From: Madeline
One of the last chapters we
discussed in this unit was "Ambivalence Toward Sex and Women's
Bodies", and in this chapter, there was a subsection that focused on
menstruation. Specifically it talked
about the stigma surrounding menstruation, a natural body function for women,
and the shame that they feel and that is pushed upon them by society.
In my photo, I wanted to portray the
frustration and stress that comes with the territory when it menstruation is
involved, specifically during first menstruation . Set in a tiny bathroom, I wanted to give the
photo a very cramped feeling. You can
see little of the room and the feet take up a majority of the photo, taking up
space to emphasize how trapped a girl can feel by something that is ignored on
the day to day level. The small size of the feet (courtesy of my sister) and
the colorful patterned socks are meant to showcase youth, and how young a woman can be when they begin
menstruating; the awkward tense position of the feet represents how awkward and
tense it can be dealing with menstruation when you have no idea what you are
doing because you have been socialized not to ask questions for fear of
judgement or disgust. The tampons and
wrappers scattered around, crumpled and dropped are meant to again, represent
the frustration with not knowing what you're doing and wasting time and
material trying to figure it out for yourself.
The placement of the tampon box,
knocked over and hidden partially behind the foot, is meant to represent the
way that menstruation is hidden in society.
Lastly, the hand slightly visible and holding the unopened tampon in a
sort of defeated posture is meant to represent the resignation of having to
figure it out for herself, and the fact that she'll have to do this for the
rest of her life.
4 comments:
From: Sarah
Menstruation has become something that women feel ashamed about. It is unfortunate that women feel embarrassed to ask questions about the taboo subject. It is a very frustrating time for young women, and most men have no idea about these frustrations. This can be damaging for a single father raising a girl, who probably knows nothing about the topic and therefore unable to help. I think people shouldn't act like it is so disgusting when they talk about it, it is a normal thing and we should treat it as such.
From: Sofiah
In today’s society, menstruation has a humiliating factor and is not a subject you can bring up in front of men. Women have to pretend like their natural body function does not exist. It’s damaging to women, especially young girls because concealing your period is done to appease men, despite the fact that men are aware of the process of menstruation given there is at least one woman in his life, whether it be a wife, mother, sister, or daughter. This has a harmful impact on young girls because they are taught that they anything less than clean while on their period, making them embarrassed to even mention it, even while asking for a tampon or pad. Menstruation products follow a deplorable trend that view periods as an unwelcomed disaster that needs managing.
From: Ximena
The menstrual cycle is something that is often ignored or stigmatized in society. In this picture the person's identity isn't shown. Which is paralleled by how society views periods. As something that shouldn't be identified or something that should stay hidden. Also in the picture it shows the mess of opened and unused tampons. This exhibits how girls are often uneducated about periods and how to use feminine products. If a woman herself is uneducated on this topic it can be assumed that men are also unlikely to know much about periods. Which can cause a lot of issues with communication between both genders. The photo is also taken in the bathroom which resembles privacy. This also exhibits how menstruation is often hidden away from society.
From: Joseph
growing up in a house with all women i am sadly more accustomed to this ritual or menstruation having my sister who at times was not the cleanest i would find the remnants of this in the bathroom and in disgust would go yell at her or complain to my mother that it was nasty. She sat me down once when i was 10-11 and explained to me what was happening and why and after that i really didn't have a problem with it i was even sent to the store several times to buy them their tampons and my wife still makes me pick hers up for her and my daughter so its not a big deal but i get where you are coming from and having to deal with it all on your own.
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