Let’s Defeminize Feminine Hygiene

Overview
User experiences go further than digital interfaces. When I was originally introduced to UX, I was immediately drawn to the idea of creating physical experiences. When you look past the screen, there's tremendous opportunity to transform real-world spaces to create meaningful experiences.
‍
‍Problem
‍The current narrative around menstrual products excludes and harms a rapidly growing population of consumers.

‍Hypothesis
‍If we can change the mental model for how menstrual products are traditionally displayed in stores then we can change the narrative of menstruation being a uniquely feminine problem.
ROLE
UX Designer
User Research, Interaction, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing
TIMELINE
15 Weeks
PROJECT TYPE
Individual
OBJECTIVE
Redefine the current mental model around menstrual products

Background

As awareness of gender identity grows, definitions themselves are becoming even more nuanced and fluid. This growing awareness and visibility surrounding transgender issues in recent years has made the younger generation more comfortable with steering away from traditional gender labels. The percentage of trans adults has doubled in the last 10 years from 0.3% to 0.6%.

In reality, these numbers are probably a lot higher. In a study by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 71% of transgender people said they hid their gender or gender transition to try to avoid discrimination.
I believe it is our
responsibility as designers
to meet the needs of this growing population.

The Process

01
Discover
02
Define
03
Develop
04
Deliver

Discover

The starting point was conducting exploratory research in order to gain insights and a better understand the experience of shopping for menstrual products for gender nonconforming and trans-masculine. Because I'm a cis woman, I have no idea what this experience is like for someone who is gender queer and I wanted to be sure not to make any assumptions. Through this research, I was starting to gain a better understand the problem.
Who?
What?
Why?
Anyone who is not cisgendered and experiences mensuration
The simple fact of having a period can be traumatic or gender dysphoric for young people in the gender nonconforming and trans-masculine communities.
Currently, the narrative around periods consists of woman's "coming of age," which ignores many voices and bodies. Getting your period is just part of puberty, regardless of your gender.

User Interview

Interviewing Greyson, a transgender man, gave me a lot of insight into my persona development. After talking to him I had a better understanding of the needs and frustrations that trans men may experience while shopping for menstrual products. Greyson also mentioned the need for non-binary representation which helped me develop my second persona.


Interviewing one trans person wasn't going to be enough, but luckily, we have the internet! I spent a few hours going through YouTube and finding videos created by several trans and non-binary people talking about mensuration and menstrual products.

Persona Development

Define

The Client - Why Target?

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

This is sTarget prides themself on a single purpose: to help all families discover the joy of everyday life.That purpose and their inclusion of “all” directly connects to our inclusivity value as a company. “We champion a more inclusive society through creating an inclusive guest experience, having an inclusive work environment, ensuring we have a diverse workforce and leveraging our influence to drive positive impact on society.”ome text inside of a div block.

Target's Pride+ Business Council

For decades, Target has supported local, regional and national LGBTQ+ organizations financially and through volunteerism. In honor of Pride Month, they donated $100,000 to GLSEN to help their mission of creating inclusion and safety for all. Target's support of the LGBTQ+ community is just one example of their commitment to inclusion.

Target - Menstrual Products

In The Field

The first thing I did was go to Target and map out their pharmacy to gain a better understanding of the layout. After drawing a slightly creepy map of the store, I headed to the section that carried menstrual products for a closer look. After snapping a few pictures to document the as-is of the current displays, I took my map home to digitize it and do some more online research.

Online

In terms of gender neutral menstrual products, Target’s website is incredibly confusing. While they do carry some trans-inclusive products like Thinx underwear, Lunette, and L., many of these products are not accessible in-store and are still categorized under feminine hygiene.
Target has already started taking steps in the right direction. However, with the growing population of trans and non-binary people, steps are not enough.

How can brands like Target make strides to better represent this generation steered away from traditional gender labels?

Develop

Phase (a)
Make gender neutral options more accessible
While Target does have some trans inclusive products online, such as Thinx mensuration underwear, these products are not available in store. Not only is this a huge accessibility problem, but also goes directly against their value of inclusivity as stated in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion aspect of their mission statement. Phase (a) starts with Target bringing more trans inclusive products in store.
Phase (b)
Promote gender neutral products
Once Target enhances their accessibility to these products, it’s their responsibility to highlight them. Currently target has specialized displays for L. menstrual products, which is already a great step, but lets encourage Target to take this a step further such as creating displays for some of the gender neutral options we discussed in Phase (a).Why would Target do this? They already have! Thinx underwear was launched in-store at select Targets on March 1st, 2021. Now it’s time to make examples such as this one widely available in order to reach Target’s goal of creating an inclusive environment.
Phase (c)
Re-think in store display of products
As we learned from our research and interviews, shopping in the “Feminine Hygiene” section can be an incredibly alienating experience for non-binary and trans folk as well as you people going through puberty and experiencing mensuration for the first time.I think Target is a great candidate because they’ve already made shifts to try and be more inclusive. For example, as skincare became more popular (traditionally thought of a feminine interest), Target created a space for men to access skincare.

User Testing

So... how would you test that?
Great question! At first, I had no idea, but eventually I came up with a way that I could get actual data. I sent out a Google Form requesting responses from trans, non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, agender, or any other identifier outside of cisnormativity. Before proceeding with the survey, I made sure each participant was discussing the topic of and seeing images related to mensuration. From there, participants were asked to rate their comfortability (1-5) as they viewed a set of images.

Test Results

Data Analysis (a&b)
Image (a) and Image (b) served as examples for the as-is and to-be menstrual product aisles. My design, Image B, was validated as significantly more comfortable for trans individuals over Image A.
Data Analysis (c&d)
Image (c) and Image (d) served as the as-is and to-be examples of promotional in-store displays for menstrual products. When analyzing the data I was surprised by the results. At the end of my survey I included a place for participants to leave any closing thoughts and feelings. I saw a quote that helped me identify the problem with my design.
Addressing The Problems With My Design
After seeing this comment a test participant made at the end of my survey, I realized where I went wrong. By having the store displays use text like “Inclusivity Matters” and “Not all people who menstruate are women”, I was essentially singling out trans people. While that wasn’t at all my intention, I could totally see where I went wrong. My design basically said “Hey! This person is at this store display because they are trans!” while a lot of the feedback I got from my interviews and survey requested the exact opposite.
Changing the text to “Brands We Love” shows Target’s promotion of inclusivity without calling anyone out. While the in-store menstrual product displays of my proposed Inclusivity Matters Campaign proved to be unsuccessful, I believe this direction has potential at a larger scale.
I’ve included some more ideas of how I think Target could support trans people without singling them out.

Deliver

Did I solve the problem?

No!
Changing the mental model for something so ingrained into our society doesn't happen over night. It starts by helping companies like Target acknowledge that the problem exists. I designed a framework that outlines the steps to make eventual change possible. The growing awareness and visibility surrounding transgender issues in recent years has made the younger generation more comfortable with steering away from traditional gender labels. Over the past 10 years, this population has doubled.
It is our responsibility as designers to meet their needs.

Brands who support LGBTQ+ rights like Target are faced with an opportunity to make a stand for equality and inclusivity.

For decades, Target has supported local, regional and national LGBTQ+ organizations financially and through volunteerism. The company states inclusivity as one of its primary values.

Lets hold them to it.