In the vast majority of cases women can completely prevent negatives of menstruation such as cramps, PMS, acne, bloating – but more often than not women don’t because they lack the understanding about their bodies and menstrual cycles to be able to do this.

Seeing menstruation as a negative, while sitting suffering through their periods, refusing to learn anything about them which in turn leads them to even more inconvenience and discomfort, women also don’t know how to appreciate or even see the many positives.

Women also don’t understand the bleeding they get on hormonal birth control isn’t menstruation, yet women and their doctors constantly refer to using the pill as a method of ‘regulating periods’.

Suppression limits ability to care for sexual health, covers up underlying problems, has side effects and potential long-term risks. Women don’t understand the difference between bleeding and menstruation, and so don’t see why it’s such a problem when doctors misinform them, or understand it’s effect on their bodies as a whole.

It’s a vicious circle. Very sad.

“The whole thing screams overboard neofeminism to me, and is a prime example of why the role of women’s officer is pretty much a joke. If the main purpose of the role is to educate the world in this kind of ‘equality’, i.e. menstruatal pride, I really don’t want a part in that, and feel almost ashamed of the way ‘women’s interests’ and prioritys are portrayed in the uni.”

I didn’t get a sense of ‘overboard neofeminism’ with this article at all personally. Janey set out to explain (as far as I can see) that periods are a necessary part of the female cycle, and rather than continuing to see them as something embarrassing, or ‘uncomfortable’ to read about, we should perhaps as a society put some effort into de-mystifying the whole process.

The article raised some good points, be it the prudish nature of many advertising campaigns, or the fact that most of what we’re set up to understand about the whole menstruation process takes place in a PSHE class aged 10. To me it had a very interesting perspective on the whole notion of how having a period has become something embarrassing or impolite, rather than something that is natural, necessary and has been going on since the beginning of time. I don’t see how concern over either of those things is ‘feminist drivvle’.

As for your comments about the role of women’s officer, have you actually read about the other campaigns they’re running, or have you based your statements just on one particular article about a topic you find ‘uncomfortable’? A lot of Janey and Charlotte’s election points inspired a lot of girls that I knew to vote for them who would have been very apathetic about the position otherwise.

For what it’s worth, I thought Janey’s article was well-written and raised some interesting points. Anything that gets people talking about an issue as suppressed in our society as periods is great, even if we don’t see eye to eye on everything. To the person who said these aren’t appropriate attitudes for a women’s officer to have – I think it’s more admirable for a women’s officer to have opinions that you can tell she’s really thought about and researched. If you need a women’s officer to robotically repeat advice about contraception every time she opens her mouth to remember to take your pill or put a condom on, let me just suggest that you might not be responsible enough to be having sex.

In particular for women, if they had more then half an hour chat on the subject, may be more equipped to improve how they feel on their period then feeling at the mercy of cramps. I went to the talk by Alexandra mentioned above and found the mentioning of massaging techniques and yoga as possible relievers a useful way to approach this subject.

THANK YOU.

Female menstruation is a remaining taboo in society, lingering on from post-Renaissance prudishness and the cardboard boxing of sexuality into different areas, and then slapping a label on them to confirm whether its ok to talk about it or not.

This must stop. How can we progress in society if we still have these silly taboos? If every time the word “period” is mentioned the woman goes red and the men in the room turn around to blush and fidget. All too often I hear the phrase “it shouldn’t be allowed” when one of those oh-so-scandalous adverts come on. Why? Menstruation is as natural as breathing for women and yet we have to treat it like its something dark, something offensive, something we should never talk about.

Education on the matter is poor. Boys aren’t taught about it at all (apart from the brief “girls get hormonal” chat from the local nurse). This is a disgrace in my opinion – in a modern world where sex is finally growing out of taboo, then this topic should also come into the light.

Wouldn’t it be so much easier for a woman to deal with her cycle if we all weren’t afraid of mentioning the p-word?

