Cultural Variations of
Menstruation
Interviewing
women about their onset of menstruation led to many different stories. I let the stories simply ‘fall out’ of the
woman, because it was interesting and bonding both for the storyteller and the
listener. I think we both walked away
with a pleasant bliss that we were able to share an intimate and complex moment
in time. This has been one of the most
rewarding research endeavors of my life, because it was good to see the
transition from a woman being a little uncomfortable, to a woman reminiscing,
to a woman sharing and then laughing and smiling. We both walked away somehow feeling better
that we shared, and isn’t that nice?
Age
|
Ethnicity
|
Company
|
What
she Did
|
Variables
|
13
|
Persian
|
No
one
|
Slapped
herself
|
|
13
|
Hispanic
|
No
one
|
Went
to bed
|
|
66
|
Cauc
|
No
recall
|
No
recall
|
Bad
Childhood; little recall of Childhood
|
14
|
Cauc
|
Mother
|
Thought
it was dark black stool
|
Mother
said, “You’re kidding”
|
15
|
Cauc
|
Mother
|
Nothing
relevant
|
Starting Your Period.
Five women were asked to recount the day they started their period.
Different responses show how much variety there is on this occasion of
womanhood.
Of
course some women hate having their periods, some women love it, and many women
are simply neutral on the matter. Some
women feel more feminine, while others feel just plain old sick with
Premenstrual Syndrome, or PMS. PMS has
allowed women to joke about the condition, and has also opened up the aspects
of keeping a menstrual cycle journal, tracking caffeine and diet to minimize
symptoms, and assisting with alleviation of cramps. Some may feel increased creativity or libido
during menstruation, while others abhor the thought of having sex while
menstruating. And, of course, each of
these feelings can be held by the same woman during different times of her
menstrual life.
The
Eastern Orthodox Christian church influence on menstruation (Jos 2011) was
described from the male perspective by Jos , as being one wherein in his
particular church, “…menstruation is considered unclean.” Women on their periods were not allowed to
take Holy Communion, or touch the Bible.
Of
course there is a New Testament Bible reference of a woman “with the issue of
blood” who sought healing from Jesus. No
one knows her particular problem, but we can imagine that she probably had
increased menstrual bleeding and had been to multiple doctors without
alleviation of her problem. Jesus healed
her.
Some
women report a folk ritual that occurs wherein while on a first period, their
mother slapped their face (Appel-Slingbaum, 2000). The ritual may be an old Jewish custom of
Ashkenazic origin indigenous to central and Eastern Europe.
It
must be noted that the context of the slap can be construed to be loving and
rather complex. Suffice to say that the
demeanor of the slapper, the strength of the slap, the ‘surprise factor’,
whether or not other people are in the room, and other factors affect how the
slap is received by the newly-menstruating girl.
Other
cited reasons for giving ‘the menstrual slap’ include:
(Note
to Layout: Table)
Reason
|
Citation
|
To
increase blood flow to the face or cheeks, and not the lower abdomen.
|
Appel-Slingbaum,
2000
|
“Because
a woman’s life is filled with pain.
|
Dan,
1992
|
“To
let you know you can get pregnant now.”
|
Dan,
1992
|
“Because
it marks the day you are a woman.”
|
Dan,
1992
|
“To
bring blood back to your cheeks.”
|
Dan,
1992
|
“It’s
something we do – my mother did it to me.”
|
Dan,
1992
|
“The
girl would be duly warned not to bring disgrace upon the family by becoming
pregnant.”
|
Appel-Slingbaum,
2000
|
“To
’awaken’ her out of her childhood slumber and into her role as a Jewish woman.”
|
Appel-Slingbaum,
2000
|
“…to
let you know you can get pregnant now, and because it marks the day you are a
woman.”
|
Dan,
1992
|
“So
the blood should never leave your face.”
|
Stillerman,
2005
|
“It’s
just what Jewish mothers do.”
|
Birckner,
2012
|
“To
keep the blood flowing to my cheeks.”
|
Aranda,
2012
Personal
Interviews
|
Table. Reasons for the ‘Slap’.
Some factors that clearly come into play include family dynamics,
whether the father knows about the period and/or the slap, religious views, and
generational customs.
Cultural variations in the onset of menstruation are simply thought-provoking.
There's no way around it.
To order Archives of the Vagina: A Journey through Time, go to:
References:
Apple-Slingbaum,
Caren. The tradition of slapping our
daughters. MUM, 2000). http://www.mum.org/slap.htm
Birkner,
Gabrielle. Parsing the ‘Menstrual Slap’.
Blog, The Sisterhood: Where Jewish Woen Converse, 2012. http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/126293/parsing-the-menstrual-slap/
Dan,
Alice and Lewis, L.L. Menstrual Health in Women’s Lives. Library of
Congress, based on work presented at the 1985 conference of the Society of Menstrual
Cycle Research, 1992. ISBN 0-252-01784-6, p 279. http://books.google.com/books?id=1GyLgFlidSQC&pg=PA278&lpg=PA278&dq=%22remember,+a+woman’s+life+is+filled+with+pain.”&source=bl&ots=eZYCQ6F_X6&sig=SSG0mOj4wErstxv8UHG0kfXIW4E&hl=en&ei=ZLWES9PSKajh8Abx1rS0Ag&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22remember%2C%20a%20woman’s%20life%20is%20filled%20with%20pain.”&f=false
Jos, What my
Christian fundamentalist upbringing taught me about periods. September 6, 2011. http://feministing.com/2011/09/06/what-my-christian-fundamentalist-upbringing-tought-me-about-periods/
Kieren, D. K.
(1992). Redesigning Menstrual Education Programs Using Attitudes toward
Menstruation. Canadian Home Economics Journal 42(2):57–63.
McKeever, P.
(1984). The Perpetuation of Menstrual Shame. Women and Health,
9(4):33–47.
O’Flynn,
Norma. Menstrual symptoms: the
importance of social factors in women’s experiences. Br J Gen Pract, 2006 December 1: 56(533):
950-957. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1934056/
Stein,
Elissa and Kim, Susan. Flow: The
Cultural Story of Menstruation. Macmillan, 2009.
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My mother promptly got on the intercom where she works and announced it to everyone. I already had issues, and she decided to embarrass the crap out of me.
ReplyDeleteMy own daughter is a different story. We worked very hard from the time she was tiny to ensure she never felt shame about normal body functions, including of the female variety. In fact the first person she called was her stepdad LOL She was prepared, unembarrassed and even talks to her friends that recently started their own.
Its a definite cultural issue. Our own still has issues with anything female. It's not as bad as it was thirty years ago, but still taboo for many.
It sounds like you have used your experiences to bolster the opportunity to foster a better relationship for your children, and that is great! Stay tuned for more discussion here, as there are considerations for teens to use the menstrual cup, non-disposable pads, and even donate pads so that a girl in Uganda can stay in school during her period. I'm glad we have come a long way! Here's to more awareness, less shame, and empowering our girls!
DeleteDr. Margaret Aranda
http://www.drmargaretaranda.blogspot.com
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