Here’s something the general public doesn’t want to talk about: Stuff that comes out of vaginas that’s not babies. And yet, things to do with menstruation seem to be finding a home in the national conversation. No longer just something we girls talk about amongst ourselves, in the last couple of years issues around our monthly cycle have been getting mad press. (See: This column right now.)
According to NPR, “the number of times the word ‘menstruation’ was mentioned in five national news outlets… more than tripled from 2010 to 2015, from 47 to 167.”
There are new re-useable products on the market for the first time in decades.There was the menstrual activist (it’s a thing) who ran a London marathon while on her period and decided to just let it ride sans blood soaker-upper. There’s the call for workplaces to provide tampons and pads like they do toilet paper, and New York and Illinois even declared those items tax-free because they are, after all, a necessity of sorts and not a luxury to be taxed.
This emphasis on Cousin Red — you know, Aunt Flo’s kid — seems like part of the greater picture we’re seeing lately, the one in which women are tired of being shamed.
For instance, we’re getting away from the time-honored tradition of body shaming; away from choice-shaming whether it has to do with choosing to be childless or being a stay-at-home-mom vs. being a working mom; and even away from slut-shaming, though the semantics there are somewhat backhanded — “You’re still a slut, but no shame in that.”
Maybe we’re not that good at this not shaming thing yet, but we’re working on it, right ladies?
For instance, on the breastfeeding front, we’ve made some waves. We decided to use the classic male defense move, which is to deflect the accusation back to the accuser.
We shamed the people who were shaming us for publicly using our breasts for their natural purpose, to feed our children. People seem to be chilling out about it, slightly, but these things take time, and a lot of in-your-face breastfeeding sit-ins shared on social networks.
Obviously not everyone is comfortable with open dialogue about the bleeding that occurs in most people who have a uterus every month for about 40 years. Even amongst us gals, most of us still use discretion when walking to the bathroom in a public or work environment — the old tampon-up-the-sleeve trick and what have you.
The feminist satirical site, Reductress.com, points out the intrinsic absurdities of our secret-period-having lives with headlines like “8 Gun Cases That Will Hide the Tampon You’re Carrying to the Bathroom,” and “4 Things to Yell Over the Sound of Your Tampon Wrapper Opening”.
On the one hand, all menstruating women go through this stuff, so what’s the big secret? On the other hand, it’s really not necessary to broadcast any of our bodily functions to everyone else eating at the same restaurant as us. We get that too.
Still, the tables are turning, and it’s a good thing for women. Besides, everybody knows when Hillary starts running shit, it’s gonna rain free tampons and chocolate. We’re just getting warmed up.
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 4, 2016.