Periods Suck, but They Give You Powers

         The articles we browsed in class, particularly "The Seeds of Rotting Fruit," spent a large deal of time focusing on the utter disgust of womanly fluids. Medieval menstruation was categorized under an overwhelming labeling of pollution and disgust. The mere association of the divine Jesus Christ with a human woman's womb was a concept of revulsion, for women's bodies and fluids were tantamount with excrement. Yet, in modern Western culture, the topic of menstruation is broached as a positive, if not merely necessary, attribute of entrance into womanhood. Though menstruation is an uncomfortable topic of discussion for most young preteens/early teenagers, I have never heard an adult openly criticize or degrade menstruation (unless they were bitching about their own period problems). I was therefore interested in seeing if there were any other positive views on menstruation in other cultures.

         The website http://www.maximhy.com/blog/2012/05/30/perspectives-on-menstruation-from-different-cultures/ relates that some cultures and healers actually believed that their were health benefits to periods and placenta, though a lot of the information seemed to confirm the ancient deleterious views on womanly fluids that we discussed in class. A patriarchal tribe in Papua New Guinea, dubbed the Sambia, paralleled Aristotle's thoughts (from "Woman Defamed and Woman Defended") on body fluids. Like Aristotle, they believed that semen was a source of masculine power—but they even went so far as engaging in "ritualized homosexuality," "semen ingestion practices," and blaming women for trying to steal their semen (and therefore power) throughout intercourse. We discussed in class how others throughout history, like the Jews, isolated menstruating women—with Hasidic Jews still engaging in this practice today—and the site states that traditional Muslims and Hindus also classified menstruating women as impure, thusly banning them from holy places.

         But finally, someone actually has something different to say about periods! The Cherokee cited menstrual blood as a source of "feminine strength" according to the website, and the Cherokee actually believed that menstrual blood contained the power to destroy enemies. (So basically if you were on your period, grab a weapon, and get to the front line.) Additionally, Pliny the Elder of Ancient Roman times wrote that when a menstruating woman uncovered her body, she had the ability to stave off lighting, whirlwinds, and hailstorms, and rid the crops of irritating pests. So though there are certainly more negative cultural conceptualizations of periods than positive ones, at least some cultures were able to counter the popular ideology of the time by citing examples of female—rather than masculine—strength in relation to the production of body fluids.

         Therefore though I have managed to find some traditionally positive views on female body fluids, the customary rhetoric on female body fluids is still overwhelmingly negative. This really causes me to reflect for a moment on how far society—at least Western society—has come since these Medieval times. [Urban Dictionary “red badge of courage” if you don’t believe me... men are surprisingly down for this, more than woman even, at least based on my humble experience J]. We still have a lot of strides to make in terms of gender equality, but I think it’s pretty remarkable that in Medieval times the fact the Jesus was birthed from a human woman’s womb was a source of much woe and anguish, yet in 2016, celebrities—such as Gwyneth Paltrow—openly champion the concept of ingesting their infant’s placenta in the name of health and science. What a time to be alive!