Sawyer DeVuyst, 30, has been living as a man for seven years.
For five of those years, before he went on hormone therapy to transition to male two years ago, DeVuyst was living as man, yet getting his period each and every month -- just as he had since age 12.
"Most women have a hard time talking about their periods, and it is that much worse for trans men," says DeVuyst, who identifies as a trans male, born into a female body, but identifying as a masculine man. "Here I was trying to live a life as a trans man, yet I had my period every month. I'd be in the mens bathroom with guys around me peeing while I changed my tampon. It made my discomfort with my body that much worse."
Plus, the risk of a bleed-through -- as every woman has experienced -- could mean much more than a messy and embarrassing inconvenience for trans men like DeVuyst. Blood stains on his pants could have outed DeVuyst, making him a target for violence. "Having my period was unsafe," he says. Each month, he would use a tampon, then wear multiple pairs of briefs topped with a pair of boxer shorts. "I needed to make sure no one knew I had my period."
There are approximately 700,000 transgender people in the United States, and about half of them identify as male, yet have female bodies -- including reproductive systems and the monthly menstrual cycles that come along with them. This reality and the unique challenges these men face around their monthly periods has also created a business opportunity.
Enter THINX, maker of "period panties" which I wrote about several months ago in Can These Panties Disrupt the $15 Billion Feminine Hygiene Market? THINX are line of pretty lacy women's underwear with an absorbent crotch designed to replace or supplement the pads and tampons that have dominated the global feminine hygiene market for more than half a century. Today, to mark the start of Transgender Awareness Week, THINX launched its boyshort model specifically branded to appeal to the transgender community. Retailing for $34 from its website, with the tagline "For People with Periods," the underwear are gender-neutral black or flesh-colored boyshorts, a style that has been popular with women for years but modeled on men's briefs. Like other THINX styles, the boyshort is outfitted with a patented fiber that promises to absorb several tampons' worth of menstrual blood. Give them a rinse and toss into the washing machine, and they are reusable for your next cycle. Benefits include cost savings, environmentally friendliness, and health safety, since tampons can cause toxic shock syndrome and other infections.
"There is a huge population of trans men in this country that have to deal with their periods every month, and there is nothing on the market to address this," says Miki Agrawal, THINX co-founder and CEO. Earlier this year a story circulating around the Internet claimed that a small California company planned to market a tampon designed for transgender men, but Snopes.com deemed the story fake.
DeVuyst, who has a lean, muscular man's body (his breasts were surgically removed) and light beard, models the boyshort on the THINX website, where he is interviewed in a video about his experience being a trans man contending with his period. DeVuyst, who lives in Brooklyn and works in the costume department of a theater production company, told me that even though he no longer gets his period thanks to hormone therapy, the product is practical to use with tampons, but its existence and tasteful marketing are powerful. "That kind of marketing with images of trans men is very empowering," he says. "Thanks to the Internet, those images are reaching people who may not have otherwise known the word 'transgender' and may for the first time identify with who they really are. Showing images of us with the scars on our chests, and our bodies raises awareness, but also showcases what makes us beautiful."
This sort of social awareness is built into all of Agrawal's endeavors. A few weeks ago THINX was embroiled in a public battle with New York's public transit authority, whose advertising sales agency initially refused to approve THINX ads because they used images of grapefruit to suggest vulva, and deemed the word "period" inappropriate. THINX ultimately got the ads approved. Agrawal also is launching a bidet product that retrofits on a traditional toilet, called Tushy, "For people who poop."
Emma Johnson blogs at WealthySingleMommy.com and podcasts at Like a Mother with Emma Johnson, named to U.S. New's Top 15 Personal Finance Podcasts. Hear an interview with Miki Agrawal here.
