Menstrual Cycle v. Advertising World
DO NOT FEAR ME.
I just watched a tampon commercial with a woman's voice declaring that
"We women can play many roles:
Genius
Mother
CEO
Tomboy
Vixen
Seductress...
but the role NO woman wants to play.... is being on her period."
Now wait a second. I don't want to pull any earth goddess nonsense, but let's get some things straight. My vagina and uterus are in sync with the phases of the MOON and the TIDES.
Where as the only thing the penis is in sync with is whiskey or pepper spray.
Salty foods taste better when I'm on my period. My skin glows. I smell different. My period is awesome. It strikes up conversations in public restrooms. It connects me with every female on the PLANET.
And sex? Well, sex feels amazing when I'm menstruating because I'm significantly more sensitive. The mixture of blood, sweat, and sex is so primal. So hot. I will slather my blood on my lover like fucking war paint.
We women are constantly bearing witness to men spooging every where when they orgasm â€" physical evidence of their pleasure. During our period, we can have sex and leave are mark all over thighs, fingers, and sheets.
Excuse me, but um, how cool is that?!
My blood, and my vagina are not things I am ashamed of. No woman should be. It's quite depressing when men cringe at the idea of making sweet bloody love with their special lady friend. Sadly, most men have this reaction because women have been socialized that their vaginas are dirty.
Douches, sprays, washes, wads of dry cotton, scented pads all make me feel like I'm dealing with an open wound. If I didn't know better and I was a guy, I would be horrified of this nebulous bleeding creature known as a vagina. Yet, unlike fish tanks, kitchens, and your car, did you know that vagina's have built in a self cleaning system? My vagina was not meant to smell like a mountain breeze. If a guy wants that, he can huff on a can of air spray for all I care.
Men that I meet that have a healthy attitude about menstruation (i.e. don't make lame comments about "the time of the month", don't blush when I pull out a tampon, and dig the period sex) have generally been in relationship with a woman who never made a big deal out of bleeding. Generally, when the woman is comfortable with the blood, the men follow suit.
I wish more women would embrace menstruation as a part of their femininity. A woman's breasts and curves serve as points of pride because they are so inherently female. Men dig breasts and curves for the same reason. So why not dig the power to menstruate? The amazing ability to incubate life! LIFE, DAMNIT. Menstruation should not be interpreted as limiting and alienating but empowering, unique and SEXY. If a woman is comfortable with menstruation and her lover is not, it is my opinion that the lover is rejecting the woman's femininity rather than embracing it, relishing in it.
For example, my best friend and I happen to start our periods on the same day. We occasionally throw ourselves a period party. We dress in red. Eat red food. Drink red wine . IT IS FABULOUS. I suggest all the ladies who are reading this to try it. I once in invited my boyfriend, who wore a lovely red shirt and cooked us delicious pasta in blood red marinara sauce.
So to all my brothers you need to love and embrace EVERY part of your woman. And to all my sisters: next time you menstruate, I hope you swell with self- love. Get a cramp from smiling about your unique and beautiful biology. Bond with your best friends over the power you share. And get your brains fucked out.
© Natasha VC
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Comments
on 12/12/07 at 04:12 PM
the penis is in sync with the smell and the chemistry of the woman he lives with every day of the year in and year out. you need to know the man whose penis you see every day as a normal thing in your life.
the pain of the man is not in a cycle but when he has not fulfilled his body's need. he can only do that when he can sense in the woman's cycle that she is receptive. many men have lost touch with the primal instincts and the sense of smell and the intimacy of being with women. we need to be reattached and reintouched to our natural selves.
men need to see and smell and touch a naked woman every day. women need to sense and touch and smell a naked man every day. that is the only way the world goes around.
in modern world, men don't know about periods any more. it is all covered up. alll they know is tv commercials for tampons, which embarrass them. they wonder why the republicans they voted for haven't banned them. women need to lighten up on the deodorizers and realize that nowadays men are women too and they have to acknowledge what men just sense from the oddness in the bathroom now and then.
if there were tv commercials for products to help clean semen off sheets that would be very interesting.
men don't talk about pain.
men don't tell you that masturbation isn't a pleasure thing. it is a prevention of pain thing.
men dont want sympathy. men are quiet.
in the night, when you are asleep, please please start a movement among women at 2 am, make sure your man is fast asleep and caress his penis with your hand until the juice of heaven comes out.
don't tell any men. spread this like an internet rumor. all women need to do this.
and then all women need to encourage their men to be naked in the house
if a woman walks into a house and her husband, brother, father, son, is naked, she should compliment him.
if a woman is having a party with a few female friends over, she should ask her husband/lover/male friend to be naked when he serves the drinks, hors doe'veres, etc.
if a woman is having her period, she should not keep it a secret, but have a naked man change her tampons for her. and whatever she does with his penis is entierly her affair.
some man
on 09/17/07 at 02:49 AM
"Sugar and spice, and everything nice". Well, that depends on one's definition of "nice".
