Every Girl Will Get A Period, But The Ones Who Live Here Go Through It In A Very Bizarre Way

[doxydad]

It almost sounds like a map of those wacky state rules you’ve heard about: “In Alabama, it is illegal to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church,” etc. But this map shows a part of life that no girl can avoid, and it proves just how real the taboo of menstruation is around the world — far outside of it just being awkward to talk about.



http://www.upworthy.com/every-girl-will-get-a-period-but-the-ones-who-live-here-go-through-it-in-a-very-bizarre-way

[Brickbat]

1. In some Jewish traditions (including U.S. Jews), the mother slaps the girl's face when she gets her

first period.

[redqueen]

6. Please tell me this is not true

because what. the. fuck.

[pipi_k]

8. I've heard that too.

I don't know how much force goes behind the slap, but yeah. I have heard about it.

[Brickbat]

11. It's hard to trace the origins; some say it's actually a Slavic tradition.

[Squinch]

19. It is true.

[unblock]

27. i don't normally speak for all jews, but in this case,

i hereby declare that fucked-up tradition over.

for what it's worth, i've never heard of this until today, and i highly doubt there's anything in formal jewish teachings about this. jewish traditions are as varied as its people and in any population you're going to find some percentage of bizarre people who do bizarre things.

[Capt. Obvious]

33. In some Christian traditions

the daughter gets locked in the prayer closet.

[QC]

42. I can see your dirty pillows. n/t

[Capt. Obvious]

46. PLUG IT UP! PLUG IT UP! PLUG IT UP!

[Arugula Latte]

57. Or she gets a purity ring from Daddy. Yeeeah, that's not creepy...

[phylny]

50. I'm not Jewish, but grew up on Long Island, where we had lots of Jewish friends and two

of my mother's friends did indeed "slap" me when I got my period - it really was a tap on the cheek. I believe it was to remind me I was a woman now. As if the pain wasn't enough

[840high]

60. My Mom tapped me on

my cheek - I didn't mind.

[CBGLuthier]

2. They missed an interesting one that applies in parts of the US and another country or two.

The Old Testament stipulates a woman is unclean during menstruation, but the Talmud stipulates her period of uncleanness lasts for an additional week after menstruation has ended. Niddah is the word used to denote the menstruating woman and her period of uncleanness. The niddah defiles everyone and everything she touches. She may not have sexual intercourse with her husband. If she does, he is subject to arrest and perhaps the death penalty.


http://www.come-and-hear.com/editor/america_3.html

[Thinkingabout]

32. So if the woman is tired of the man this would be a way of getting rid if him.

Good one, wonder what they will come up next.

[Kber]

3. While site seeing in India

I was confronted with a poster at the entrance of a temple listing the rules for respectful tourists (ie remind your shoes, etc.)

The number #1 rule, written in a bigger font than the rest and underlined was that no woman in her monthly cycle could be admitted to the temple under any circumstances.

Which left me with a problem: should I respect this rule and inform the tour guide that I couldn't enter, something that would have been embarrassing to the both of us, or figure that the chances of someone knowing and therefore being offended were pretty minimal and go on in to look around? (Option 2, of course, assumes there were no lurking gods around to strike me down.).

In any event, I survived the day unscathed.

[smirkymonkey]

47. How would they even know?

God forbid they try to check.

[Kber]

48. There was no tampon check

Which was good, as I was carrying a concealed, well, you get the point.

[randome]

4. Stop mocking people's religion!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[CountAllVotes]

5. Not allowing women who are menstruating into the sweat lodge

That's right folks, right here in the good old USA there are such rules.

>>Assumption Two: Not allowing women who are menstruating into the sweat is a sign of patriarchy and sexism and is rooted in a deep disrespect of women.

No. Again, it is completely the opposite. Barbara Omaha, White Earth Ojibwe, says of the practice:

During her Moon time, a woman is going through her own natural purification process. While her body is going through this natural purification, she is also recharging her own body’s powers and energies, so it is a cleansing and restorative time for her. Because a woman’s power is being renewed during this process, she must stay away from all sacred ceremonies…A woman’s power during her moon time is so strong that it can draw the power away from the sacred Sweat Lodge, Sundance, and Pipe ceremonies. Her power during this time can interfere with the power in the Sacred Pipe, Eagle Feathers, and the food offered for the feasts following ceremony.

Women cannot participate not because they are “unclean” or as a sign of male power, it is because women have so much inherent power that they can interfere with the ceremony. Omaha also notes:

Men do not have their own natural purification and renewal process, therefore they must come to the Sweat Lodge ceremony for purification.

more here:

http://nativeappropriations.com/2010/04/sweat-lodges-part-ii-no-you-cant-heres-why.html

[randome]

12. Doesn't matter what fine gloss one puts on it.

It's still superstitious nonsense and women are not allowed to think for themselves, are they?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[catbyte]

39. Did you actually read that article? If so, just

how did you make the leap that we Ojibwe women "can't think for ourselves"?!? Wow.

