Should Joe Biden be re-elected, it is a sure bet that his administration will roll back the Trump tax cuts. When it comes to spending money, I'm not averse to the idea as long as I am getting quality goods or services in exchange. For example, sometime today, Stately Brown Manor is getting a new dishwasher but not because we want one; the old one gave up the ghost. I wasn't thrilled with the price tag, but we are getting our money's worth out of the purchase.
When it comes to the federal government, not so much. More often than I would like, a tidbit of information comes to light that reminds me that Americans are funding... well, at this point I'm not sure what we are funding. But I know somebody is getting paid a GS salary to come up with the following.
Did you know that May 28 was Menstrual Hygiene Day? There is no reason why you should. Although I'm kind of sad. It seems like Menstrual Hygiene Day just keeps getting more commercialized every year. To commemorate the event, the Department of Labor went to the trouble of posting a blog about how to make the workplace easier for "menstruators" — not women but menstruators.
In case you are interested, the DOL suggests, among other things, providing "a sufficient supply of varied period products in bathrooms and ensure menstruators can access products privately."
You mean "women," right? Right?
To be fair, the blog does offer some useful tips, but all of those could be found under the heading "Common Workplace Courtesy." Unsurprisingly, the word "women" is found only three times in the blog, and that is in the phrase "Women's Bureau." The piece never refers to actual women. I don't know about you, but I was raised to treat women with decency and respect. In fact, I was raised to treat women and men with respect. But in this day and age, anyone can be a 'menstruator.'
I'm not alone in annoyance at this. Chaya Raichik noted in a post on X that she is a woman, not a menstruator. Of course, the federal government, and for that matter, a large portion of the population that has taken a permanent vacation from reality cannot tell someone what a woman is, so I guess "menstruator" is up for grabs.
The blog opens with this:
To commemorate this Menstrual Hygiene Day, the Women’s Bureau is breaking down the stereotypes and stigmas that have made menstruation a taboo topic in the workplace. Menstruation is a natural part of half our population’s life, and yet it has been overlooked in the context of work - perhaps because it is seen as a personal issue or uncomfortable to discuss.
When was the last time any person had such a discussion in the workplace? It isn't taboo; it's just good manners to let a woman attend to her own business in as much peace, quiet, comfort, and dignity as possible. And it is also good manners to call a woman a woman. But as is SOP in government, we need to perform verbal gymnastics to accommodate Bill from Accounting who figured out last week that he is non-binary after spending a few days on TikTok. As the Post Millennial so aptly put it:
Menstruators, uterus-havers, cervix-owners, birthers, and other reproductive function or body part terms have been replacing the words "woman" or "mother" in documentation and rhetoric across the Biden administration to appease those who believe males and females can change their biological sex through sheer belief, medication, and surgery.
And there you have it: your tax dollars at work. Erasing women.
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