Last Saturday night I was in our “local pub�. To be more exact I was inside the middle cubicle of the women’s bathroom. On the back wall, directly above the cistern was a notice that read:
Please dispose of feminine hygiene products in the blue bins provided
This was not the first time I had seen this particular notice, nor was it the first time I had seen notices bearing messages of a similar nature. On this occasion, however, I actually took time not just to read the notice but to think about. I was overcome by a sense of disappointment and to some extent outrage.
I have nothing against notices that urge people to keep public spaces in order, in fact, I am all for them, especially in public toilets. What I am against is the compulsory sanitisation not just of women’s bodies and our emissions but even the language used to describe/discuss our bodies and emissions.
The term “feminine hygiene products� is apparently supposed to refer to tampons and pads (sanitary towels) but the writers of such notices, for reasons only known to them choose to use ambiguous euphemisms. It would undoubtedly seem absurd to them if I turned up every Saturday night with my week’s supply of empty shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and body lotion bottles, yet these are all “feminine hygiene products.�
It fills me with despair that even in a room that is exclusively for the use of women, we can not mention those things that affect us; those things that go to the core of our womanhood.
It is no wonder then, that when the discussion of our “feminine hygiene products� is taken outside of those women only spaces and brought to a wider audience the euphemisms, metaphors and representations go from the ambiguous to the ridiculous. There are two such instances that come to mind, both relate to televised advertisement of pads and tampons.
The first advertising method is often if not always used by various manufacturers of pads to prove how absorbent their product is. It is usually a split screen showing product A (the inferior, less absorbent pad) on one side and product B (the advertisers new and improved product) on the other. A blue liquid is poured onto each product and then a voice instructs us to watch how the blue liquid seeps and spreads all over inferior product A yet in the in case of product B the liquid is contained in the middle of the pad. The overall aim being to prove that product B is far better. The underlying aim however, is to sell us a product without actually having to delve into the so-called yucky-ness of the matter. At least that’s what I think the underlying aim is, because I can not imagine why else they would chose to use a blue liquid when we are all “supposed� to know that the real use of the product is to soak up blood, which I am certain is always red.
I am sure the people who came up with the “blue liquid� idea would say that decency and television licensing standards dictate they use blue as opposed to red. This to me however is bullshit especially when one thinks of the countless times blood and gore are depicted on television.
Everybody knows that we do not emit blue fluid from our body. Any woman who went to change her pad and saw blue stains would possibly die of shock. Likewise any man who cut himself playing football or doing other such manly things only to see blue fluid ooze out would possibly die of shock. It is unnatural; yet what is natural can not be spoken, can not be shown on television. Heaven forbid that the world should know that women bleed red blood! I find this disturbing.
On the other end of the scale are those advertisements, usually for tampons, that show women who are supposedly “on their period� doing all sorts of vigorous activities such as sky-diving and rollerblading. Apparently the power of the product being advertised is so great that not only does it soak up our blood in a discreet manner; it also transforms us into the bionic-woman!
Perhaps these particular adverts are done to empower women? Perhaps they are done to show us and the world that bleeding once a month is not so bad. This is all well and good but I know I never said it was a bad thing! Of course there are some women who experience pain and discomfort but, and I only speak for myself, I would never say I hate my menstrual cycle. It is natural and it shows that my body is working as it should be.
There is so much more I could say on the topic but I leave it at this; a while back a condom manufacturer ran a televised advertising campaign. It started off with a close up of one person dressed in all white in a funny white hat, the camera zoomed out and you saw a few more people all in white. The camera then zoomed so far out that there were a million people all running around. The last scene was taken from such a wide angle that the millions of people no longer looked like people. Instead they looked like tiny white specks all huddled together running around. It was at this point that you realised that collectively they were a (rather accurate) visual representation of seminal fluid filling up a condom. There was not a blue fluid in sight.
Why?
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Guess says
Just wanted to mark my territory (MJY, you may have been out of this game, but trust me, you will be initiated the hard way soon enough – there are dark forces out here masquerading as your other halves and blog relations, out to annihilate and squash mere mortals like me and declaring their dominance) *G peeing on post marked MJY and declaring dominance* Now, lets see what MJY has to say about sanitary towels – hmm .. sorry, Chelsea vs Arsenal.. oh was that not it, Liverpool Vs Everton? *looking around* – I give up, just wanting to know what MJY wants to say without getting into all that politikingy footybolly soccy bully thingy
Mama JunkYard Says It took more than person to help me understand the whole Arsenal/Liverpool = Red and Chelsea/Everton=Blue. It further proves my point about the natural order of things; if red is natural then is so supporting Arsenal and Chelsea and Everton fans need to see the light as do Liverpool fans
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mshairi says
Now that I have read this *powerhouse* post, I can see you are really back!
I put up a post the other day regarding women and the current desperate shortage of sanitary towels in Zimbabwe and how women had to resorted to using old newspapers and rags for want of anything better. Most of the people who left comments on my blog agreed that the Zim government would have done something about this problem had men also had periods, exclusively or together with women.
I think the same case applies here: we would have no blue liquid representing blood or silly terms to describe what is just a natural biological process.
p.s. there is an ad for bodyform which always makes me sigh: women running around, dancing, and doing all manner of energetic things – where are the hot water bottles, the Nurofen, the cups of camomile tea????
Mama JunkYard Says I haven’t seen the blog post you mention but I shall go and look for it. As for the Zim issue; not too oversimplify the situation but it does boil down to gender/sex
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Ms K says
Yippee!!!! You’re back!! You have been missed, lakini I hope you been good.
