“The first rule of menstruation etiquette is you don’t talk about menstruation, particularly to men. If you must discuss your period you do so quietly and euphemistically.”
You may be forgiven for thinking that this is a charming little extract from a 1950s Ladies Housekeeping Guide.
I did.
It’s actually from The Guardian website on 17 May 2016.
Today.
A friend brought it to my attention after a broadly similar discussion we had this morning.
Not very ‘right on’ if you ask me.
“The biggest breach of menstrual etiquette, however, is leaking in public.”
It then goes on to review a device which “saves women from their unpredictable uteri”.
“a girl’s worst nightmare of having blood leak through her new white pants”.
The Bluetooth wearable device that lets you know, via a mobile app, when to change.
The language used in this review has left me questioning which century we are living in.
Regular readers will remember that I have acknowledged in a previous blog that ‘women’s matters’ were very much private during my own upbringing.
That my father living in a house with four menstruating women in the 1970’s was probably torture for a man of his generation.
That was 40 years ago though.
Today things are very different
Equally, I’m all for embracing technology and entrepreneurship and as a woman, any solution or improvement to current available ‘arrangements’ are always welcome.
But this?
Whilst I agree that this does happen to women all the time, there is generally a reprieve of some kind in what we are wearing and our ability to find a quick short term solution.
Of course it happens.
But there is generally some kind of indication.
Surely as women, this is something that we can pretty much judge.
And I do talk from experience in saying this.
Do we really need an App to tell us what we already know.
Having said that, in all my 40+ years, I have never seen anyone with a ‘blob’ accident that has not been aware of it.
And I think it’s also safe to say that most of us probably don’t wear our new white pants at these times.
This is probably about as welcome as being told we could ‘roller-skate’ safely with our period back in the 1970s by a certain sanitary wear brand.
All this while I’m still waiting for my hair to bounce when I carry a surf board.
It’s not going to happen.
But you know what ladies – I think we’ve got this.
We’ve managed, we’ve coped, we’ve got on with it.
Yes we’ve had to shove our tampons up our sleeves to go to the bathroom or take the bag but I don’t see that changing any time soon.
So where next?
A ‘Poop Snoop’ that tells us when to expect the next bowel movement?
Watch this space.
Do you agree that we have got this one covered?
Nicky
notjustthe3ofus 