Menstrual taboo
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Menstrual taboo is the taboo pertaining to menstruation. It stems from menstruation being perceived as "unhygienic", "dirty" and "improper." The menstrual taboo extends to avoiding the mention of menstruation both in public (in the media and advertising) and in private (amongst friends, in the household, and with men).
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[edit] Biblical
In the bible, in the fifteenth chapter of Leviticus, verses nineteen through thirty describe how a menstruating woman is to be regarded as ritually unclean. The taboo is so great that not only the woman herself suffers uncleanness, but even "anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening" (New International Version).
[edit] In advertising
One common way that even sanitary-product advertising avoids mentioning menstruation is by pouring a blue liquid on the sanitary item to demonstrate its absorbtiveness.[1]
[edit] Feminism
Overcoming this menstrual taboo is a point of contention amongst feminists. The primary argument behind this movement is that if menstruation is normal, there is no reason why the topic should be avoided: "After a while it becomes psychologically disorienting for women to look out at a world where their reality doesn't exist."[1]
Some feminists, such as Germaine Greer in her book The Female Eunuch, counsel women to taste their own menstrual blood.[citation needed] However, this is not a widely accepted view.[citation needed]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Houppert (1999, 9)
[edit] References
- Houppert, Karen (1999). The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo: Menstruation. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-27366-9.
