Taboos of Menstruation

by Aish Subramanian

You may have seen this picture recently doing the rounds on the internet, an image meant to provoke and raise questions about the taboos and restrictions surrounding menstruation – a part of many women’s life. While the censorship of the image by Instagram is controversial, I am much more interested in how this image promotes awareness of menstruation. Does the image serve to demystify menstruation and to make it a more acceptable part of society, as the artist claims? Despite the image’s shock value and partly because of this, I don’t think it actually furthers efforts to spread awareness and understanding of menstruation.

To put my argument into perspective, think about a universal bodily function – defecation. Just the word elicits a modicum of embarrassment. Not many people, I would think, would appreciate a movement to make bodily functions visible and publicly displayed. I hold the same opinion for menstruation – while the taboos have to be addressed and it should no longer be something that is viewed as ‘impure’ or something women should be ashamed of. Women should be able to carry a tampon or napkin to the bathroom without shame, or should they be afraid to have a conversation about menstruation with men. However, I do not think menstruation blood should be shown on Instagram. You would not want to see other bodily fluids/functions, nor are they tolerated on Instagram. No one shows pictures of their vomit, or semen to ‘demystify’ them. Similarly, I think publicly showing period blood does not create a greater acceptance of the issues surrounding menstruation. While there may be discourse, I think most it is initiated by people who are polarized about the photo – essentially removing a discussion that is educative and rather creating an arena where most of the rhetoric is meant to aggravate.

Instead, I think awareness and education about women’s issues and menstruation should go a bit like this video. I think those who are not educated about these issues should be confronted with their ignorance, and then provided an opportunity to learn from the experience. As a fifth grader, I remember my first sexual education class – the boys and girls were taught separately. While I don’t know what the boys were taught, the girls were taught information about their periods and what they might entail. I remember wondering why the boys were also not taught this information, but now I realize that the school had made a decision that this was ‘irrelevant’ for boys to learn.

If the artist’s goal is to simply start discussion and question what is acceptable, she has indeed achieved it. I believe, however, that if she wishes to fulfill her desire to “demystify” periods, posting pictures of period blood is not the most effective manner. To me, a successful example of this is Elone, an artist that does similar things – as she pushes the boundaries of what is ‘acceptable’ and succeeds in bringing up women’s issue. But I believe her work succeeds as she ultimately ends up educating her audience. Perhaps I am enforcing a very harsh critique on a work that clearly has succeeded in at least one person contemplating these issues (me!), but I think in order for menstruation to be socially accepted – education is key. And each of these art works can contribute.