The Feral Irishman has long been a reliable source of readers for GraniteGrok, and we appreciate it, so when a reader sent me this tip, I was all over it. Functional Period Panty For Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming People”: Auburn Professor boasts “research” on university website.
First, don’t worry. You can have black or blonde hair and still attend Auburn. They’ve got diversity. Whether you can think outside the tiny progressive box is another matter.
This article was about an Auburn professor, Jia Wu, designing and marketing an article of clothing for the severely confused who have need to simulate the bleeding portion of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Besides the obvious human aspect of abnormal behavior, there is the fact that this young lady is a graduate of the University of Beijing.
A “professor” from China is “teaching” and doing “research” in America. Making period pants for men who can’t menstruate. Any marketing options outside the occasional period pride event?
And if you forgot or didn’t know, China doesn’t let anyone come to America unless there is a clear understanding that if they ask you to do something, you do it. If you refuse, they know where your family is and will make their lives miserable until you do what they want. Miserable includes whatever you can imagine, up to and including death.
Wu’s university bio lists her professional experience, including her time as vice president of the Qingdao Fashion Research Institute, which is affiliated with the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, from 2020 to 2021. In 2021, the bio states that she began her academic career as an Assistant Professor in Auburn University’s Department of Consumer and Design Sciences, College of Human Sciences.
“I focus on translating human needs into innovative apparel solutions, from functional product development and sensing technologies to digitally enabled customization and scalable production,” her LinkedIn bio reads. “Applications include adaptive and inclusive apparel for people with disabilities, medical and healthcare garments, performance apparel, sensor-integrated smart clothing, and emerging wearable solutions for human–robot interaction.”
A few years back, China officially “banned” girly Asian boy bands. I’m sure there are ways around it, but CCP leadership views this as a threat to its culture, so I doubt there are fashion researchers developing “Functional Period Panty For Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming People.” She is at Auburn to mess with us, and lo and behold, she has.
In March 2024, Wu and others published “Intimate Apparel Challenges and Consumer Satisfaction among Female and Non-binary People with Disabilities: An Exploratory Study to Formulate Future Research Opportunities.”
“Adaptive intimate apparel is an emerging market that has yet to gain traction in the apparel marketplace. Female and non-binary individuals with disabilities (FNBIWDs) are the largest minority group in the world,” The abstract reads. “However, despite their significance, their intimate apparel needs and wants have been ignored.
FNBIWD.
I’d take issue with the idea that they are the largest minority group in the world, but the question of “disability” can’t begin to be in doubt. Mentally disabled. Not beyond help, but “adaptive intimate apparel” won’t provide any.
Did Wu miss the whole Target adaptive and inclusive trans kids Pride Month apparel scandal?
One week after Target CEO Brian Cornell revealed that “woke” capitalism is “great” for their brand and “the right thing for society,” the mega-retailer has been scrambling to avoid a disastrous “Bud Light moment” by forcing some stores to remove LGBTQ Pride merchandise as consumer boycott calls mount.
Target caved and hasn’t been the same since, despite all the initial threats to employees by individuals you might define as “Female and non-binary with disabilities.”
And since the actual “market” for this sort of product is not the largest minority group but probably the smallest, I’m not certain you could convince a Chinese sweatshop to make them so Amazon could sell them in America.
But it made for interesting, culturally relevant, blog content.
