If This Banned Photo Makes You Uncomfortable, That's Exactly

[cookiemdough]

I didn't know this was a "thing".

[ChillyMcFreeze]

I am thrilled that we aren't sent away to the shame hut every 28 days to ride out our periods, but the photo still makes me squirm. I'm all about making and talking about products that increase convenience and reduce shame and embarassment (Diva Cup has sparked many excellent discussions), but the sharing stops there for me. Does that make me a bad feminist or something?

[omgzombies]

But most people are squirmy about pretty much all body fluid, despite the fact that everyone produces it. I'm not a real fan of seeing spit, blood, snot, vomit, urine, or fecal matter. I don't really think of menstrual blood as any different.

How many people are worried about using a public restroom because they don't want anyone to hear them? This doesn't strike me as something that is a feminist issue, but rather something about us as a group that has decided that bodily functions/fluids for the most part are an incredibly private and slightly shameful thing. Now I'm all about removing the shame, but I don't think it's quite the same as shoving women in a red tent.

[Deleted]

There are some bodily functions we don't need to post all over social media. I feel the same way when people share pics of piss sticks or their kid sitting on the potty.

[IIOY]

Mar 30, 2015 10:05:26 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

But most people are squirmy about pretty much all body fluid, despite the fact that everyone produces it. I'm not a real fan of seeing spit, blood, snot, vomit, urine, or fecal matter. I don't really think of menstrual blood as any different.

How many people are worried about using a public restroom because they don't want anyone to hear them? This doesn't strike me as something that is a feminist issue, but rather something about us as a group that has decided that bodily functions/fluids for the most part are an incredibly private and slightly shameful thing. Now I'm all about removing the shame, but I don't think it's quite the same as shoving women in a red tent.

Exactly. If these people want to have a movement centered around all bodily fluids, they can go on with their bad selves. This feminist isn't really interested in making this sort of image a touchstone for the feminism conversation, and it's not because I think menstruation ought to remain stigmatized. I don't want to see your snotty, drooling baby or her poopy diapers, either.

[Daria Morgandorffer]

Periods ARE gross. They are. This makes me squirmy because I don't like dealing with my own period, let alone seeing someone elses. I want to see this about as much as I want to see someone elses turds in the bowl.

[Bernadine]

I mean, sure, it's not shameful to have your period. Just like it's not shameful to poop. But that doesn't mean people need to post pictures when they shit their pants, either.

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2015 10:11:37 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Exactly. If these people want to have a movement centered around all bodily fluids, they can go on with their bad selves. This feminist isn't really interested in making this sort of image a touchstone for the feminism conversation, and it's not because I think menstruation ought to remain stigmatized. I don't want to see your snotty, drooling baby or her poopy diapers, either.

Right. If the point here is that we shouldn't stick women out in a tent when they're on the rag even though we don't force babies to live in a tent until they get out of the shitty diaper stage or men to live in when when they have a mancold (though we should probably consider that) then this photo essay has failed.

A more powerful one would be to show how nice and comfortable most bathrooms are compared to how decidedly uncomfortable red tents or broke down shacks are.

[emilyj]

The photo doesn't make me uncomfortable. However, we don't NEED to share every little thing. Really. I largely think this is unnecessary.

[jeaniebueller]

I am kind of eye rolly about this, but I do think this quote is interesting:

"Imagine if men were as disgusted with rape as they are with periods,"

[Daria Morgandorffer]

Mar 30, 2015 10:16:39 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

I am kind of eye rolly about this, but I do think this quote is interesting:

"Imagine if men were as disgusted with rape as they are with periods,"

That's a whole separate project- that one I like a lot. 

[Deleted]

I am feeling what Elonë is putting down though. It really is too bad men aren't nearly as disgusted by rape as they are by periods.

[IIOY]

Mar 30, 2015 10:23:39 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

Mar 30, 2015 10:09:05 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

is this the reason periods have been all over my social media the last few days? a sex on your period article pooped up for me yesterday. o.O

::screams::

[ttt]

Look, diarrhea is natural too, but let's please not make it something openly discussed over dinner and shared in public, okay? Please?

[SwimDeep]

I understand the artist's point, especially given what I've read on this board regarding conditions for women in third world countries (specifically, India). Also, growing up I was taught that menstruation was a mark of shame for women because they were the first to sin in the Garden of Eden. I've never seen my period as something natural or miraculous, and I've always tried to hide it.

Thinking of it this way is somewhat liberating...even if it still makes me squirm.

[SwimDeep]

Mar 30, 2015 10:39:42 GMT -5 ttt said:

Look, diarrhea is natural too, but let's please not make it something openly discussed over dinner and shared in public, okay? Please?

Well...I don't share it in public or talk about it over dinner...but H and I have a running joke about "poop reports" wherein we discuss various daily disappointments or achievements. lol

It's so much easier for me to talk about shit than menstruation.

[earlgreyhot]

I agree with the artist. And I am glad that instragram reinstated the picture. Art is suppose to poke us a bit, suppose to make us feel something and then question why we feel that way. 

But yeah, ew. 

[MarmeeNoir]

That's how I woke up today. I would have been embarrassed for my husband to see it. Showing the whole world would have me faking my own death.

[IIOY]

Mar 30, 2015 12:14:28 GMT -5 SwimDeep said:

Mar 30, 2015 10:39:42 GMT -5 ttt said:

Look, diarrhea is natural too, but let's please not make it something openly discussed over dinner and shared in public, okay? Please?

Well...I don't share it in public or talk about it over dinner...but H and I have a running joke about "poop reports" wherein we discuss various daily disappointments or achievements. lol

It's so much easier for me to talk about shit than menstruation.

My husband had to unclog our toilet after I shat the world's biggest turd.  Unclogging the toilet involved actually looking at Turdus Maximus.  What I'm saying is that my husband has seen my poop and the destruction it has wrought, so we have actual poop reports.

[SwimDeep]

Mar 30, 2015 13:23:03 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Mar 30, 2015 12:14:28 GMT -5 SwimDeep said:

Well...I don't share it in public or talk about it over dinner...but H and I have a running joke about "poop reports" wherein we discuss various daily disappointments or achievements. lol

It's so much easier for me to talk about shit than menstruation.

My husband had to unclog our toilet after I shat the world's biggest turd.  Unclogging the toilet involved actually looking at Turdus Maximus.  What I'm saying is that my husband has seen my poop and the destruction it has wrought, so we have actual poop reports.

O.M.G. I am dying. DYING I tell you lol

The last time H and I moved, we forgot to turn on the water. Of course, we moved on a Friday, so we had to find ways to make do over the weekend. Welp, Saturday I decided to take the biggest shit I have ever taken in my life. It was early in the morning, and I was so embarrassed I couldn't find the words to tell my husband not to go in the bathroom.

He walked in... then walked out and said "If you needed me to turn on the water for a few minutes I could have."

I died.