Well ladies, Menstrual Monday is upon us so let us rejoice and celebrate our monthly (more or less) gift! Today is the Monday before Mother’s Day and we are celebrating it because menstruation comes before motherhood. Thank your mother for having a period! So go forth and tell someone about menstruation. Spread the blood!
Maybe send a tampose bouquet to someone special? Wear red because you are on your period? I think yes!
Let’s take a pledge…everyone can partake, so just switch up the words to fit why you’re pledging:D
On this day, we pledge:
To cherish, not curse, our bodies
To accept, not deny, our blood
To rename, not despise, our period
To embrace, not deface, our bodies
To treasure, not neglect, our reproductivity
To celebrate, not hate, our ovaries
To venerate, not scorn, our hormones
To value, not condemn, our fallopian tubes
To hunger for our rhythms and cycles
To engage our innate ability to heal
To captivate our sense of miraculousness
To release, not retain, OUR SHAME!
SHED THE SHAME
It’s about time, right? :D
Here’s a (low quality) scan of the poster from the first Menstrual Monday in 2000 [pdf].
Thanks Liz! I wonder what the posters look like now?
I haven’t seen one for this year, but I may have a few others some where in my files. I wonder if Geneva has archived any of those materials on her site?
Menstruating Men?
In Anne Fausto-Sterling’s article How to Build a Man, she discusses what could happen if men could menstruate. Among her thoughts, Sterling explains menstruation would be another thing that men would brag and boast about. She says that men would use menstruation as a proof of manhood, sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free, and the media would cover the subject at length. The power and pride that men could potentially gain is a concept that could be applied to the idea of hegemonic masculinity, while at the same time increasing the prominence of emphasized femininity.
Hegemonic masculinity refers to the idea that men are dominant and powerful. Menstruation would be another reason for men to exercise that identity. For example, “…menstruation would become an enviable, boastworthy, masculine event: Men would brag about how long and how much” (Sterling, 1995). Menstruation would also mark the becoming of a boy to a man, and events would be planned to celebrate. Furthermore, relating this idea to hegemonic masculinity would potentially increase the prominence of emphasized femininity.
Emphasized femininity is considered to be an exaggerated form of femininity and refers to the idea that women must conform to the needs of men. Sterling (1995) touches on this idea when she explains that male radicals would insist that any women could achieve the ranks of men if she is willing to inflict a major wound upon herself each month, and “…recognize the preeminence of menstrual issues, or subordinate her selfness to all men in their Cycle of Enlightenment.” In doing this, men would be exercising their power that coincides with hegemonic masculinity.
If men could menstruate, Sterling (1995) imagines that women would agree to these arguments and “…the power of justifications could probably go on forever.” Her explanation offers an insight that could give more power to hegemonic masculinity, although this topic could be disagreed upon and debated by many. Sterling’s ideas contribute to the notion of emphasized femininity and provides an interesting analysis of what could happen if the gender roles of menstruation were reversed. This may lead one to examine why these ideas of men menstruating are not true for women today.
Works Cited
Fausto-Sterling, A. (1995). How to build a man.