I realize, of course, that the aforementioned verse is in the realm of fairy tale. It is as inaccurate
with respect to the female of the species as it is offensive to the male of the species (I refer to the
verse that usually accompanies the above that, supposedly, describes the male), and proffers
conscious and subconscious attitudes towards both sexes at an early age.
Being male, and fortunately, not having to deal with menstruation (at least not my own) should
I choose not to, I am fully aware that I have nothing to say regarding menstruation from a female
point of view, i.e., nothing experiential as concerns the process itself. I would also point out that,
if you are a woman reading this, you do not have any experience whatsoever as a man, or in
seeing things from that perspective. Whether you feel that the sexes are equal, or that women
are somehow "better" than men, is your business. In my opinion, the sexes are different. But
please, don't consider your being female as an "accomplishment": the fact that you are
is certainly nothing that you "did".
How women deal with menstruation - either by extolling the virtues of the process, as they
perceive it, and then connecting the process to the tides, the moon, sexual pleasure, numerology,
life, birth, death etc., or by hating or feeling that the process is a nuisance - is up to them.
"Sugar, spice, blood, piss, shit, yeast, bacteria, entitlement, moodiness, emotional unavailability,
fear, pride, teasing, love, joy, reverence, disease, joy in books, joy in cooking and on and on.....
"carpe diem".....all of these might be characteristics of either a man or a woman (including
snakes and snails and puppy dog tails - at least, after a fashion)
Menstruation, however, is a strictly female biological process. My experience? A woman I dated
for several years felt that her period was her "private time". That was her choice. When we had
scheduled a weekend away from the kids in another city, when she arrived (I was anticipating a
weekend that hopefully included making love; o.k., crucify me...there'll be plently of blood for all!),
she informed me that she was having her period. I was initially angry that she hadn't told me earlier,
were that possible.
She said: "I'm not broken".
I said "Can we make love".
She said: "No".
I said: "Then you're broken to that degree".
Some women offer the tautological argument that a "mature man" is one who is not, in any
way, ever revulsed or even slighly repulsed by menstruation, bloody tampons, pads, bloody
panties soaking in the sink, etc. The "immature man", then, is a male who does find the
menstrual process or the things associated with it, at times, less than attractive, delightful
and appealing. Being mature, to me, means admitting that the process exists; however - as
many women also feel about menstruation - I don't have to like it....and I don't.
While I realize menstruation's biological imiportance, the part that it plays (again, anecdotally) in
hormonal fluctuations and mood changes (for better or worse; pardon the phrase), the simple fact
is that women's vaginas are either bleeding or not bleeding. Men's penises are hard, or soft.
Both sexes have bodies, with their individual attributes.
For a woman to say to a man: "Well, you don't really know what menstruation is like....if men had to
go through it, they wouldn't be able to [fill in the blank]....." is simply a ludicrous statement. It
describes a physical act that is impossible for a male and then castigates the male for not being
female. The "logic" is simply ridiculous. If a man were a women, "he" would be just that - a woman,
with all the more-or-less "womanly" emotional attributes and physical processes inherent in
being female. And vice-versa. And for any woman reading this, should you doubt this fact,
somewhere out there in the world of video is an 80 minute documentary of 4 different women
directed by Camille Paglia, who is also the interviewer.
In this documentary, there is a woman who feels that she is actually a man, but was born with
a woman's body, and so begins to undergo the hormonal therapy and long theraputic process
that people involved in the process of sex/gender identity change sometimes go through.
After a few months of testosterone injections, the woman in the film says: "I never knew why
men went to strip bars, or why there were triple-X arcades. I considered myself to be quite a
sexually intense woman - I was frequenty horny - but THIS!! My God, I feel like I can jump over
buildings. NOW I KNOW WHY MEN ARE THE WAY THAT SOME OF THEM ARE!". Imagine that....
So, please, none of this nonsense of: "Well, if you were a woman.....". Well, if I were a woman,
I would handle things the way that a woman does (not that there isn't a tremendous spectrum
and variety there, as far as that goes). And, if you were a man, you would handle things the
way that a man does - again, with all the variations that that sex and humans have.......... believe
it!
