Menstruation is not shameful.
In an ideal world, I could end the post there. In an ideal world, even that would be somewhat trite. However, it isn’t.
Bodily fluids can be messy and seem icky. But that doesn’t make them shameful. Having a runny nose can be messy. Having a cough can be icky. But we don’t try to pretend that blowing one’s nose doesn’t exist. We don’t feel furtive buying a box of tissues or make childish jokes about decongestant. And—as the current pandemic shows—we should be actively cautious around the bodily fluids from sneezes and coughs.
If, as Patrick Stewart once stated, society only really listens when white men speak, then this is me speaking:
Menstruation is not shameful.
If, as some people state, everyone has an equal voice, then this is me speaking:
Menstruation is not shameful.
“…you may not be able to save the whole world but you can give one person at a time the power to empower themselves.”
—Ella Lambert, founder of the Pachamama Project.
Improving the world can take vast effort but the first step here is practically effortless: try not to treat menstruation as if it were shameful; if that makes it better for one person then that’s nothing to be sneezed at.
Davetopia 