Shame with Menstruation

The “naturalness” of the inferiority of women was preached from the beginning of time. In the life of a society like the greek polis, ancient greek philosopher, Aristotle, as stated in Eva Cantarella’s Pandora’s Daughters, identified women with matter, as opposed to spirit and form. Women were characterized solely by their “weaker nerve bundles'' and for the richness/abundance of their cellular tissue, dismissing their capabilities and upholding societies where only men had a determining role. Fortunately, in today's day and age, society has branched further away from and has denounced the individual costs of a concept of that sort. However, there are still many social situations in which the position of women are belittled and demeaned, particularly when we start talking about periods.

A woman having regular periods is a vital sign, similar to one’s pulse rate or blood pressure. Periods are meant to signify good health, balance within a woman's reproductive system. Sadly though, early on in history women were encouraged to seek out ways to make their periods “less disruptive” to everyday life. While primitive and indegnous cultures widely recognized women's menstrual cycles, “for the tribal woman, ready-to-wear psychological attitudes were provided, and her monthly state was openly related to the cosmos and her culture,” scholar Fred E.H. Schroeder writes, “No such open provisions are part of non-tribal societies, for the whole affair has been totally covered by silence.” As the “modern period” approach to menstruation was popularized, white men disregarded and ignored the shared female experience as if it was disturbing/impolite to talk about freely. According to Lara Friedenfelds, author and historian, “[the modern period approach to menstruation was] the idea that your body does not undermine your ability to be productive at school or at work... it’s a body that doesn’t smell or have cramps.” Men adamant on avoiding the topic made period culture a culture of quietness, a social taboo. The huge stigma associated with periods are consistently perpetuated instead of confronted, anchoring shame and aversion to our reproductive organs. To actually address the stigma that comes with discussing periods, the youth would need to be properly informed and have a safe space to have open dialogue which is too much for the patriarchy to layout, structure, and execute. We’d have to strip the youth of the misinformation that has been instilled in them in order to move the discussion in the right direction, requiring an explanation of why they were misinformed in the first place.

The patriarchy has continuously and irresponsibly discusses and depicts periods from a third-person point of view; a blatantly ignorant one at that, desensitizing men who have no way of sharing this experience with women. Early on, periods were made out to be a psychological phenomenon, later it was a catch-all with an irresponsibly loose definition. It's come to a point where it has become an “unpleasant” topic of conversation and is almost always casually dismissed. The simple fact is that periods aren't “overlooked”, we’ve been conditioned to treat it as an embarrassing secret, we’ve been conditioned to treat it as an exclusively female issue. Dominique Christina, a remarkable slam poet acknowledges that... “Blood is a siren. When we see it we think it is alerting us to a wound, a malady… something is wrong if we see blood. But menses is a part of the machinery of my body. I cannot allow anyone or anything to position me to feel flawed or poorly made. No. Men are not conditioned to regard their own physiology as a liability. Whose agenda does it serve for me to regard myself from that place?” It’s clear that the overwhelming taboo around menstrual health has hardened the tones of misogyny that was already widely present in our culture to begin with. Author, Caitlin Moran, of How to be a Woman highlights how, “[we live] in a culture where nearly everything female is still seen as squeam-inducing, and/or weak.” In her feminist novel she reasoned that, “periods are viewed as off-putting or repulsive simply because the biological process belongs to women.”

In response to that notion, young women on the popular social media app, TikTok, have banded together to create a space to speak on a topic boys can easily sympathize with. As demonstrated throughout history, men and women have had a disconnect when discussing periods that has proven to be very difficult to address. Young girls on the app, hoping to lead a new conversation in the right direction, have taken it upon themselves to inform men about the biological phenomenon, “gravidpenilenectomy”. “Gravidpenilenectomy” is a hoax, poking fun at how gullible and misinformed the youth is about menstruation. “Gravidpenilenectomy” is unique in the sense that the process is meant to be somewhat relatable and completely outlandish to young men in order to ensure that they’re invested. Lara Friedenfelds, author and historian presses that women were meant not to carry this image of being a laborious counterpart to men, so by “creating” this shared experience men are more likely to sympathize with women and keep an open mind. As stated @sexedu on TikTok, “gravidpenilenectomy” or “female cutting” is a monthly occurrence; following hormonal cycles a penis grows and if not cut, infection can occur. Women have been conditioned to treat menstruation as an exclusively female issue but “gravidpenilenectomy” throws that all out the window. What started as a simple joke has encouraged some much needed dialogue.

Personally, this trend gave me the opportunity to speak to my male peers about our failing education system, why affordable healthcare/healthcare for all is important, etc. While the achievement of formal equality with men is significant, it does not dismantle or exterminate millennia-old webs of discriminatory ideology. We can only attempt to tackle that by picking apart history and through open dialogue. Remember menstruation is normal, menstruation is healthy, menstruation is a phenomenon.

Writer: Sadaf Qurashi

Editor: Nathalia Ramkissoon

Graphic Designer: Sapriya Sharma

Photographer: India Jones