“Everybody knows that we do not emit blue fluid from our body. Any woman who went to change her pad and saw blue stains would possibly die of shock.”
You know what MJY, I’ve always wondered why they picked blue!!! It seems so…. silly!! Anyway, women’s menstrual cycles has always been saddled with this weird negative connotation. Have you ever had a man make a silly comment like “I’ll have to stay away from you” just because you’re on your period. It sickens me. It’s as if we’re half-alien when we’re menstruating. It’s totally absurd. And not to mention religion which actually refers to women as unclean when on their period! ARGH!!!
Great post!!! You have a knack for picking such important topics.
Mama JunkYard Says Thank you Ms K. I don’t know why blue was chosen, though it seems to be the universal colour of choice because it appears in diaper adverts – yellow would be close to urine? I’m glad you raised the issue of periods being regarded as a contagious disease or a sign of uncleanliness. The craziest thing I ever heard was women should not wash their hair when menstruating…why?
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joani says
Awesome post! It IS crazy how everybody seems to try and step around the topic of periods and pads and what-not.. and like Ms K said, what’s the deal with the negative attitude.. it’s just not cool :s But anyway, thanks for posting your thoughts!
Mama JunkYard Says Hi Joani!! Crazy sums it up.
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Aunti Uaridi says
Welcome back Ms Junkyard. Have missed you.
Have you ever been in a situation where men assume that it is your time of month because you are being stropy or asserting yourself? As if in those few days you could probably be an alien or experiencing an out of body experience.
Wonder why the period is approached in such a weird way, when we know that without our bodies and our experiences the human race would cease to exisit. (and by the way, we are the seed carriers and men fertilize the seeds)
So will you tell us what you have been doing for the last century? Feels like it.
Mama JunkYard Says It is so annoying when someone does something that irritates you and when you respond accordingly they come back with “hmm time of the month I see?” .
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Mich says
Hmm,
I’ve got no problem with showing things as they are but perhaps its not really appropriate to have on your telly during primetime (when people are sitting down to their tea) along with any other blood n guts type stuff. I therefore suspect that an underlying reason for sanitising it is that by doing it this way they can put it on at more or ‘better’ times therefore making more money from the ad.
Just the cynic in me speaking…
Mama JunkYard Says : When you say “cynic “do you mean testosterone ?
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M says
I personally find it ludicrous that we have to ‘sanitize’ perfectly natural phenomena, and even more ludicrous that it is entirely subjective.
For example there is a certain Harpic add that shows a loo that is clearly used by people on a diet of bitumen and sulphiric acid that merrily comes at prime time. Why is this one not sanitized?
Mama JunkYard Says LOL M, I have no idea what bitumen is but it doesn’t sound like something I would want to see in its post-digestion form
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Nick says
DAmn Wifey you are back and back with a bang! Welcome back u have been missed
Mama JunkYard Says Asante…for a minute I thought I had been divorced
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milo says
hmmmm
sasa MJY. Welcome back. Hope you is well, sawaz, timamz…
Cant comment much on the san pads and cycles coz I wouldnt know…
As for the juala advert, the mjamaa was unleashing his swimmies piecemeal ama? Drip-droppingly filling up the condom?
I think the lack of blue was meant to imply that operation blue-balls had been aborted given that an outlet for emissions was available… the eagle had landed, the fat lady had sung, the cock had crowed, the bell had rung…
Gai I have dotted!!!
Mama JunkYard Says In light of your outburst on Yahoo; I apologise for responding everyone else’s comment bar yours. It was not intentional. Sadly my sheng is not 100% so a lot of the words you used were lost on me. Thank you thought for welcoming me back…
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Nyakehu says
MJY you know the worst part of it is when you go to buy this “sanitised products” and your cheerful customer sales persons wants to double bag it so that people can not see your bag swinging along on the thoroughfare!!!! Ugh
Mama JunkYard Says Their actions would make perfect sense if they blindfolded everyone in the check out line so that they wouldn’t see what you are buying
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Nyakehu says
Ps/ I should have added that the disposal of it is also an issue and that is why it does not go into the ordinary bins
Mama JunkYard Says To be placed with bog standard garbage? Perish the thought!
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Guess says
@Milo – seriously… (I have nothing else to add here)
I love it when I hear men go on and on about how they dont want to hear about periods, how its none of their business and should leave women to it, how every mood swing, every temper tantrum, every cry and change in general blissfulness from a woman is because of her ‘time of the month’ – what, did they skip the biology class on reproduction?
I could go on preach mode about this but we all know how ‘uncomfortable’ it makes people to hear talk about ‘periods’ or be shown in graphic details – implied or actual anything that we all know is common, natural and expected.
Mama JunkYard Says Strangely enough; in defence of most guys – a few schools would exclude them from the whole “period” talk. Lord knows what they would go on to discuss – maybe that’s when they were told that the time of the month to a woman is a like a full moon to a were-wolf?
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M says
@MamaJ – Bitumen is the stuff they build roads in. Or at least in Kenya, purport to build roads with.
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kaki says
I am laughing so hard. People act like pads/tampons are contraband and that having periods makes you dirty and all that archaeic stuff. Why not send us to sit on holes for the 3-5days?
I swear if men had periods, mensturation would be a major in college with available research funds and days off for the rolling days
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Tsholofelo says
I remember how everyone was exited in boilogy class when the topic reproduction was introduced. But as usual when the most important section was discussed-that being MENSTRUATION-all the guys where suddenly not interested, too sick to come to class, thought it was too personal, blah blah blah.Wats up with that? If men cant get over this then pads and giving birth would be impossible to even mention. Men, dont treat this like it’s taboo.