Yes, it’s that time again, when my uterus sloughs its lining, declaring another month passed, preparing for another month to come.
I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about why I titled the category under which Menstruation falls Body rather than “Health”: it’s because what I want to talk about here, what I do talk about, is not necessarily about “health” — the state of wellbeing, or guidelines or tips or tricks or barriers to achieving that state — but rather about what it is like to be embodied, to exist with and within a body. We all have a body, we all are a body, even if we do not all have “health”.
Too often as woman (cis women, trans women, menstruating or not), we are told our bodies are bad, or dirty, or broken. We are taught to distance ourselves from our bodies, that “we” must beat/starve/shave/cut/torture/paint/bind/drug “them” into submission, too often in the name of “health”. I chose the category name Body because I don’t play that game. This body is me, and I am my body, and it/I deserve to be accepted, deserve to be embraced and cherished and celebrated and honored, whether it/I exist with “health” or not.
In the spirit of celebrating bodies, and in honor of my menstruation, I offer two links for your enjoyment: Jenny Hadfield writes about Training Through the Cycles of Life, and Frau Sally Benz discusses “period blood” and menstrual art (I highly recommend checking out the links: there’s some amazing art highlighted there).
From my body to yours,
Arwyn
I smiled with real happiness last week when my flow began, the first time in more than 2 years. No more mysteries as my body begins its predictive cycle. I can honestly say that your posts have helped me to see my body’s changes as a positive event to embrace.
I even went to the store to buy some red and purple flannel so I can have pads to accompany those by Party in My Pants (www.partypantspads.com). I’ll be ready for next month. I’ll try not to turn the event into a consumer opportunity by pining for garnets, but really, they seem perfect for the event.
Keep blogging about your perspective. Our bodies are beautiful–all month.
“I can honestly say that your posts have helped me to see my body’s changes as a positive event to embrace.”
I think that’s one of the best comments I’ve ever gotten. :) Thank you!
I’ll freely admit that I’m not looking forward to menstruation beginning again. I always think of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps when it comes because it seems so innocent and naive and then leashes itself on me. Very natural but nonetheless violent in its own way.
Oh I wasn’t looking forward to it, either. A part of me was looking forward to using my pads again (really!), to having a clear cycle so we could use NFP rather than having to assume I was always pre-ovulatory and use only condoms, but mostly I was just praying for lactational amenorrhea to last as long as possible. And I’m still ambivalent, no doubt.
But I blog about my period not because I feel nothing but fluffy bunny happiness about it, but because it’s a part of me, a part of living in this body, a part of being a particular type of woman, and because whether or not we like menstruating (or whether we both like and dislike it), there is nothing dirty, or shameful, or icky about it, and it shouldn’t be hidden away, unmentioned and unmentionable.
That’s actually a very related idea to why I chose Body over Health: it’s not about whether we like our periods, whether we’re “healthy”; it’s enough that they happen, that we are embodied, and however we feel about it is worth talking about, worth giving voice to.
Oh, but I should add that I really enjoy the Stravinsky piece, so it’s not all bad.
Thanks for the link!! It seems I’m in the minority in enjoying the menstrual art, but at least you call it amazing which is probably good, right? haha
What’s not to love? Some of the art is just really beautiful, regardless of medium, and I think the medium of menstrual fluid makes it even more so. Thanks for finding all that for us!
Women are still isolated from religious worship and community when they are menstruating. One of the many reasons why I no longer accept and practice the religion with which I was raised in. In my case, I received a clear message that I was dirty in the name of religion.
At the time, I was excited to be free from religious obligations and have the ability to paint my nails during menstruation. Growing up, it was something I looked forward to. Freedom from religious duties and the chance to spend my time doing things other than worship.
Years later, when I began to analyze the reasons for which religious worship was forbidden during menstruation, I became disgusted.
One of the most natural phenomenon of being a woman is seen as something impure, unclean, and weakening that hinders her from praying to her god. her god is the most pure and she must come to him in a clean state. As you can see, I became increasingly disenchanted with the whole idea that women are dirty before god while menstruating. did I really want to continue worshipping a god who viewed me and my sex during menstruation as creatures that were too dirty to be worshipped by? Or was this religion really another product of patriarchy?
Aside from pms-ing at times, I welcome that time of month, if for no other reasons, that it reassures me that everything is going superbly in my body.