As I said on Facebook earlier, I am anything but a neat freak. In fact, depending on perspective, some would consider me a slob.
However, while my home might not pass the white glove test, I draw the line at certain things. And I hope I will not offend anyone, but I think that where it comes to bodily fluids and excretions, these things should be flushed, OK? At least deposited in trash receptacles not located inside human living space.
This post would not have seemed necessary, except earlier I was unfortunate enough to stumble onto what I thought was a right wing hoax:
A disturbing new trend is on the rise, thanks to extreme feminist bloggers and activists everywhere. The trend is something called “Free Bleeding,” in which a woman who is menstruating chooses to use feminine products no longer, in exchange for allowing her blood to flow “freely” out of her body, staining her clothing and running down her thighs to wherever it may end up.
The idea behind this movement is two different ideas. One, is that a woman’s time of the month should not be considered something unclean and unnatural, something to be hidden and cleaned up hastily before it has the chance to offend anyone who may become privy to the fact that said woman’s body is evacuating her loins of unused baby blood. The second, being that tampons, pads, and other feminine hygiene products are “man” made inventions, intended to inadvertently rape a woman during her period, thus furthering her victim status as a woman living in a world run by men. These two reasons combined, have produced the idea that women need to make a stand against the practice of wearing products which collect, absorb, and discard the menstrual flow. That by letting it run freely, is the way nature intended us to deal with our monthly.
Yuck. Pretty extreme, right? Surely there aren’t any real feminists who think that inflicting their discharge on the world at large constitutes liberation.
So I Googled, and I immediately saw that yes, there are feminists who are not only into this, but they post pictures glamorizing it. (Yeah, you gotta say you’re 18.) A leading feminist blog feministing has a post titled “Letting ourselves bleed“:
More of a mindset than it is an action, the idea is, as this blog title gives away, letting ourselves bleed. No judgement, no worries about messiness or cleanliness. Just letting it happen.
This might look different for different menstruators. We are always, technically, “letting” ourselves bleed. There are no menstrual plugs (thank god). But how often do we take a second, or a few, or a whole menstrual cycle, to mentally let our body do it’s thing. And appreciate it for what it does.
Here’s an assignment: Get comfortable, wear something you don’t mind bleeding in (heck, this might even include a tampon! remember, this is about you and what’s comfortable for you) or lay on your bed naked with sheets you don’t mind bleeding on, and focus your thoughts on letting yourself bleed.
And if you need some confidence, check out these photos by photographer Emma Arvida Bystrom.
Kudos to my grrrl Emily for showing me these pics.Go forth and let your body be beautiful!
Sorry, but slob as I am, I just don’t want women bleeding on my furniture or car seats and stuff. Nor do I want them doing this in movie theaters, restaurants, libraries, or even park benches.
Should I be ashamed of my male chauvinism?
Maybe so, but I’m also a dog owner, and when Coco used to do into heat I would put doggie diapers on her to protect the rugs. I didn’t mean to be a sexist asshole or anything like that; I just didn’t want her discharge dripping all over the place.
And now that I think about it, dogs are into licking discharge, and it isn’t limited to the discharge from female dogs. (I’d have said “bitches,” but I wouldn’t want to be misunderstood.)
Comments
13 responses to “Let it bleed?”
A woman sings a song she evidently wrote about it.
A bikini advert is also part of the video.
About 4 minutes:
http://youtu.be/0_JhvxWm23k
They are just marking their territory. Visually.
sadly, yes. This exists.
what I thought was a right wing hoax:
Sadly, parody and satire are nearly dead.
I figure it’s a positive feedback loop.
With the Internet, she more crazy elements of our society are banding together and staying away from the rest.
Since you can’t disagree with the group, they can say crazier and crazier things without other people stepping in and saying, “You know, that’s kind of crazy.”
So you get stuff like free bleeding and MSNBC.
“Sadly, parody and satire are nearly dead.”
Wife of Guest #4: We have to go – um – I’m having rather heavy period.
[awkward pause]
Guest #4: And… we… have a train to catch.
Wife: Yes… of course. We have a train to catch. And I don’t want to start bleeding over the seats.
“she more crazy…” above should be
“the more crazy…”
Normally I don’t fix typos, but that could have caused a misunderstanding.
It is a hoax.
Just not a “right wing” one.
4chan are just internet douchebags.
(That presumably a few of the more wacko “feminists” took it seriously doesn’t change that… in fact, that was probably the point.)
I think those women may simply “cheat” such as by only doing it when their menstrual flow is light or when they are alone at home, using clothing such as thickly padded underwear that can be washed and reused, thus qualify as clothing rather than a menstrual product, and using pelvic muscles to avoid leakage in-between washroom visits. Some cultures did, in fact, rely mostly on muscle control. Yes, that might mean that an occasional leakage may occur. If so, the woman can tighten her muscles to keep the rest in. That’s what we do when a tampon overflows, and I can easily imagine some women having such control that elimination becomes a semi-voluntary function like urination instead of being almost totally involuntary, with some limited ability to tighten the muscles in case of accident. Although I’m not a feminist, I can see how that could be empowering, although I never found that worth learning and I may soon not need it any more.
It is a hoax.
I stand corrected.
Bra-vo 4chan.
Even if we assume the original idea was a parody and intended to deceive feminist dupes, once they agree with it and adopt it as their own, is it really a hoax at that point? It seems to me that if people take on an idea and agree with it, they ought to be given credit for thinking that. And if they retract it because the idea came from 4chan, they are beyond pathetic (is such a thing is possible).
So my original point stands, they tried to be too ridiculous and reality out ridiculoused them.
That’s pretty funny, so long as you don’t think about it too much.
At least it’s not womenstruation.
apparently the hoax was convinving enough for one of my fellow college students. the result was disgusting.