Female employees from Japan have spoken out and revealed how their employers asked them to wear special ‘period badges’ during their time of the month.
In an attempt to break the stigma about menstruation in the country, Osaka-based Michi Kake store came up with the idea to make female employees wear period badges that will alert customers and other co-workers about the woman’s menstruation status.
Soon enough, the controversial badges featuring manga character called Little Miss Period have gone viral, whereas people have mixed reactions about the idea.
“It’s all kinds of wrong. You can just imagine people saying she must in a bad mood because of PMS. Makes me sick to my stomach. Stupid move in 2019,” one upset critic wrote.
“Any employer that asked me to wear a badge when I’m on my period would be getting sued,” another one added.
Among the controversial badges, Michi Kake offers sanitary products, clothing, bedding, and cosmetics designed for menstruating women.
The store’s items are divided into four categories which represent different stages of the menstruation cycle.point 340 |
These categories include the gloomy stage (for those with period closing in), the turbulence (irritability) stage, the blue stage (for those that already have a period), and the glittering section (for those whose cycle has just ended).point 200 | 1
Defending the company’s controversial badges was store manager Takahiro Imazu who told WWD that “in Japan, there is a tendency for women’s sexuality and periods to be subjects ‘not to be mentioned,’” a stigma that the badges were designed to break.
Despite the company’s best intentions, however, the badges were met with a lot of criticism.
“End period stigma by having menstruating staff wear a period badge to announce they’re bleeding. Seems like a perfectly sane and not at all terrible and stigmatizing idea,” someone joked.
“My period badge is my flawless ‘undead look’: eyes barely open, zero energy, and instead of a stimulating convo, all anyone gets from me is a grunt but said grunt gets upgraded to tolerant eye-contact if offered a decent cookie,” another said.
In spite of the backlash, Imazu believes that period badges hold a lot of potential.
“Not all customers will react positively, but the fem techboom is growing, and the values of young people are changing with it,” she said.
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Replaced!