I was talking with my friends the other day about periods and how people have such a negative outlook on them. One of my friends was talking about how they felt really gross when they were on their period and how even when they shower, they feel completely dirty. I told them about what we talked about in class about periods and how we said it is seen negatively when it shouldn't be. One of them asked why it should be seen as a good thing and another one said it's because it shows we are women. I told them that was exactly right but they still thought it was really disgusting and said they would never see it as a good thing.
Even after explaining to them it isn't all that bad, they wouldn't change their mind and I just couldn't understand why. I mean, I don't see it as a great thing, but I'm not repulsed by getting my period. I don't understand why we have grown up thinking that periods are a really disgusting thing, when it is a natural part of life that can't be avoided.
I actually had a similar conversation with some of my teammates a while ago. They were discussing how much they hated getting their periods and how it was so nasty and they wish they could go without it. I tried to explain the things we talked about in class, and it actually seemed like I was getting through to them. They started to understand why it can be seen as a good, clean and natural process. They thought this until some of our male teammates joined the conversation. I don't know why the boys thought their opinions were welcome or wanted, but they shared that they did not like the thought of girls and periods. They said they associate periods with bitchiness and nastiness. After they voiced their opinions it seemed like all the girls started to change their minds back to periods being something nasty and something that should be hiden and forgotten about.
ReplyDeleteI found it so odd that after the guys shared their opinion the girls went back to agreeing with what they had said. ON A WOMANS ISSUE! Why do we let the male gender decide what we should think about our bodies and the processes our bodies go through? I can't help but think that we wouldn't have this negative connotation of periods if men would not have associated it negatively.
Hmmmm.... As I ponder this myself, I wonder if periods fall into the same sphere as other natural bodily functions and/or aspects that we find equally repulsive; for example, body odor, morning breath, greasy hair, etc. However, there are also those that are only repulsive on women, like leg and under-arm hair. From my experience, it seems to me that men are not as repulsed by periods as women are: they simply see it as a natural body function, so I guess my question is this: are periods considered disgusting because it is a feminine trait or because of how it makes us feel physically (like when you haven't showered in 2-3 days)?
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