The CEO of tampon maker, August has been dragged on social media after she called her customers “menstruators” instead of women as she claimed her brand is “gender inclusive.”
August CEO Nadya Okamoto, 25, who studies at Harvard, appeared on a Gayle King’s CBS Mornings segment on Thursday, July 6 titled “Changing the Game,” which highlights women making a difference.
Okamoto said “periods make human life possible” and called a menstrual cycle “one of the most natural biological processes of life,” but failed to say that women were the ones who experience it.
Speaking about August, Okamoto said: “We’re also wanting a period positive, gender inclusive brand. We are August, on the pack it says ‘we’re here for everyone who menstruates.’ And I think especially in this age of transphobia it really means a lot to us to be a proudly gender-inclusive brand.”
She repeatedly referred to tampon customers as “menstruators,” sparking a flurry of backlash on social media from people claiming that woke culture wants to erase the word “women” to appease a small population of trans and non-binary people who also have periods.
“Gayle King is a clown for not stopping this woman when she said ‘menstruators,’” one user commented on CBS’s YouTube video of the morning segment.
“She better hope the trans buy a lot of them. Because I won’t,” one user wrote.
“Let me help her out: It’s WOMEN. Say it extra slow so she can understand,” another tweeted.
Another self-proclaimed “liberal” user said avoiding the word women “sounds ridiculous.”
