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| 'Menstruating Woman Wilts Crops': Menstrual Misconceptions Ruining Women's Lives |
If this is magic, one thing is clear, and that is that menstruation will suddenly become an enviable, dignified, and masculine metaphor. And then men will be seen bragging while talking about this.
'Young men will talk of this enviable beginning of manhood. On the occasion of the natural onset of menstruation in any boy, gifts are given and given, celebrations are held (as is usually the case for male circumcision), and family feasts are arranged. and parties will be held.
These quotes are taken from a satirical article titled 'If Men Menstruated Too'.
In this article published in 1978, American writer Gloria Steinem examined general attitudes toward menstruation.
Menstruation is a natural process that is still considered taboo to discuss in many fundamentalist societies.
"a curse"
In 1949, the French philosopher and intellectual Simon de Beauvoir wrote in his work 'The Second Sex' that menstruation was considered a 'curse' in ancient Anglo-Saxon society.
And just like that, the 1976 book The Curse: A Cultural History of Menstruation is a classic. This book is written by three authors.
He wrote that 'in most indigenous cultures around the world, there are many rituals associated with the first menstruation through which a girl in the state of menstruation is officially informed that the place of a woman in society is different.'
The most common practice among ancient tribes was to keep a girl isolated from other members of the tribe during the days of menstruation. And during this period, the girl was considered impure, and even going near her or talking to her was considered offensive.'
During this time the girl is forbidden to look directly at the sun or touch the earth and is forbidden to touch food or to eat certain foods which are dangerous to her in this 'quality'. would be understood.'
These traditions were rooted in the belief that a menstruating girl was impure and a 'bad luck' or 'danger' to her community.
According to de Beauvoir's memoir, Pliny the Elder, a first-century Roman writer, warned people that a menstruating woman withers the crops, wastes the gardens, destroys the seeds, and drops the fruit, and honey. Kills flies and if it touches wine it turns it into vinegar, and sours milk.'
The Roman author wrote all this in a book called 'Natural History', which has been considered an authentic text in various societies for centuries.
According to The Curse: A Cultural History of Menstruation, "Aristotle also saw menstruation as a sign of women's inferiority."
Metaphor
During the year 2020, I interviewed Josep Luis Mathieu, a professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Barcelona, while writing an article. He told me about the symbols used in different cultures to express substances like semen, breast milk, or blood.
According to him, blood has been used conceptually as a metaphor for a long time.
According to him, 'I say metaphor because, for a long time, humans did not know what blood was scientific.'
Since ancient times, different societies gave different meanings to this word.
"For example, in medieval Christianity when people talked about blood kinship and its degrees, it was not only understood in terms of family ties but also as identity. used to go.'
And it was under this thinking that the 'blood purification' laws began in the mid-15th century, which essentially discriminated against those who were not pure or fully Christian, i.e. Muslims and Jews. .'
According to him, this idea was already established before the traditional concept of race.
"The spirit of giving life to the motherland"
And then with the emergence of nation-states, concepts like patriotism, and giving one's blood for the country were born.
I remember when I did my military service, which is still the case in many countries, as a soldier I was forced to say that I would sacrifice my life for my country and that I would die for my country. I will give the last drop of blood.'
Thus also appear motives which in ancient times were associated with the offering of blood as a sacrifice to appease the gods.
"Masculinity within the framework of nation-states continues to be central to the struggle for modernity as armies are predominantly male."
And in the context of many liberation wars, the blood shed by heroes created a heroic narrative.
Male supremacy concept
According to the authors, 'Blood in ancient times was generally considered to be of two forms: dark red (flowing during women's menstruation or in animals and humans considered impure) or ch. Mukdar Sarkh (exuded from fresh wounds during combat or animal sacrifice rituals considered sacred).
And although the misconception about menstrual blood is not universal, the idea that it is dirty is certainly found in different 'societies'.
According to Mathieu Dette, this is because of the male mindset under which early research on the subject took place.
Thus, Thomas Buckley and Elma Gottlieb's 1988 book Blood Magic became a headline grabber because it examined ideas about menstruation in different cultures and gave a platform to women's voices for the first time.
In most societies, menstrual blood is considered a sign of fertility in women. So what's wrong with that? The book shows that science has also been subject to prejudice in the past.
He says that 'everything identified with blood had ideas. So the authors warned. Although such blood was considered negative in many societies, in fact, women were subjected to the condition of being subordinate to men in society.
Clinical approach
De Beauvoir published in his book a letter written to him by the British Medical Association which he received in 1878. In this letter, it is stated that 'There is no doubt that if menstruating women touch the meat, it spoils.'
He further claimed that he had personal knowledge of two such incidents in which the meat was also spoiled.
Alex Alvergen, a researcher at the Institute of Evolutionary Science at the University of Montpellier, has studied the relationship between health and reproduction. He says, "In the beginning, men were anthropologists and their ideas about menstruation were not only prejudiced but also incomplete." This was the situation in the field of medicine and initially, the research related to women's bodies was also done by men and published their research.
He cites Dr. Bela Shack's claim in the 1920s that menstrual blood contains toxic substances and bacterial 'genotoxins' and this causes menstruating women to touch the flowers. So they wither away.'
And the source of this 'research' of his was that one day when he asked his assistant to put the flowers in water, he refused to say that they could spoil due to menstruation. Although this was enough for his research at the time, this theory was proven wrong many years later.
"Doctors believe that menstrual blood contains toxins and start their research on bad flowers," says University of Illinois professor Catherine Clancy.
According to Professor Catherine, this shows that 'this cultural environment fostered the attitude that women are dirty, especially during menstruation.'
A process that cannot be controlled
Alvarez explained how women's health is viewed from a medical perspective. It is understood that every aspect of female reproduction needs medical attention. In this, menstruation is considered to be the cause of the problem, as if it were a disease.
Clancy said the misconception about menstruation that it is also due to the control of scientific information. It has been easy to vilify or misrepresent any act of reproduction.
Alvarez and Clancy agree that misconceptions about menstruation are not uniform around the world. In some cultures, they were also viewed positively.
However, there is no doubt that it is one of the most interesting processes in the human body.