[Trigger warning: menstrual period; PMS]
Today was rough. The “battle of the giants” raging in my body as female and male hormones fought for supremacy, probably intensified by PMS (according to my calendar…) and some poor sleep.
However, a small thing this evening made my day, turning it upside-down for the better.
I went to my climbing gym for a yoga class, feeling overwhelmingly dysphoric in my assigned gender so despite expecting my period to show up any minute now, I decided to use the men’s restroom anyway.
[Note: this gym is trying to modernize the structure to allow for all-gender restrooms & all-gender changing rooms, but at the moment it only has binary women’s/men’s options.]
I still feel a little uncomfortable and self-conscious whenever I use the men’s restrooms, and even worried that I might be told I’m not allowed to, although I know I am — but it feels less gender-dysphoric than using the women’s. Today I was feeling particularly conflicted about having to make a choice because of my own physiological reasons. But then, as I was washing my hands, I noticed two details that made my day. One was a baby’s changing-table — men are allowed to change babies, too — YAY!!! And then… a basket of sanitary pads near the sink, just like the one in the women’s room, and over it a friendly note saying, “Yes, we belong here! Please don’t remove, and help yourselves”!
The fact that they are allowing the idea of “men” needing sanitary pads, “men having their period”, seemed simply so wonderful, somehow so gender affirming to me, that all of a sudden I forgot all about my own rollercoaster emotions from today and went downstairs to the front desk to thank them.
A small thing — a basket of sanitary pads in the men’s room — and yet in many ways, for some people, such a big difference!
The Little Prince and the Fox 