Have as much pride as you want in your bleeding vagina; that's great. I think that it would
be an inconvenience at best, and a hated biological curse at worst..
As far as I personally am concerned, I find the menstrual process disgusting, if needed for
procreation (if for nothing else).
Vaginas are "self - cleaning", eh? Well, I wouldn't want to wipe my counters with one, that's
for certain, but then, that's not what they are for. And yes, while "getting your brains fucked out",
the smell of the vagina is an aprodesiac. However, I wouldn't like my house smelling like one -
bleeding or not.
So, wear your red shirts, have your boyfriends make you special Marinara (that's suppposed
to be capitalized, by the way) sauces [what kind of sauces do you make when your vagina isn't
dripping blood?], make red Kool - Aid, dip your freshly-removed bloody tampons in your
water glass at the restaurant and drink up. Oh, and keep creating LIFE, DAMNIT! There
certainly aren't enough people on earth at this point, and it seems as if becoming pregnant,
at least in this town, is rather popular. Now there's a lovely vision - childbirth! Right up there
with "Alien", though perhaps only slighly less disgusting. Or, if you absolutely don't want to
risk becoming pregnant, don't have sex! It IS possible.
Now I'm certain that there is probably a woman or two out there who haven't liked what I've
written. And, there may be a few who agree with me (Stephanie Miller [of The Stephanie Miller
Show] might be one. From a recent show, she mentioned friends who had people over for dinner
and, while eating, watched the video taken of the recent birth of their child! "Hey, pass the Lasagna!
.....My God!" was one of the quotes from the show).
You might be saying: Well if you were a woman............!
Well, thankfully, I'm not.
And if you were a man, you might very well feel as I do. Immature? Maybe, maybe not.
Truthful? Yes.
on 10/01/06 at 08:53 AM
So, if TV is an excellent reflection of what mainstream society wants to see - and this ad was even specifically targeted to appeal to WOMEN, then why all the fuss over it here? Isn't this exactly what women want to see, by definition from it being on TV?Or, are you saying that TV in fact DOES NOT represent what mainstream (women) want to see - thereby blowing your own theory out of the water?
And, you sure do like commenting on these self-indulgent blogs, nonetheless, eh? :D
Rebecca
on 09/30/06 at 02:18 PM
^^ Your comments on this piece and others are overwhelmingly moronic, and yet somehow pompous. Bravo!Television and other forms of mass media are interesting topics of discussion regardless of whether or not you actually consume them. Like it or not, they are excellent reflections of what mainstream society wants to see, testing the strength of people's values, and noting new trends. Gender discrepancies are definitely worth commenting on, and it is easy to point to television as evidence for this, because it reaches such a vast audience. Blogs, on the other hand, are self-indulgent pieces of shit written by people who are most likely too dense to get their writing actually published.
on 09/28/06 at 01:53 PM
Just STOP watching TV. It is hardly even worth commenting on anymore...you could write a blog on every minute of stupidity they air on there.Exercise your free choice and mind and press OFF.
Rebecca
on 09/05/06 at 01:41 PM
you fucking rock! you're definitely one of my favorite writers. i love having sex on my period, but i think that the red parties might be a little extreme for me, but at least it compensates for all the social stigmas that people give to our mighty red tides!Silver
3,106 points
on 08/03/06 at 06:24 AM
on a side note.. there is something else very wrong with that ad.. by making a list like that about what 'women can be' just defeats the purpose because it makes a big deal out of the idea that they're doing it.saying 'i'm a woman and i can be this and that..' shows a sense of self-consciousness that we shouldn't have to feel at all.
just do it and shut the fuck up about it.
it's not like you'd never see an ad saying a man can be a genius, father, a CEO, effeminate, playboy...'
on 06/12/06 at 10:09 PM
Period pieces are sexy.Silver
3,785 points
on 05/14/06 at 01:53 PM
You're spot on 36. (forgive the pun)on 05/14/06 at 12:38 PM
No, you're not wrong. I think her point was that we should not stigmatize part of what makes women women, which I'm all for. I know what you mean: when Aunt Flo comes to visit, my breasts ache and I feel like I've been punched in the stomach. But we shouldn't feel afraid to talk about it, or feel ashamed when it happens.Good article.
