Imagine a scenario where you decided to wear your favorite pair of jeans out of the house. You go out to do errands, get a bite, and meet up with your friends. Then you feel it, the slow trickle of blood. You panic because you are not prepared. There is already a stain in your pants, and everyone is looking. A sense of embarrassment washes over you. Now I want you to ask yourself why. Why are you feeling this shame? Where does that come from? That gut-wrenching fear that comes every month that someone will know you are a menstruating person. The extra showers because you don’t want anyone to smell your blood. Hearing, “Oh, she’s just on her period,” when you have any normal emotional response. Or even your own internal monologue, criticizing every thought and feeling you have because of your hormones.
In the worst cases, medical professionals will tell you that the intense pain you are having every month is a normal period symptom and that, despite the fever, chills, and mind-numbing cramps you are experiencing, you are probably just stressed. They refuse to take any tests as they write you off as just another dramatic, emotional woman. This is not a new or surprising issue; there has always been a fear surrounding menstruation. Instead of confronting that fear, we stigmatized it.
Women were once worshiped for their ability to create life. The womb was seen as a gift, but with the gift of creation also comes the fear of destruction. This fear of destruction was taken and tainted by men and used to make menstruation taboo. Perhaps this taboo was also connected to a fear of blood and germs that spread into a sexist form of control. As different cultures developed, different taboos emerged.
Cultural Examples of Menstrual Taboo
- In the 1920s in Saigon, Vietnam, women who were menstruating were not allowed to work in the opium industry for fear that the opium would turn sour.
- In primitive cultures, during harvest season, women were not allowed to cook, go near crops, or be near their husbands or anyone in their village. They were forced to reside in a menstrual hut, and in some cases were not permitted to come back until they underwent a purifying ritual. The menstrual huts in New Guinea were laden with stinging nettles, sharp branches, and leaves, in the hope that the pain would distract from the menstrual cycle.
- Inuits believed that menstruating women caused a bad hunt, because the essence that was given off by the blood stuck to the men and made them more visible to prey.
- In early times in Italy, Spain, Germany, and Holland, fruit trees were said to die and produce less fruit if touched by a menstruating woman.
- In Southeast Europe, pickling was prohibited for menstruating women for fear that the food would not be preserved properly.
- A study was run by Bela Schick in the 1920s that supposedly showed that menstrual blood gives off menotoxins that killed a bouquet that she gave a servant by the next day, which was later found invalid.
- In the Khawar of India, women were not even allowed in or near the kitchen, for fear that food would spoil.
- The Iatmul people of Papua New Guinea said that women are allowed to cook for their husbands while menstruating if they want to cause him nonlethal harm.
- The Mae Enga people of Papua New Guinea believed that menstrual blood would murder a man and turn his blood black.
- A woman who was formally married to a New Guinea tribesman was murdered for sleeping with her ex-husband’s blanket while menstruating because that was the only way to get rid of the evil energy that was left. This evil energy was labeled “mana” and was said to follow women during their cycle.
- This menstrual mana created superstitions that we still follow, such as walking under ladders. This began from being warned not to walk under anything a menstruating woman has contaminated, such as clotheslines, trees, or bridges.
- The !Kung people of Southern Africa created another superstition about syncing cycles, spreading the idea that menstruation was a contagious ailment.
This list of cultures that created stigmas goes on and on.
Modern-Day Menstrual Stigma
Although these examples come from early times, menstrual stigmas still follow us in modern society. Menstrual shame can show up in something as little as using coded communication to talk about menstrual cycles, such as “lady days” or “moon time”. Consider, as well, the myth that using a tampon takes your virginity and pops your hymen. Above all, possibly the most harmful modern-day menstrual issue is the lack of proper research and education. A 2023 study by Emma DeLoughery et al. was the first-ever study on menstrual products to test actual blood.
Before this study, menstrual products were tested using saline or water. The blood used in the 2023 study was not menstrual blood, suggesting that true studies on period products have never been conducted. The viscosity of menstrual blood is different because of the added discharge and fluids within the vaginal walls. As a result, many period products may have less or more capacity for blood than advertised. Not only are period products not tested properly, but they are also proven to be toxic.
New research from UC Berkeley found that many name-brand tampons are leaching lead and arsenic into the user’s body. This was the first time tampons were tested for toxic metals, and it wasn’t done until 2024. So, now we have products that haven’t been tested on blood, are leaching metals, and are still being sold at a hefty price. Period poverty is a real and pressing issue. A study run by The Harris Poll on behalf of PERIOD found that “1 in 4 students struggle to afford period products in the United States.” This is a staggering statistic considering how there are approximately 70 million menstruating people in the United States alone.
Fighting Menstrual Stigma
Although we have come a long way in terms of period care and products, we as a society are still behind in protecting and educating menstruators. The only way to protect young menstruators from developing this internal shame is to globally stop shaming people for having a natural body experience. This starts with proper reproductive education for everyone in schools. If everyone is learning about how menstruation works, there will be less room for fear and shame to develop.
I encourage everyone to freely and openly talk about their cycles and to think about all the people who have had their period before you, and will be getting them after you. We menstruators have to stick together and realize that what we experience is neither wrong nor gross, but is a natural process that we did not ask for. This fear instilled inside of every menstruator should be replaced with the original worship and wonder of reproductive processes. If you look closely enough, you can see that this biological process is full of beauty instead of shame.
Sources
Delaney, J., Mary Jane Lupton, & Toth, E. (1988). The curse: a cultural history of menstruation. University Of Illinois Press.
DeLoughery, E., Colwill, A. C., Edelman, A., & Bannow, B. S. (2023). Red Blood Cell Capacity of Modern Menstrual Products: Considerations for Assessing Heavy Menstrual Bleeding. BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health, 50(1), 21–26. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsrh-2023-201895
Health, B. P. (2024, July 3). First study to measure toxic metals in tampons shows arsenic and lead, among other contaminants. UC Berkeley Public Health; UC Berkeley School of Public Health. https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/articles/spotlight/research/first-study-to-measure-toxic-metals-i n-tampons-shows-arsenic-and-lead
Period Poverty and Stigma. (2022). Period.org. https://period.org/periodpoverty
