Not everyone with a period is a woman and not every woman has a period. In fact, a variety of people of different genders can have periods. Acknowledging this fact and having intersectional conversations about periods is a great start, but it’s not enough when it comes to being an ally to trans, non-binary, and gender diverse communities. We also need to pass the mic to people who are more marginalised than ourselves, using our existing privileges to amplify their voices and stories.
Our very first zine, Shades of Red: The Gender Issue, is a collection of artistic contributions from seven trans and non-binary creators. It also includes educational content and resources created by the Natracare team and proofread by one of our contributing creators, Kenny Ethan Jones. Each contributor to the zine shares their individual experiences with periods, using illustrations, poetry, letters, and much more!
We’re so proud of the zine and the works of art by the incredible contributors. We’re super excited to share it with you all!
We’re hoping the zine serves several purposes, depending on who you are and what intentions you set when reading. These include:
- Helping gender diverse readers to feel seen and represented as people who are not women and have periods.
- Providing a safe space to learn about the range of people who have periods, and the relationship between periods and gender.
- Broadening your existing knowledge and understanding of what trans, non-binary, and intersex people experience when it comes to periods if you’re somebody without lived experience.
- Inspiring you to take action, from practising your allyship to signing petitions like our Rename Don’t Shame petition, which calls on supermarkets to stop using gendered language surrounding periods.
- Creating and spreading joy through the creative works of diverse creators.
Finally, we’d love for you to show the contributing creators some love! Here are their names and social media handles – give them a follow, you won’t regret it!
Fox Fisher – @TheFoxFisher
Kenny Ethan Jones – @KennyEthanJones
Noah Adams – @NoahFinnce
Alex – @alexk.designs
Meg – @megemikoart
Elsa Coussy – @ElsaCoussy
Lex Horwitz – @Lex_Horwitz
Have you read the zine yet? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
