Always Procter and Gamble is dropping the ‘Venus’ female gender symbol from its ‘Always’ brand of sanitary products after complaints from trans activists.
The decision comes after trans activists complained to P&G that some trans men continue to need sanitary products for their periods.
Ben Saunders, who was named young campaigner of the year by LGBT charity Stonewall in May for a documentary about being transgender, contacted the sanitary pad makers in June to complain about the use of the symbol.
He shared a response he received from P&G on his Twitter, the Daily Mail reports.
“We are glad to inform you that as of December we will use a wrapper design without the feminine symbol,” the post read.
The message stated that the new packaging would be launching by January 2020.
The tweet reportedly added: “We are absolutely grateful for having people like you voicing their opinions.”
Catholic reporter Caroline Farrow said that she would be boycotting Always products as a result of the decision.
“So that’s ‘Always’ boycotted in my family where there are 5 females,” she tweeted. “Men cannot have periods. Stop erasing women.”
Earlier this month, Upfield, the makers of Flora spread, announced that it was ending its partnership with Mumsnet after the popular website for mothers was accused of being anti-trans.
Some Flora products had carried a ‘Mumsnet Rated’ badge. But Upfield said the partnership went against the brand’s commitment to upholding “diversity and inclusion”.
“We’ve investigated. We are wholly committed to our values, which include treating everyone equally, so have made the decision to no longer work with Mumsnet,” it said on Twitter.
Mumsnet said that while it did not tolerate transphobia, it would not censor legitimate debate.
“Mumsnet will always stand in solidarity with minority communities,” it said in response to the decision.
“We don’t tolerate transphobic comments and will delete any when they are flagged to us. But we do also believe strongly in free speech.
“The discussion of gender self-id and what that might mean for very hard-won women’s rights, as well as the rapidly growing number of children exploring gender identity issues, is contentious.
“We know some people would like us to simply censor this entire debate but a similar number think we censor too much. We’re committed to allowing respectful discussion of an issue that is of particular interest to parents.”