Menstrual suppression pills are advertised alongside menstrual features in main stream media, making you wonder, why you need your period. What’s a woman to do?
Those pushing menstrual suppression pills claim menstruation is unnecessary. Their main selling point is amplifying the discomfort and suffering caused by menstruation (which will magically disappear with the pill). Plus, they argue, why have menstruation at all if you don’t want to have any (or more) children? The punch line is delivered by the argument that tossing menstruation away has no side- or long-term effects on our health. Unverified, and too short-lived, this argument has no leg to stand on given that any other hormonal intervention in women’s bodies has been proven to have high health price tags.
The other camp, hijacking the #PeriodPositive banner, tries to sell us their own merchandize: from tampons and disposable pads — to magazines that feature menstruation. Neither ads nor main stream magazines say WHY menstruation is positive, or why should women be #ProudToBleed, they do because it’s Trending Now.
Women are left in the middle: between wondering whether to get rid of menstruation altogether, or fight against tampon taxes (while declaring they are #ProudToMenstruate). It seems that either proposition tries to manipulate us to its own ends…
Lets go back to the basics: What is Menstruation?
In Hebrew the word for menstruation (Vesset) comes from the word Vassat
(Regulator). Indeed, menstruation is our built-in regulator, of which most women know nothing, and care less.
Imagine a little box with a lever attached to your home’s heating & cooling system. It’s a small, uninteresting devise, which you tend to ignore. You know it’s called “a thermostat,” but you don’t really know what’s it for or how to use it. Whenever you turn your system on – the lever is stuck in the same mode it was when it came from the factory.
Occasionally things are perfect: if your lever is stuck on low temperature – you feel cool and refreshed on hot days. If it permanently points to high degrees – you are nice and toasty when it’s stormy outside.
But the rest of the time you are miserable!
You have no idea that you have a regulator (or if you do, you are clueless as to how to use it). You decide to turn to an Expert! Alas, the plumber you call is in the same boat: s/he doesn’t know much about the box, or how to use its apparently meaningless lever.
The plumber’s solution is to ignore the little lever altogether, and to medicate: If you are too cold – the plumber prescribes candles. You can buy a hefty amount of candles with the prescription and light them around you until you feel warm enough. If you are too hot – the prescription calls for bags of ice, which you are instructed to place on your body until you have cooled down sufficiently. Though you continue to purchase the prescribed medications monthly, your temperature is hard to regulate…
Sometimes you sweat rivers, at other times you shiver for hours. Rarely do you feel just right, and by now you are fed up! You decide to spend your hard earned money on seeing a Top Specialist. The latter brings a radical question to you: is the little box necessary at all? It’s now possible, you know, says the Specialist, to remove it altogether. How about that?!
Obviously this is tempting… Why not get rid of something you don’t understand?
Why do you Need your Period Anyway?
If you think for yourself, though, you wouldn’t dream of removing the little levered box! This is your Regulator, your litmus test. It’s name is Menstruation, and it has an essential role to play in the Matrix of your life!
Menstruation is a compass by which you can live in harmony with your body (instead of being in conflict with it). It alerts you to the differing needs you have during the month. It calls your attention to the monthly shifts between your introverted and extroverted phases. If you were clueless about its role — it would make sense to toss it, but discovering its essentiality – it may rightfully become your treasure box!
If this little unassuming box also had cultural taboos associated with it, then magazines supporting its right to be seen would make a great first step, yet the box’s visibility would not be a goal in itself. Your true aim would lie in understanding its function, and using it to direct your life!
No longer a Pandora’s Box, menstruation will be revealed as the treasure chest that it is by design.
Discovering it’s fundamental role as your Regulator will reveal its riches. Once you know how to use your Regulator, you will always be in the flow. Paying attention to it will help you plan your life wisely. Easily predict the times in which you are outgoing, expansive, and social; and planning activities that will benefit from such energy. It will be similarly easy to prepare for times in which you need to withdraw, rest, and hibernate; by clearing your schedule as much as you can to allow for it. Not only will you be comfortable, you will thrive!
Yes, the menstrual taboo is beginning to break, but the time has come for much more than this. It’s time to explore the essential part menstruation plays in the human psyche.
Such exploration will move away from period elimination and from period sensationalism alike. It will lack commercial exploitation and it will make room for menstruation to be fully expressed and lived-out.
This cultural conversation will re-shape our world. It will re-balance that which has been lopsided; in both women and men, and pave the way to a truly novel paradigm.
To get more in tune with your flow, check out our App or period planner.
Author: DeAnna L’am
Fondly known as ‘Womb Visionary’ DeAnna begun offering Menstrual Empowerment to women in the early 1990’s. She has been on the leading edge of the global Red Tent Movement since its beginning, and has trained women to hold Red Tents in over 30 countries.
DeAnna brought Menstrual Empowerment work to Israel, her country of origin, helping Jewish and Palestinian women surpass political and religious differences by deeply bonding around their shared Cyclical nature.
She is author of ‘Becoming Peers – Mentoring Girls Into Womanhood’, and ‘A Diva’s Guide to Getting Your Period’. And founder of Red Tent Academy; Womb Academy; Red Moon School of Empowerment for Women & Girls; Red Tents In Every Neighborhood – Global Network; and International Red Tent Day (celebrated globally on November 8)
Visit her on www.deannalam.com