Periods Aren’t Shameful (But They Are Still A Bodily Fluid)
I reserve the right to not think of my period as a box of kittens.
I recently read an article by fellow Medium author Gillian Sisley about some dudebros in Germany who, by their own admission, know all about periods (wait one sec while I allow my eyes to roll back into place).
However, while reading I was struck by the idea that I maybe didn’t fully 100% agree with the sentiment of the article. (No shade intended, Gillian, I love your work.)
It wasn’t exactly the content of the article that got me. I whole-heartedly agree with Gillian’s point about rejecting men profiting off women’s bodies by telling us we’re disgusting (something the beauty industry has done for decades). But I also disagree with the idea that we women don’t sometimes find our periods a bit… gross.
I honestly don’t think there is a woman alive who anticipates the arrival of Aunt Flo with a pep in her step, as much as those Tampax commercials would have you believe.
I’m not going to speak for all women, but from my own experience, it’s something we tolerate more than enjoy. Yet, it sometimes feels like if I’m not singing from the rooftops I’m somehow letting everyone down.
Unfortunately, while periods are a natural function of our bodies, the menfolk, emboldened by consumer culture, have done a successful job of making us feel thoroughly ashamed of our gross, disgusting bodies.
Luckily, women have done a great job of kicking these ridiculous societal expectations in the dick for the last decade or so, giving rise to the very popular period liberation movement.
A wonderful movement that highlights problems such as period poverty, women’s reproductive health, and ending the practice of shunning menstruating women in some countries.
But it has also given life to something known as the Menstrual Art Movement. I don’t mean to yuck anyone else’s yum, but there’s a reason this is a niche movement.
This extreme side of the period liberation movement has always kind of irked me. I’m all for women refusing to be shamed for their bodily functions, but at the end of the day, they are still bodily functions.
Artists making paintings with period blood, walking around in period-stained trousers, or making sculptures out of bloody tampons and used sanitary pads is pretty nauseating, to be honest.
No, periods should not be stigmatised but they should be treated like poo, pee, snot, spit, or any other bodily fluid, in the sense that we accept those things exist, but we don’t have to rub them in each other’s faces.
Unfortunately, it is a fact that women are shamed for our bodily functions in general, and any idea that we’re not sex mannequins insights groans of disgust from certain kinds of men.
For example, I used to work with a young lad who, for god knows what reason, decided to tell me that if he ever wanted to turn himself off a girl he’d imagine her on the toilet — and bloop — instantly repulsed.
In my experience, a lot of guys think like this, which I find endlessly weird. I’m not exactly eager to jump my boyfriend after he’s dropped the kids off at the pool. So, why do men make such a big deal when women do it?
The idea that women are fully functioning, waste-producing humans does need to be normalised, like, yesterday. But expecting us to be excited about LITERAL BLOOD falling from our bodies and implying that we’re anti-woman for not wanting to roll around in it is extremely reductive.
Weirdly enough, I don’t much want to take a bath in pee or spit either, especially not someone else’s. There is a reason we are grossed out by bodily fluids. They are vectors for disease and we are biologically programmed to be repulsed by them. It doesn’t make us bad people.
Shaming menstruation is a problem, and I fully understand the “I’m having a period and EVERYONE must know about it” movement. It has unfortunately been the norm for the women’s rights movement that in order to be heard we have to be as irate and demonstrative as possible.
I also 100% believe sanitary items should be provided in public bathrooms FOR FREE just as toilet paper always has been. Since periods are neither fun nor a luxury, and are just as normal as any other bodily function.
But no… I am not interested in buying artwork made using period blood. As much as I am not interested in owning a canvas smeared with faeces or a severed head.
Let’s all just be accepting of women having bodily functions (especially the ones that are necessary to propagate the human race) and keep the rest of it in our pants, shall we?
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