NHS period website omits word ‘girls’ amid health service’s bid for inclusivity

An NHS website aimed at providing guidance on menstruation has removed the word “girls” from its pages.

Bloody Brilliant, a period information website that was created for NHS Wales and the Welsh government last August, now refers to those with periods as “young people who bleed” and “half the world’s population”.

The words “women” and “female” appear a handful of times across the nearly two dozen pages of guidance on Bloody Brilliant.

Instead, the website opts for direct messaging, referring to readers as “you” to convey information about periods.

On its page about what periods are, it reads: “Your period or menstruation (that’s the ‘sciencey’ name) is part of your menstrual cycle. This cycle is ultimately your body’s way of preparing itself for a possible pregnancy.”

It comes after the NHS removed the words “woman” and “women” from its menopause and ovarian cancer pages as part of an update to improve inclusive language.

An NHS Digital spokesperson said in a statement that the health service keeps webpages “under continual review to ensure they use language that is inclusive, respectful and relevant to the people reading it”.

The move to remove the words “woman” and “women” from its pages was criticised by former health secretary Sajid Javid, who said he did not “think it was right”.

Theresa Villiers, Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet, criticised Bloody Brilliant during an interview with Sky News on Wednesday morning (10 August).

She said: “I think it’s wrong to remove terms like ‘women’ and ‘girls’ from these kinds of websites, I don’t think the reference to ‘young people who bleed’ is appropriate.

“We can’t be in a situation where terms like ‘women’, ‘mother’, ‘girls’ are removed from our discourse,” Villiers added.

However, the move was praised by others on social media.

“This is awesome to see!” one person wrote. “Trans men and non binary people often have periods, so the use of gender neutral language makes sense. Thanks @NHS for being inclusive!”

A spokesperson from NHS Wales Health Collaborative told The Independent: “The website, resources and campaign for Bloody Brilliant have been designed to empower young women and girls by sharing expert knowledge and helping to start conversations about period health – so no one has to suffer in silence.

“We want Bloody Brilliant to be a resource that is authentic and relevant to our audience and so we have listened carefully to recent feedback on our use of language. Having considered a wide spectrum of views, we will be making some changes to include referring to young women and girls rather than ‘people who bleed’ (whilst remaining sensitive to the needs of those who menstruate, but do not identify as female).

“The campaign is already inspiring young people both boys and girls across the country with its honest, straight-talking messages, which focuses on normalising periods and period health. It has had more than 2.5 million impressions on social media so far,” the spokesperson continued.

“Research and focus groups with young people from Wales helped to design and inform the campaign, which was created by Social Change UK for NHS Wales and the Welsh Government. Bloody Brilliant addresses the topics at the heart of the challenges young people face when discussing and experiencing periods in Welsh and English.”