[randome]

43. So you aren't allowed into the Sweat because you're busy 'recharging'?

Nonsense. What if you wanted to go in anyways? Would you be allowed to?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[catbyte]

45. Have a nice day.

[Skittles]

52. why won't you answer those questions?

very odd

[okasha]

56. You have it backwards.

To make the same offering for the people that a woman makes every month and with the birth of every child, a man must go into battle or shed blood in a ceremony such as the Sun Dance.

Please do not attempt to apply the standards of white/European culture to NA culture. You will get it wrong every time.

[okasha]

59. ps--

Listen to the poet in redqueen's post #7. Many Indigenous cultures have huge celebrations with elaborate ceremonies for girls when they reach menarche. Maybe you can get a clue why from this video.

[ismnotwasm]

13. Here's a different perspective

Moontime refers to the time a woman bleeds during her menstrual cycle. Through this cycle, women feel the effects of the moon, like we see the Earth affected by the ocean tides. There is some controversy and confusion about menstruating women and their participation in Native Ceremonies, such as the sweatlodge. Bleeding women sacrifice and give to the people during their moontimes, and through childbirth. The sweat ceremony was created for men to have a way to sacrifice and give for the people since they do not bleed monthly, or give birth. The Creator does not ask so much that women need to double their effort to be close to Spirit.

Much knowledge of women's traditions has been lost due to the genocide of Native peoples and the outlawing of their ceremonies. Before patriarchy, bleeding women were respected for their ability to nourish life and many still view this bleeding time as the first ceremony to connect with Spirit. Patriarchal society continues to view women's bleeding as a curse: dirty, and something to be ashamed of. These histories of oppression of Native Peoples and of Women leave us vulnerable to feelings of exclusion, anger, or hurt when ceremonies do not include mooning women in the same way as others.

Native Women used to routinely withdraw from their regular duties of childcare and food preparation to a moonlodge during their bleeding in order to rest and recieve dream guidance from the creator for their people. Some view this time of separation as a vision quest, a time to step away from daily tasks to focus on one's relationship with Spirit. The people honored and respected these bleeding women and their sacred role by covering the work otherwise done by them, and even cooking for them and protecting them.

Many of us are seeking to understand traditional viewpoints by praying about and learning their intent. Since many of us come from different cultures, we also seek to learn about native cultures and how to show respect for these traditions. We need new ways to balance the traditions with an understanding of ourselves as women, old and young: people with unique energies, gifts, and sensitivities, proud of ourselves and our place in the community. This is a time of rediscovery for women, and of ceremonies that will build upon our feminine and spiritual heritages, which will benefit all life.

http://www.sevencircles.org/Newsletter-Ceremony-MoonTime.html

[freshwest]

24. I love this. Thanks for posting it.

[Jamastiene]

63. Too bad that didn't catch on in America among the ones

who took over. Imagine that? Women being respected and even helped out during such a painful time of the month? Wow, I'd be in hog heaven. Mine is so hard on me that that would be a godsend to have that time to rest.

[riderinthestorm]

29. Sounds like the Saudis who insist women shouldn't drive because they respect them so much

Its still sexist and patriarchal.

[Exultant Democracy]

34. Sounds like you don't know much about these perticular native american cultures

The western idea of a patriarchy isn't even remotely applicable to a number of tribes that practice sweat lodge ceremonies.

In fact most native groups in North America were models of sexual equality (women, men, trans), that is until the started hanging out with white people of course.

The fact that this is your response to a very insightful post about the dramatic difference between some native American groups and the groups highlighted in the OP shows a considerable amount of cultural myopia.

[riderinthestorm]

49. Excluding women from anything for any reason is sexist in my view

And the reasons for that exclusion are bullshit imho.

I am aware of the trans equality in tribal cultures but it wasn't until recently that women were actually full equals in many tribes. They played a subordinate role in ceremonial rituals and lacked real political power until recently. Don't get me wrong, I understand that the native cultures were FAR more advanced when it came to women's rights in comparison to the Europeans but it wasn't until the most immediate past that women were seen as full equals.

[redqueen]

7. OMG this fucking thread.

[ismnotwasm]

9. Yes!

[redqueen]

18. I love that woman so hard.

I wish I'd been aware of this stuff before my girls had to go through it.

[freshwest]

26. Oh, yes, I wish I was her daughter!

[LWolf]

38. .

[redqueen]

44. That poem is beautiful, isn't it?

All her extra comments at that reading make it absolutely sublime

[riderinthestorm]

51. Wow!! Oh yes and yes! Times two for my daughters.... K&R nt

[Delmette]

53. She is a wonderful woman

Thank you, a million times, thank you.

[al bupp]

55. Awesome video

What a story, what a poem, what a righteous rant. Period. Thanks for posting it.

