Dirty Blood:

menstrual taboos and the activism trying to stop them

In 2015, Indian-Canadian poet and artist Rupi Kaur posted several menstruation-themed photos on her Instagram account in an attempt to normalize the conversations around menstruation. The photos were of her, fully clothed, laying on her bed with period stains on her clothes and bed sheets. The other was of menstrual blood on her feet in the shower. Both photos were reported, deemed “obscene,” and forcibly removed from Instagram.

Similar situations where different artists, stores and online personalities have tried to portray menstruation in a very visible manner have resulted in those attempts being quickly shut down. This has been deemed as the modern form of menstrual activism. Their removals reinforce the fact that menstruation is not fully accepted as a normal part of daily lives in society.

In her pivotal book on contemporary forms of menstrual activism Out for Blood: Essays on Menstruation and Resistance, Breanne Fahs defines modern menstrual activism as “social activism that works to upset, challenge, and reverse impulses to silence and shame menstruating women.” Menstruation comes with a long history of shame through either biblical standards of cleanliness or societal portrayal of premenstrual symptoms (PMS) as hysterical women in need of sedating. In different religions, menstruating women were barred from political roles or entering churches because of their uncleanliness, or dirty blood.

Menstrual activism is seen as a non-western priority. An activism that fights for basic menstrual rights and products in countries where they are difficult to find. Because of our easier access to menstrual hygiene, it’s easy forget that menstruation is not wholly accepted within western society either. In fact, much of menstrual activism focuses on stigmatized topics such as menstrual blood and period sex. Menstruating women in western societies are now employing new ways of social activism to challenge the taboo and to make menstruation visible in society.

Menstrual Blood

One of the largest taboos surround menstruation is that of menstrual blood. Blood is the main reason why so much shame stems back to the times where menstruating women were deemed “unsanitary” and were not to be touched. Menstrual blood stains on clothing is seen as unacceptable in public and, as seen in the case of Rupi Kaur, also on social media sites such as Instagram.

Blood in western society is reserved for horror movies and hospital rooms. As a way to normalize the most visible aspect of menstruation, many Instagram pages have refuted the societal claim that menstrual blood is not meant to be seen by exclusively posting pictures of menstrual blood on clothing and “freebleeders” menstruating freely.

Kiran Gandhi became a very visible menstrual activist when she decided to run the London marathon while freebleeding. It was Gandhi’s first marathon and once she learned she would be on her period during the race, she did not want to quit the race, but instead embrace her menstruation. Ghandi, who toured with M.I.A. and graduated from Harvard Business School, said  these experiences made her confidence grow enough to know she could do this one very visible race while bleeding.

This, however, should not be the case.

Ghandi herself stated that she “should have been any random person running the marathon” but the fact that she bled freely, in addition to her past achievements, made people pay attention to her and her freebleeding marathon. Now, known as Madame Ghandi, her onstage persona, Ghandi tours while wearing “The Future is Female” tshirts, telling her audience to never feel ashamed of their bleeding.

Period Sex

Since menstrual blood is the most visible aspect of menstruation, yet many have been trained to hide it, non-menstruating people do not really know what to with it. Menstruating is a natural part of a biological cycle, which means it’s usually there for a lifetime. It is only natural to about sex and contraception.

It is the question many young menstruating women contemplate: to have or not to have… period sex?

Many non-menstruating partners, mostly men, do not know how to act when their menstruating partners are bleeding. Not only what it looks like, but how to react to the blood, and how to approach the topic period sex. There are so many misconceptions about period sex. A quick google search can tell you what people are thinking when it comes to period sex.

Many activists approach the topic of period sex by normalizing and sexualizing it as another aspect of the woman. In 2016, Norwegian artist Jenny Hval released her album “Blood Bitch,” an album exclusively dedicated to not only normalizing menstruation, but romanticizing its blood and the very normal sex that can happen during a period. Many songs read like a love poem to her period: “I dip my finger in it/ it smells like warm winter.”

Period sex is closely tied with contraception and period-tracking. These methods are used by menstrual activist and blogger, Femmehead. Femmehead teachers her readers how to track their period and how to use this tracking method as a hormone-free, natural contraceptive. This implies that period sex will only be a  natural part of the process.

Turning taboo into celebration

The current wave of menstrual activists in the western world remind me of The Guardian’s Opinion columnist, Chelsea G. Summer’s phrase: “and as far as I’m concerned, period sex is what dark towels were made for.” The modern activism seen from these activists not only encourage their fans, audiences, and the public in general to openly talk about menstruation and blood and sex, but they approach the topic by celebrating it.

Menstruation is an inevitable part of life for many people. It affects various generations, in various cultures. There are many reasons why we do not talk about it— the blood, the mess, the consequences. Modern menstrual activism highlights these reasons and celebrates them, in order to resist menstrual shame. These women show why we probably should talk about all the reasons menstruation is ignored.