On Menstruation Issues: Removing Stigmas and Initiating Actions from a Perspective of an Educator
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This article is part of the 31st issue of LEAP — Voices of Youth e-letter. Subscribe now.
For its fall semester, National Taiwan University (NTU) established a precedent by launching a course on menstruation. Enrolled by hundreds of students, this general education course has attracted widespread attention both inside and outside the campus due to its one-of-a-kind theme. At the same time, it reflects the phenomenon of more discussions on menstrual issues across Taiwanese society in recent years.
The Social Context Behind a Course on Menstruation
Established in 2020, Little Red Hood is a NPO composed of a group of passionate young people. They promote menstrual equality through a variety of actions such as lectures, exhibitions, courses, etc.
Despite her relatively young age, its founder, Vivi Lin, has been paying close attention to menstruation issues for more than a decade. She noticed that increasing discussions on menstruation have become a global trend in recent years. Countries like Scotland and New Zealand have also been trailblazers to employ very pioneering policy models to tackle period poverty. Although Taiwan leads in awareness on gender equality among Asian countries, the discussion on menstruation has still been absent andissues, such as menstrual stigma and poverty, still exist.
Through active advocacy and educational action, Little Red Hood emphasizes that menstruation is not a topic that should be shamed or avoided.
On the other hand, as a professor at the NTU School of Medicine as well as an obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Ruby Huang noticed the desperate need for more room to discuss menstrual issues on the campus. She mentioned the opportunities for her to start planning this menstruation course. Previously in a two-hour lecture, she had described the relevant physiological phenomena and social context surrounding the topic of menstruation, which had received a positive response from her students. That experience made her realize that students need more long-term and in-depth discussions and two hours was obviously not enough to explain menstruation thoroughly..
Sharing the same visions, they co-founded a general education course at NTU — Period: Theory, Thoughts and Actions. They invited a cross-disciplinary group of professors to lead students in in-depth discussions on menstruation from various perspectives, ranging from natural science to humanities.
Curriculum Design: The Process of Discourse from “Sensitization” to “Desensitization”
Their social initiatives have always attempted to call public attention to the issue. Their long-term goal is to gradually accustom people to the content, naturally leading to daily practices. Dr Huang describes this process as “Sensitizing / Sensitization” to “Desensitizing / Desensitization’’, terms also known in the medical field, which serve as the core spirit of her curriculum design.
“Through knowledge learned in class, students are able to develop a high sensitivity to menstrual issues. But, the most important objective is so students can continue to discuss menstruation among their friends or at home, making it a less sensitive topic.”
The more natural it becomes to talk about menstruation, the more labels and stigmas may be gradually eliminated in the discussion. Dr. Huang believes that “When people begin thinking, ‘Menstrual is as normal as breathing, why do we need to make a big deal about it?’ — that means we have succeeded.”
Dramatic Arts Can Also be Menstrual Initiatives
In addition to rational argumentation, a humanistic examination is another way to promote communication.
In the menstruation course, Hsieh Hsiao-Mei, head of the Department of Drama and Theatre at NTU responsible for teaching the theme of “menstruation and drama”, says “Across various eras, there have been different social prejudices that need to overcome, and theater can reflect the issues facing these eras and promote discussion in a relatively gentle way.”
In traditional Chinese opera, she observed how vaginas and menstrual blood were discriminatorily depicted as symbols of uncleanliness, used to drive away enemies during war. In addition to ancient Eastern works, a similar portrayal can also be seen in modern western theater. In the 1990s the American play The Vagina Monologues depicts repression of the female body in the 20th century. There are hidden prejudices against women behind the avoidance of talking about vaginas. In addition to reflecting modern thought, this work embodies a strength to call for change.
Hsieh has gathered contemporary international or Taiwanese films, stage plays, comics, poems, and other artistic creations related to menstrual blood and menstruation. Sharing them in the menstruation course, she leads students to explore the trajectories of art and the gender rights movement. Hsieh also encourages students to present their ‘vigina monologues.’ “Through the art packaging initiative, people can more easily identify with the characters, minimizing differences and creating dialogue,” she said.
True Equality is When Everyone Can Participate
In this general education course, the backgrounds of students are quite diverse. The ratio of males to females is about 4:6, and they come from various majors, such as literature, social sciences, engineering, medicine, etc. Huang says, “For students, this classroom is a microcosm of our future society. Students can practice discussions and exchanges on the same topic with people from different fields.”
The debut of menstruation class showed us new possibilities for education that respond to the needs of society. “There is no such issue that restricts discussion to a certain gender. This class is about finding a space for everyone to participate,” says Vivi Lin, “only by looking beyond ‘gender’ at menstruation can we ever truly achieve ‘gender equality’.”
Ruby Huang believes that although menstruation is not a physiological phenomenon shared by everyone, it still exists in the social context of everyone’s growth and should be considered a social issue transcending gender and age. The moment we can break through the gender framework and discuss the various aspects of menstruation together is the time that true gender equality can be practiced.
Also in This Issue:
Experimenting with a New Type of University Course — Period: Theory, Thoughts, and Actions
In the past fall semester, the “period course” at NTU has brought experts from various fields together to discuss period with students.
Author : Hsien Liu
Freelance writer / Graduate student in Journalism
