more the execution. what i can say with certainty is all of you are prettier than the women (or men, if they identify as such) filmed in the commercial.