Nobody Wants To Talk About It. Period.


share my discovery with my office mates. I actually read passages to them. They responded with howls of laughter and groans of disgust. And this was from a group of ardent feminists. One ritual for reclaiming one’s “womonhood” described in the pamphlet involved getting naked and smearing one’s menstrual blood all over one’s face and body. And they have a point: if you can smear yourself with your blood, it very likely will normalize it to a degree.

It is this “lack of normality” of something that for most women of childbearing age happens every month that is most odd. This “lack of normality” marks the degree to which sexism still rules in our society. This, I think, is the point that Gloria Steinem was trying to make in “If Men Could Menstruate.” We accept our difference as a deficiency, the thing that makes us uniquely female as a curse.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. As the feminists of the 1970’s used to say, the personal is political. You can challenge the misogyny behind PMS jokes and the conceptualization of the menstrual cycle as a curse. And the good news is, you don’t have to smear your menstrual blood on your face to make a statement. One way to buck the system is to begin appreciating your menstrual cycle for what it is, a biological fact that keeps the species going, and let go of the cultural shame and disgust associated with it. Menstruation is a significant part of what makes women female, and accepting the biology behind the female sex is a significant step towards accepting the fact that women are beings worthy of respect. Another thing you can do to challenge the misogyny behind the hoots and groans is to literally challenge it by pointing out that if men could bleed, it wouldn’t be seen as a problem.

*This is based on “If Men Could Menstruate” by Gloria Steinem and can be found in “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.” For another humorous take on menstruation, check out “The Kathy and Mo Show” either live or on video.

**I didn’t pay to get the full picture, so I can’t guarantee what the pages actually showed.

For more information, check out http://www.mum.org Museum of Menstruation - for almost anything you'd want to know about menstruation.

The copyright of the article Nobody Wants To Talk About It. Period. in Gender & Society is owned by Regina Sewell. Permission to republish Nobody Wants To Talk About It. Period. in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2 3

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic