Ads for a decidedly feminist brand of women’s underwear will be arriving soon at a BART station near you, but they’ll be missing a billboard for “pussy-grabbing-proof” panties that has been banned by the transit agency.

Thinx, which sells moisture-absorbing underwear, teamed up with the agency that places ads on the BART system for “station domination” campaigns at the Montgomery and 16th Street-Mission stations in San Francisco later this month.

The ads feature inverted photographs of models wearing the underwear above the Thinx logo. BART was OK with “anxiety-proof underwear” and “patriarchy-proof underwear,” and didn’t bat an eye at the trans models in two ads.

But BART could not abide the phrase “pussy-grabbing,” and rejected that ad as violating the agency’s policies. Spokeswoman Alicia Trost said in a statement that the display “contains words recognized by the community as vulgar, indecent or profane for display in a public setting that includes minors.”

Days of discussion ensued. Miki Agrawal, Thinx CEO and co-founder, argued that the word wasn’t a profanity because it appears in children’s books like “The Owl and the Pussycat” and band names like the Pussycat Dolls.

BART wasn’t buying.

The Thinx folks also argued that the phrase has become common part of the vocabulary, like it or not, thanks to Donald Trump’s infamous boast in a videotaped 2005 conversation of what his celebrity status allowed him to do to women.

“The term ‘pussy grabbing’ is a colloquialism today for sexual violence and has been heard on every national TV station, written on so many many newspaper and in so many blogs,” Agrawal argued. “Why is it suddenly being banned in the context of what we’re trying to do?”

Trost said BART’s rejection of the ad follows a long precedent and complies with a policy posted on its website.

“Crude descriptions of sexual anatomy, regardless of sex, are vulgar,” she said. “This is not the kind of atmosphere we feel is appropriate to generate inside BART stations. While we understand the spirit behind ‘reclaiming’ vulgar words, our advertising standards make it clear that BART is not the suitable setting to begin such a campaign.”

Agrawal said she gets BART’s position but doesn’t agree.

“They don’t want to ruffle any feathers,” she said. “I understand where they’re coming from, but the term is already out there in the world, and in this context, it’s meant to be pro-woman. We’re a feminist brand that agrees with consent, and we want to make sure people know that this is a political statement.”

Since “pussy-grabbing” has been banned, Agrawal said, Thinx decided to replace that ad with “glass-ceiling proof.”

Trost, who was involved in discussions over the ad in question, would be pleased to see the dispute go away.

“I’ve had to say the P-word a lot more times than I would have liked the past several days,” she said.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan