femminista: thoughts of a feminist rhetorician

I'm taking a moment this morning to point out an interesting website sponsored by Seventh Generation, a manufacturer of ecologically sound household products. This website is called Tampontification. I stumbled upon it last night in my search for full-spectrum light bulbs. Of the two brands that I've tried, Seventh Generation is the one that, to me, provides the nicest light, so much so that I am actively seeking it out. I'm in Ann Arbor right now and I found one lone bulb at the Whole Foods here, but back in Lafayette, the local health food stores don't carry them. So, last night I did what everyone who can't find what they want or need does--I went online and googled it. Actually, I just went straight to the Seventh Generation site, but I would have googled it if the url wasn't so easy to remember;) While my search yielded little in the way of satisfying results (I'm afraid that they may be discontinuing their light bulb production), I did stumble across an interesting site, the aforementioned Tampontification, sponsored by the company.

The site is a space for sharing stories about menstruation and is an attempt to record and reveal the "hidden" dialogues of menstruation. You know, all of the quiet euphemisms whispered between mother and daughter, girlfriend to girlfriend, terms like "on the rag," "visited by Aunt Flo," "that time of the month", etc. As an adolescent (and still) I hated these euphemisms, although I couldn't yet articulate why. There were a lot of "euphemisms" and slang like these that I was instinctually resistant to, many of them related to male or female genitalis. So, I never said that I was "on the rag" or being visited by "Aunt Flo." I thank my mother for never encouraging me to do so. It's not that my mother felt like menstruation was a topic for public discussion, but she seemed reluctant to totally hide it in the closet. We always said "having my period" to discuss menstruation. As I got older, I began to say without embarassment, "I'm menstruating." But even with my "liberated" relationship to menstruation, I still lowered my voice, unable to completely break the habits concurrent with the entrenched belief that menstruation is something shameful and embarrassing. It's this thing (not part of us, which is why it is a visitor) that tortures us once a month, something that we identify as foreign to us. Something that happens to us rather than as part of us. Because who wants to identify with a natural part of our bodies when it has been deemed viscous and reprehensible in our society.

Shame and menstruation have been cohorts for some time. Early Christian doctrine touted menstruation (and pain in childbirth) as women's punishment for the "sins" of Eve and at various points in history a woman was not allowed to enter a church for prayer, confession or sacrament if she waas menstruating, while not menstruating was also subject to a kind of punishment. Pregnant women, like those who were currently menstruating, were viewed as unclean and those who died in childbirth were denied the last rites, condemned to spend eternity buried in unconsecrated ground next to murderers and theives. In other cultures women were segregated during menstruation, sent to "menstrual huts" until their bleeding subsided. These seem to be the cruelties of less-developed societies, a part of the historical mistreatment of women, but things haven't changed all that much. Women hide tampons--when was the last time you saw a woman head to the bathroom proudly brandishing her tampon? Some women are even still embarassed to purchase tampons from a male clerk. No one proudly proclaims "I'm menstruating." Menstruation is a whisper, a dirty secret, an embarassing bodily function.

Many people don't have sex if they or their partner is menstruating, which is sadly ironic, since sex is one of the most therapeutic techniques for easing pain and aiding in the menstrual process. Uterine contractions aid in expelling the shedding uterine tissue, making menstruating shorter and more effective. In my experience, they aid in the easing of cramps as well. Orgasms are good for menstruating women. Thus spake Cat. I'm lucky to have a partner who loves my body in all of its incarnations.

To be fair, shame in bodily functions is not limited to menstruation, or women for that matter. Bowel movements and urination are similarly taboo topics, with bowel movements being the most taboo. Everyone has them and yet no one wants to admit that they do. This is particularly true for women. Defecating is afeminine; it shatters the pure image of femininity. Men are less shy about identifying with bodily functions, frequently comfortable in announcing their intention to urinate or defecate, but they too are frequently restricted to euphemisms, some more graphic than others. These are all ways that shame of the body, particularly shame of the female body, are expressed and reinforced.

Because I like to challenge beliefs and paradigms as much as possible and because I am getting a bit rambly, I want to propose an alternate scenario. Suppose that exposing ones genitals was both natural and expected in our culture. Pants and underwear or strange devices that a Western man or woman would refect to as strongly as they might to a burqua. The mouth, on the other hand, should never be shown in private, to do so would be obscene. A garment is always worn to cover the mouth and hide it from sight. Think about the analogy here. The mouth is as much a device of bodily functions as the anus. It produces saliva and expels vomit. It's one of the dirtiest places on the human body, filled with bacteria and remnants of food that hasn't been flossed out. Am I grossing you out? Are you disgusted yet? If so, you've made my point for me.

How would things be different if the mouth was taboo?

Well, if the mouth was taboo, then certain bodily functions would become more or less acceptable in public. But ultimately it's all about shame. The shame of having a body. This shame of the body is particularly interesting to me right now as I explore issues of illness, disability and their relation to the body and perceptions of the body. Being sick is often treated as shameful, inappropriate for extended public conversation. Chronic illness is a dirty little secret to be hidden or ignored. For those who have disabilities or chronic illness, it is something that cannot be ignored. It affects our lived experience. Bodily functions become even more embarassing. Among my laundry list of health issues, I have gastrointestinal problems that sometime require me to be very near a bathroom at all times. Do I experience shame in this? Absolutely. How do you explain that you were really, physically unable to be in class because you had diarrhea? Hell, I'm even having trouble writing it here. It's one of the least fun experiences ever, but if you've never experienced it in its extremity, it would be difficult to understand it as debilitating, as an unfortunate reality.

I'm currently working on the rhetoric of illness and shame and will continue this line of thought in another post. In the mean time, check out actively seeking it out. I'm in Ann Arbor right now. I found one at Whole Foods, but back in Lafayette, the local health food stores don't carry them. So, last night I did what everyone who can't find what they want or need does--I went online and googled it. Actually, I just went straight to the Seventh Generation site, but I would have googled it if the url wasn't so easy to remember;) While my search yielded little in the way of satisfying results (I'm afraid that they may be discontinuing their light bulb production), I did stumble across an interesting site, the aforementioned Tampontification and share your menstruation story or read about those of others.