Just try to imagine this: if men could menstruate..

Don't know if this has been posted somewhere before, but I'd like to share this.. just found it on another forum:

by Gloria Steinem


"A white minority of the world has spent centuries conning us into thinking that a white skin makes people superior - even though the only thing it really does is make the more subject to ultraviolet rays and to wrinkles. Male human beings have built whole cultures around the idea that penis envy is "natural" to women - though having such an unprotected organ might be said to make men vulnerable, and the power to give birth makes womb envy at least as logical.

In short, the characteristics of the powerful, whatever they may be, are thought to be better than the characteristics of the powerless - and logic has nothing to do with it.

What would happen, for instance, if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not?

The answer is clear - menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event:

Men would brag about how long and how much.

Boys would mark the onset of menses, that longed-for proof of manhood, with religious ritual and stag parties.

Congress would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea to help stamp out monthly discomforts.

Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. (Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of commercial brands such as John Wayne Tampons, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-dope Pads, Joe Namath Jock Shields - "For Those Light Bachelor Days," and Robert "Baretta" Blake Maxi-Pads.)

Military men, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation ("men-struation") as proof that only men could serve in the Army ("you have to give blood to take blood"), occupy political office ("can women be aggressive without that steadfast cycle governed by the planet Mars?"), be priest and ministers ("how could a woman give her blood for our sins?") or rabbis ("without the monthly loss of impurities, women remain unclean").

Male radicals, left-wing politicians, mystics, however, would insist that women are equal, just different, and that any woman could enter their ranks if she were willing to self-inflict a major wound every month ("you MUST give blood for the revolution"), recognize the preeminence of menstrual issues, or subordinate her selfness to all men in their Cycle of Enlightenment. Street guys would brag ("I'm a three pad man") or answer praise from a buddy ("Man, you lookin' good!") by giving fives and saying, "Yeah, man, I'm on the rag!" TV shows would treat the subject at length. ("Happy Days": Richie and Potsie try to convince Fonzie that he is still "The Fonz," though he has missed two periods in a row.) So would newspapers. (SHARK SCARE THREATENS MENSTRUATING MEN. JUDGE CITES MONTHLY STRESS IN PARDONING RAPIST.) And movies. (Newman and Redford in "Blood Brothers"!)

Men would convince women that intercourse was more pleasurable at "that time of the month." Lesbians would be said to fear blood and therefore life itself - though probably only because they needed a good menstruating man.

Of course, male intellectuals would offer the most moral and logical arguments. How could a woman master any discipline that demanded a sense of time, space, mathematics, or measurement, for instance, without that in-built gift for measuring the cycles of the moon and planets - and thus for measuring anything at all? In the rarefied fields of philosophy and religion, could women compensate for missing the rhythm of the universe? Or for their lack of symbolic death-and-resurrection every month?

Liberal males in every field would try to be kind: the fact that "these people" have no gift for measuring life or connecting to the universe, the liberals would explain, should be punishment enough.

And how would women be trained to react? One can imagine traditional women agreeing to all arguments with a staunch and smiling masochism. ("The ERA would force housewives to wound themselves every month": Phyllis Schlafly. "Your husband's blood is as sacred as that of Jesus - and so sexy, too!": Marabel Morgan.) Reformers and Queen Bees would try to imitate men, and pretend to have a monthly cycle. All feminists would explain endlessly that men, too, needed to be liberated from the false idea of Martian aggressiveness, just as women needed to escape the bonds of menses envy. Radical feminist would add that the oppression of the nonmenstrual was the pattern for all other oppressions ("Vampires were our first freedom fighters!") Cultural feminists would develop a bloodless imagery in art and literature. Socialist feminists would insist that only under capitalism would men be able to monopolize menstrual blood . . . .

In fact, if men could menstruate, the power justifications could probably go on forever.

If we let them."

 

I wouldn't mind the bragging if men had periods instead of women.

The fact is, men would have blood seeping out of their groins, and I wouldn't.

 

Steinem's pretty funny I saw her speak when I was like 14 but some of the things she says-or used to say about marriage and such kinda set people up for failure.

 

ehh i dunno about all that. it's cutesy but seems to be one of those things that just pisses people off and separates us even more.

 

Gloria Steinem is so great! Lol! This is so true it's ridiculous. Have any of you read her article "I want a Wife" ? If you'r interested, I'll have to dig it up & post it on here.

