I bleed blue: A “period” piece, Pt. II

Continued from Pt. I

I am an adult. I know other adults. I know adult women who are still afraid to talk about their periods. O RLY? I always say that if someone doesn’t realize that you, a grown ass, pre-menopausal woman, sheds her uterine lining every 28 days, well then there’s something wrong with THEM. What is the big freaking deal?

Of course when I was younger I tried to hide the fact that I was on my period. As mentioned in Part I, I didn’t really have anyone sit down and talk to me about my period. I certainly didn’t have any empowering messages related to me. Everything we saw and heard told us that it was imperative we conceal our menses or else risk alienating every man around us and opening ourselves up to ridicule. You can’t deny that women (including young girls) are expected to uphold a sexualized ideal for men, which includes hiding the most boring, ordinary and non-sexual facts of life, i.e. using the bathroom, farting, body hair removal, applying or removing make-up. On top of all of that, you’ve got to conceal your period because since many folks do not have sex when a woman is menstruating, that time directly contradicts a sexualized ideal for men. Oh boy, not only has the feminine products industry done a number on us, but we’ve got the overarching patriarchal society imposing shame on women. Great!

I bleed blue: A “period” piece, Pt. I

“We bleed blue” is a common sentiment espoused by Tar Heel fans. If you check this blog with any regularity, you know that I bleed bluer than a chainsaw massacre at Smurf Village. Other than that (and the occasional reference to nobility), “blue blood” just makes me think of those silly feminine hygiene commercials that use the thin blue liquid to compare absorbencies. As thoughts in my head tend to jump from one to the next rather quickly, I started to think about my disdain for the feminine hygiene industry.

The so-called feminine hygiene industry is so freaking insulting to me. The whole business is predicated on society’s belief that women are nasty, dirty beings who need to be secreted away and disinfected. So much could be said about this. People write their theses on the subject. Books sit in libraries and on Barnes & Noble shelves on the issue. There’s a documented history of how the industry contributes to the warping of the female mind, particularly the impressionable minds of young girls. I can’t and will not go into all of that here. Instead, I’ll just focus on a couple of points relating to one’s period: Cleanliness (part I) and Secrecy (part II).

Voulez-vous coucher avec une araignée?*

I love the French. Europeans just don’t give a fuck when it comes to ‘keeping it real’ and sex. I’m late, but check out these ads for AIDS/safe sex awareness from France c/o AIDES. Illustrates the hell out of the point, right?

I don’t know why, but people are still not getting the message: Unprotected sex is like screwing a scorpion or getting head from a hairy ass spider. Ew? I really like how the first ad with the woman and the spider depicts oral sex. Ask 10 people and I bet you 10 people will tell you that while they might use protection while having sex, they don’t use anything when giving/receiving oral. It’s the dumbest thing smart people do.

Making a mountain out of a mole hill?

C L I T O R I S: From the Greek kleitoris, meaning “little hill.”

THE ENTIRE VAGINA IS A CLITORIS.
Ok, I’m kind of exaggerating. But Dr. Helen O’Connell seems to think that the clitoris is more than most medical professionals make it out to be.

The clitoris rivals the penis in size.

“The vaginal wall is, in fact, the clitoris,” said Dr O’Connell, who is based in Melbourne.

“If you lift the skin off the vagina on the side walls, you get the bulbs of the clitoris – triangular, crescental masses of erectile tissue.”

[…] By imaging the pelvises of healthy humans – rather than dissecting dead ones – she has found that the live clitoris is even larger than she first thought.

“There’s nothing quite like the shape of a clitoris,” she said.

“The glans are dense with nerve endings and receptors – all the vibration and sensation is there.”

The bulk of it is shaped like a pyramid, she said.

Its base forms the external genitalia or vulva; its triangular “walls” are wrapped around the urine-carrying tube known as the urethra and the vagina.

When aroused, the whole structure becomes engorged.

“Helen has gone to significant effort to confirm what we suspected,” said Dr Margaret Davy, director of gynecological oncology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in South Australia.

“The original anatomists weren’t interested in the clitoris. The penis was much more interesting.

“It was bigger and you didn’t have to wear your spectacles to see it.”

[…] “The sex industry has known about this for some time,” said Fiona Patten from the Eros Association, Australia’s adult retail and entertainment industry body.

“You only have to look at the adult products on the market to see that they are not designed to find some tiny button at the top of the vagina.

“They’re designed to stimulate a much larger area.”

Oh word? Wanna see? Check it out this picture and the live drawing below:

I should have gone to art school. This lady has my stick-figures and happy faces beat!

We probably should be focusing on more than just the little part of the clitoris that protrudes outward. In comparison to the entire organ, that’s only the tip of the iceberg (pun intended)! Suggestions?

Sources: Feministing, BBC News

Breast Ironing

In Cameroon, parents are “ironing” the breasts of their female children. Why? To prevent them from developing breasts and attracting men. Basically, this is a form of birth control in their minds.

Extremely disturbing, the lack of information about sexual education is leading folks to disfigure and harm their girlchildren. Sometimes two times a day, everyday for two months… hot stones, fresh from the fire are placed on a young girl’s breasts. As young as 9 years of age.

Check out this documentary from Current TV:

http://current.com/items/88852332_breast_ironing (sorry, I’m having trouble embedding).

An alternative would be to increase sex education or to place the onus on men to control themselves in regards to young girls, instead of trying to impede puberty so that the girls don’t attract the men.

I post this for your information and because April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. With that, we recognize sexual and gender violence against women all over the world.