Some of the comments that have been made are pathetic, but it’s to be expected I suppose. We shouldn’t be ashamed of something so vital to our bodies; I didn’t have a period for three years because of an eating disorder and in that time I felt unfeminine and unwell. I had no idea of the long-term damage I was doing to my body. I thought periods were an unnecessary evil. I mean, they aren’t exactly convenient, particularly when some women suffer excruciating pain. But having a period lets me know that my body is in working order. Secondary Amenorrhea (an absence of periods after you’ve started puberty) can cause a loss of bone density, infertility, hot flashes, mood changes, depression, and vaginal dryness; who wants that? I think Janey just wants women to understand their bodies, and to learn why we have periods, and why having a regular menstrual cycle is so important. And it would be great if men could jump on the ‘I want to understand’ bandwagon because it means they can support their girlfriends. Many girls don’t think twice about skipping their periods, and this isn’t a good thing. If not having our periods didn’t put our bodies in danger then I’d be all for saying I wish I never had them. But the fact is, I’ve never been happier to have a regular cycle, because I know that I’m not malnourished, not pregnant and that my body is ticking along nicely. “A period is an important messenger to a woman; if she’s stressed, anxious or ill, her period will be heavier, physically forcing her to take time out” – if this is true, then it’s a great way for women to tackle underlying problems, don’t you think?

I enjoyed reading this article and I look forward to attending the talk tomorrow.

As for ‘Alarmingly, in an American FDA survey on menstruation, out of the 1470 women asked, a third said that given the chance, they would choose never to have a period again. Are we, as humans, really that emotionally distanced from our bodies?’, can I just say that I would gladly give up breathing, defecating, excreting, sleeping, and probably even eating if I could do so without dying? Removing bodily functions that make demands upon us without losing the ability to live would be great. I don’t think it means that we’re emotionally distant from our bodies, as I think that that’s a meaningless sentence to anyone who’s not a dirty hippy.

No.”

Well you’re right, we wouldn’t have fewer cases of it, but we’d probably have earlier diagnosis of it and therefore fewer deaths from it.

Anna, as other’s have said, tampons shouldn’t really smell “foul” you might want that checked out.

Personally, having gone through a period in my life when I had no periods at all, I like having them. Perhaps I feel differently about my period if they were very painful, thankfully mine aren’t. However, I think though that there is a profound difference between not particularly looking forward to something and being ashamed or it and unable to talk about it.

Also, as had been said the mooncup is good for you and good for the environment, take a look: http://www.mooncup.co.uk

Firstly, she doesn’t have to hide it. She chooses to. Presumably for the same reason that she wouldn’t want to announce that she’s going for a poo. She most likely thinks it’s a private issue, and she really shouldn’t have to change her mind just because you want her to conform to your personal worldview (which you are perfectly free to apply in your own life).

This is simply a non-issue. Women in many countries are actually getting convicted for getting raped, countless others are forced to hide every square inch of their bodies; and you are complaining about the fact that some women CHOOSE to hide their tampons while they are going to the loo! Seriously, get a grip. And start a campaign on a serious issue (there is no shortage of those), instead of belittling and embarrassing the feminist movement.

“Maybe if more articles were published like Janey’s concerning poo we’d have less cases of bowel cancer in the UK.”

No.

“I’d be more ashamed of the foul smelling tampon I’d just removed from my vagina making a bit of bloody mess at the table.” I think Janey meant a tampon in a packet. Not presenting your loved ones over the dinner table with a bloodied piece of cotton.

Poo is natural yes, I don’t believe Janey ever made any claims otherwise. Maybe if more articles were published like Janey’s concerning poo we’d have less cases of bowel cancer in the UK. I believe the government is running a campaign along those lines currently. http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/bowel/
By talking about poo you are completely distracting from the message of the article.

Personally I enjoy the odd swim the the red river. I suggest you take a dip yourself.

I agree we need periods, they’re essential to our health and understanding of our body… But that’s the whole point; they’re to do with OUR body, a pretty private part of our body, and that’s probably why women don’t go shouting about their periods from the rooftops. They’re part of our body but that doesn’t mean to say we have to cherish them… we’re not belittling ourselves as women by admitting we don’t like them. A well written article on an unnecessary subject adopting a ridiculous standpoint.