Inclusivity Statement

It is our understanding that each person has their own journey with menstrual cycle education and awareness, and that layers of life situations and experiences can directly impact how each of us learns and grows. We are aware that forms of discrimination and marginalisation can overlap, making it hard for many people to learn in conventional settings, and in ways that others cannot always see or understand.

In our programs and communications we aim to ensure equitable access to menstrual education and to treat everyone in our programs as an individual, using language they are comfortable with, as far as possible. This may include consideration of their gender identity, sexuality, race, the effects of colonialism, history of trauma or differences in ability, amongst other circumstances and experiences.

Many of our facilitators and trainers have specialist training with numerous types of diversity and we draw on their skills to guide us. Over the years we have welcomed participants to our programs from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, and those who live with different health, ability, gender and other situations and identities.

We welcome all opportunities to grow our awareness and understanding of how the menstrual experience impacts everyone – be it our own or that of those we care about. Our primary interest and mission is positive menstrual education and culture and providing this to the best of our ability: safely, thoughtfully and effectively.

While we may not always get our language right we are open to feedback and are always keen to continue to learn.

Regarding gender

We are aware that there are people who have female sexual organs that do not identify as girls or women and who menstruate, and others with female sexual organs who identify as girls or women and yet do not menstruate.

Following consultation with the Victorian Women’s Trust, who in turn consulted peak bodies whose purpose is support for, and inclusion of, those identifying in gender diverse ways, we now follow their advice to respectfully and appropriately use both gendered language (girl, woman, boy, man) and gender-neutral language (person, they, people).

We also take care to be precise in how we talk about sex and gender to avoid the inaccuracies that can arise when gender is simply stripped out of text when differences of sex (female, male, intersex) are appropriate to the context.

We are passionate about menstrual education for everyone and welcome any and all suggestions about how best we can offer it effectively as we attend to the needs of the specific individuals, groups and audiences that we serve.

Jane Bennett
29 February 2024