 

I would love to be a woman for a month just so I can relate to all the experiences unique to women. Yes, even the Menstral part. My dad wasnt ever around and my mom had to be both parents and did a great job. I have the utmost respect for women. my ship is about 15% female. I trust each and every one of them with my life everytime we go to sea and am very comfortable doing so. Im sure that quite a few of my female shipmates could kick my ass. How some men can call women the "weaker sex" is beyond me. Especially if they've been in a delivery room to watch their children born. How can we as men compare to such power?

I love you ladies. Each and every one of you. You have my deepest respect.

 

wow i was just talkin about this today...at lunch

 

I find that article to be blatantly sexist in its own right.

 

I kinda agree with SuperNova on the fact taht all that talk about 'us' and 'them' seperates us even more.. although I think there is some truth in it. Due to my study I had a lot to think about the whole nature/nurture debate when it comes to gender specific behaviour and wether it's one or the other, you can't deny at this moment that males are 'different' from females, esp. when it comes to 'being tough'. They aren't supposed to cry when they hurt, crying is seen as weak etc etc.. and on the other side you have 'us' women who go through heavy moodswings each month (at least I do) and expecting men to understand something they have been surpressing most of their lives. I think IF men would menstruate, they'd make it into something 'tough & cool', while 'we women' think of it in a more 'natural & emotional' way.. I do at least. You can see the difference when a guy is raised by a mother only, like the previous poster.. they seem to have a better understanding of stuff like this.

I know I'm generalising.. jus trying to get the bigger picture.

My boyfriend and I are both very secure in our male/female rolepatern without being sexistic in a negative way. We're both pretty strong in our balance.. my period is usually pretty painfull and really emotional for me (at least for one day) and I have learned to deal with that. He's pretty 'masculine' and has a strong bond with nature as well.. it's almost full moon so I think that's why my period is more heavy than normal and why he's more 'masculine' than normal.. but that may be the pagan in my talking

Anyways.. long post.. procceed

 

Actually, it can be argued that what she wrotes constitutes hate literature because it essentially "promotes ridicule or hatred of a person or group," in particular white men. If a man wrote a similar piece about black women, I think you'd all agree that it would be considered sexist and racist.

 

if white men are not deserving of a bit of pay back....i dunno

dish it out for generations, and cant take it? I don't agree with most groups being attacked but as a white man, I feel i can say go for it.
We have had a long run of the other way.

Why do women have periods?



The lady in this picture used the keeper for her periods, and cotton pads, so she never had to buy those disposable tampons or pads.




cuz they deserve them.

 

yeah, but white men living today who didn't dish anything out at all are being given a hard time? doesn't seem quite right to me.

 

it is not right at all, but I am willing to take some.... it is ok

 

okay, as long as you don't mind. i've just never really felt right hammering on someone for something someone else with perhaps a similar genetic background may have done. makes no sense to me.

 

That was 1 of the funniest things I've read in a while

 

Me either, unless the person is of the group that he is hammering, like Woody Allen making jokes about his religion, or Chris Rock telling his very funny jokes.

I totally know what you mean though, and most of that kind of humour isnt funny and is just downright disgusting.

 

well, the way i figure it, making fun of yourself is another thing entirely. it's good stuff.

 

Great post, kind of sad tho.

 

No, sorry, it doesn't work that way. I think the whole point of the equal rights movement is to get everyone onto the same level, not rearrange the social order so that everyone gets their turn being persecuted and oppressed.

Incidently, the notion of white male supremacy is one that has existed for only a couple of centuries; and for much of that time, it was confined to a vast minority of white male elites. My ancestry is middle European, farmers, blacksmiths and the like. They were essentially powerless, their lives pretty much at the mercy of the local aristocracy--both male and female. They had limited rights, had to perform unpaid labour regularly (slavery in my books) and couldn't vote until mid- to late nineteenth century.

As far as I'm concerned, my ancestors have racked up enough "payback" to cover me and the next couple umpteen generations, so I don't take kindly to some crackpot feminist making quips about white men. We all should be equal, and who ever doesn't care to see it that way is a bigot in my books.

 

well that is fine for you, my fiance is Native, and her families history is worse than you could even imagine.

I love how so many white people want to say, okay we killed you off, enslaved you, took away your best land.
Now lets call it even, and we all are equal now.
That is fucked up.
The anti discrimination laws passed 30 years ago havent worked.
someone, someday, has to make a concession, if you arent willing to fine.
I am glad to.

Bigots did what they wanted for generations, now we just blow a whistle and all is forgotten? NOt bloody likely, not when the Native communities up here have been royally shafted right up until very recently.
I do not expect others to share my willingness to see some balance ENFORCED,but if it is not, it will never change.