Thought you'd enjoy this:
http://www.preciousparts.net/
on 05/14/06 at 11:43 AM
Am I wrong to hate the sight of blood? Am I wrong to not like when my cunt smells like fish? My breasts, one of my most feminine attributes ache, I'm fatigued, in pain, surrounded by gross smells, and inevitably snap at my boyfriend. Bottom line: I hate my period, and it's quite understandable for him to be less than fond of it too. I chug that Midol, plug myself up with tampax, and try my best to pretend it's not happening. But, I don't feel like that makes me less of a woman, less of a feminist, or anything of that nature. Am I wrong?Bronze
427 points
on 05/04/06 at 10:01 PM
a good reason to have sex: it makes cramping because of your period go away.Silver
3,785 points
on 04/26/06 at 11:52 PM
"Your bitches don't even bleed yet" -TellySilver
4,709 points
on 04/26/06 at 11:34 PM
"My bitches got mad flavor"-Casper
Silver
3,785 points
on 03/26/06 at 10:10 PM
Yes. My words often have that affect. They have banned me from newsletters at work for the same reason.on 03/24/06 at 10:51 PM
This article made me cum.on 03/24/06 at 12:09 PM
ewww. great article but i gagged a bunch of times reading this. I am just not ready to get close to the whole period thing. I think alot of guys feel the same way. But then again, it grosses me out when i go down on a chick too.on 03/12/06 at 08:06 PM
The drug that makes you not have a period was actually based on some research which showed that maybe we weren't meant to have a period once a month at all. In the old days, women began having children after they hit puberty, and breastfed until the kid was about 2 or so, which effectively stopped their period from coming, and then they had another kid. So they just kept having children until they hit menopause, sometimes only having 4 or 5 periods in an entire lifetime.According to this research, there actually isn't even really a point to having periods at all--they just include the 4 periods a year because it does seem a little weird messing with the menstrual system, so they figure that they should throw in a few just for good measure.
on 03/12/06 at 06:27 PM
Wow, I hella dig the imagery about crazy territorial blood-marked period sex.Interestingly, I too reluctantly think Hugh Grant is hot.
Silver
3,785 points
on 02/16/06 at 06:28 PM
hahahahaah @ magic wands.on 02/16/06 at 03:18 PM
This made my ovaries tingle in anticipation of my coming monthly bleeding.Speaking of which -- im late.
Not to worry though, short of immaculate conception, there is no way i could be pregnant.
Honestly though, who better than a(n unbelievably attractive) catholic lesbian to carry the Last Scion?
But im just going off on a tangent here. Really, i agree with you -- menstruation shouldn't ever be something for women to be ashamed of. Just like men relish in their "magic wands", women should learn to as well.
Perhaps we should start to measure our feminity by our menstrual flow. Men compare their penis size; so we should follow suit damn it!
I WANT to show off my enlarged tampon!
Hm.
Too far?
Regardless -- achy breasts are a small price to pay for the Corn Nuts im eating right now to taste so fantastic.
Thank you Pandora for opening that box,
thank you Eve for talking that silly fool, Adam (who really only wanted to rip those leaves and bushes from your body) into biting the apple.
You ladies have given us the greatest gift of all:
Our periods.
Period.
Member
2 points
on 02/16/06 at 10:40 AM
nice article.it's a shame that such an unduly misogenistic society has reiterated the supremacy of the male body by doing a turn on women's ability to menstruate. frolicking through the fields? no problem... if you're a guy.
and honestly, there's something sinister about a pill that prevents you from every having a period. who the fuck came up with this sort of thing? scientists, while holding the hands of men in business suits? it's a ploy, a matter of 'convenience': women, don't you hate your bodies, the way you unnecessarily burden yourselves? well, have we got the fix for you!
more on this later, i have to run to class
Silver
3,785 points
on 02/16/06 at 12:33 AM
HOORAY!!vag purse equipped with clit = genius
on 02/16/06 at 12:28 AM
this article is great. i work at a women's center on my university campus and women have brought in some amazing vagina art. this woman i met actually sews vagina purses. they are so... instense? they are beautiful on the outside, and then you unzip them, and what do you know, it even has a little clitoris! very clever. there's amazing art that we've seen about vaginas, and this story, my friend, is something that i will print and post in our kickass fun women's center bathroom. i'll make sure everyone reads it. the ladies are going to love it. =)Silver
3,785 points
on 02/15/06 at 10:01 PM
arg! that sucks:(i used to get that. awful cramping and loud crying outburts during Sex in the City. But i changed my pill to a lower dose of horomone (estro-step) and now im golden.
but all the same, it's hard to get down and dirty when it feels like your ovaries are doing a mexican hat dance on your uterus (cramps)
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