A Different Kind of Nosebleed
I was immediately intrigued by the attention given to periods in the ancient world. Understanding menstruation as not only being normal and healthy, but also being essential to “womanhood” is directly counter to the narrative that periods are dirty and shameful which seems to have persisted for centuries.
As period-positive as these ancient medical teachings may be, they also are deeply tied to the idea that periods are a significant part of the “weaknesses” of the female sex. Although women must bleed (and risk serious health consequences if they don’t), this blood is evidence that their bodies are cold, wet and porous, destined to inferiority. The blood is a reminder of what they can’t do and who they can’t be.
In an election where a news correspondent was insulted by a politician telling the country that “there was blood coming out of her wherever” and where the idea of women holding positions of power is often met with concerns over PMS, it is clear that we not only have continued the belief that periods are weakness, but we have also reverted to a place where mainstream society would like to ignore blood altogether.
One advertisement I encountered recently challenged both of these narratives. A commercial for sanitary products shown and described in this article by the Huffington post, veers away from the traditional blue-liquid commercials, and makes a much more meaningful statement about periods, and all of the people who experience them. Transitioning through shot after shot of tough, talented women pursuing their talents, from extreme sport to dance, we see a different side of blood. These women take hits, they fall, they work themselves bloody, and they push through it. The end of the advertisement summarizes all of the passion that has just been shown. “No blood should hold us back”. The advertisement reminded me both of the blood-positive ancient medical understandings, and the toughness and persistence that women have fought for since then. It just might interpret a nosebleed a little differently…
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