[Sheldon Cooper]

10. I'm going to make a flippant and probably inappropriate remark:

I would LOVE to be excused from all wifely and motherly duties for one week each month. Imagine being able to go off by yourself every month, to be left alone in your own special hut in glorious 'uncleanliness', not having to cook for a man, or be around him, or touch the cow, and not have to fast - god, does it get any better than this???

[pipi_k]

15. hahahaha!!!

I hadn't even seen your post before I wrote mine!

[ismnotwasm]

16. No shit

If you go back far enough, before patriarchy and Abrahamic religions fucked it up, the menstrual hut was a sacred place, a place of power, a woman's get together time in a number of cultures.

[tblue37]

61. This. nt

[monmouth3]

22. I was just thinking the same thing. It's like a mini-vacation once a month (and one would pray for

it) and then to top it off, someone else does the cooking??? That would be hog heaven baby!

[freshwest]

30. And being spared from the religion and being in the wilderness. A great week, I think...

Used to work outside doing very heavy and demanding work with men. I thought I was going to die, with the heat, cramps, sweating like crazy, all of the extra stuff but I had to act the same or be judged weak.

Prior to that in high school it was so rough on me I had to go to the infirmary but that was a long time ago, and it was no big deal. Bet it's no longer an option, everything is about acting the same as men, production and money with no respect for how a person's body works.

It's hard to not look at these statistics in a negative view, but even with spin put on it to make men feel superior, they had to take up the slack those weeks, I guess. The sweat lodge and other posts on this thread have really altered my way of thinking of this.

The Period Poem was beyond awesome!

[bklyncowgirl]

25. A man's wife having her period was a legitimate reason his for taking paid leave in ancient Egypt.

Quite a few personnel records survive from the royal tomb workers village and among the reasons given for absence from the job are indications that men took off work when their wives were menstruating.

Whether this was because the wife was (choose your explanation; in a powerful state or unclean) and had to go somewhere until her period ended meaning the man had to take care of the kids or somehow the wife's condition rubbed off on the husband making him unable to work on a sacred site is uncertain. As the man's ration continued to be paid this amounted to a paid vacation.

Somehow I don't think either party would have been too upset about the situation getting a paid vacation for "That time of the month."

[seaglass]

31. My mom used to go camping for a week every summer by herself. OK we were all grown up but couldn't

for the life of us figure out why she wanted to get away from US and why she didn't want us to visit her. LOL.

Yes, I would welcome this - not the pariah part - but the no responsibilities to anyone but myself.

[treestar]

54. You know that's not a bad point

Women may have invented these rules, and figured the men would go along with it.

[pipi_k]

14. Actually a couple of them...

except for being "forced" or "banished", don't sound all that bad.

There were many times, during my own premenopausal days, when all I wanted to do was get away from other people.

A special little clay hut... No household chores to do... People serving me meals...

I would have been OK with that.

[redqueen]

17. This I can get with. A week off from drudgery? Sign me up!

Make it about uncleanliness or contamination, though, and we're gonna have a problem.

To hell with any and all patriarchal bullshit.

[KitSileya]

20. NB: not all girls get periods.

And not all people who get periods are girls. Let's not make invisible by words our trans sisters, as well as others with uteri who do not identify as women.

[ismnotwasm]

23. Point

The Trans community is excluded by the means of language and cultural freight, and I thank you for bringing this up

[DirkGently]

21. Gah. We really need to grow up as a species. n/t

[Yavin4]

28. The Ghana one doesn't sound all that bad.

You don't have to cook and you get a break from the husband.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

35. yup. and this is why i abandoned my religion when i got my period.

[MindPilot]

36. Sent home after a stern lecture about being a filthy slut?

That was what awaited any girl unfortunate enough to start her period during class at the catholic high school I attended.

Ain't religion wonderful?

[Warpy]

41. Ah, you grew up in the Irish church, too?

I understand they didn't do this shit here in NM, where the church is largely Spanish/Mexican.

[Arugula Latte]

58. I wish the goddess religions had smashed the RCC back into dust when they had a chance.

[stevenleser]

37. Not going to believe the Masai one until I see documentation...

the part that makes it hard to believe is that the Masai diet is almost completely carnivorous. So if menstruating women were not allowed to consume animal products, it would be like fasting for a week each month for those women. Going to have to check this out.

[Warpy]

40. One thing all of these silly taboos have in common

is that they provide a woman who has cramps, bloating, and generally feels lousy a week or so of rest while somebody else does the chores, both farm and religious. The "unclean" bit is just what they used to make the whole thing palatable to resentful men who often had to do her chores in addition to his own.

Here in the US, we go to work and try to ignore the pain as best we can. Home of the free and the brave? It's become the Home of Sucking It Up.

[Gravitycollapse]

62. An oppressive system does not cater to the oppressed. So your argument makes little sense.