Silence around menstruation

Thanks for that story Tug a war tampon I felt a bit out there on a limb describing reactions no one else seemed to be having. Also what a good friend you are putting yourself to so much trouble to save your friend from embarrassment, really kind and really funny all at the same time. I dont know why the images wont open and I did try to sort it out but dont seem to be able to and now cant find the images again, sigh!

I think you are being very honest in your observations of youself Tug of war tampon being grossed out by blood in different situations and looking at the different reactions you have to bodily fluids coming from different parts of the body and from different people. I do think we observe the truth of this in ourselves by looking at our own reactions to menstrual blood rather than by purely analysing how we mentally think about it.
Human blood can be seen as heroic, scary, repulsive, pitiful, interesting, horrifying, etc depending on situations and how it is presented. For example the image of a warrior wearing bandages with some blood seeping through could be very simular in appearance to menstrual blood seeping through trousers and yet both blood soaked materials would probably be reacted to differently.

One of the ways we come up against our own physical reaction to menstrual blood is in how we react to either ourselves or our partner bleeding during sex. Some people wont have sex while bleeding or wont have certain kinds of sex.

Three different quotes on menstruation illustrating some of our relationships to blood women and sex,
Germain Greer says "“If you think you are emancipated, you might consider the idea of tasting your own menstrual blood - if it makes you sick, you've got a long way to go, baby.”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana says “Periods are a period when nature forces prostitutes to go on leave.”
Janette Winterson says "“When she bleeds the smells I know change colour. There is iron in her soul on those days. She smells like a gun.”

In the feminist theory of the 70s and 80s there was quite a bit of work done on looking at attitudes to menstrual blood and associations with it ranging from womens uncleanliness, unreliability, mood swings, hysteria etc on the one hand and then looking at ideas about womens power as well as links with lunar cylces, water, the earth and fertility. Some of the early menstrual conceptual art and actions comes from the 70s and 80s.
If I key in Menstruation into Amazon I come up with 1,647 books on the subject ranging from books aimed at explaining menstruation to children, to women as a target market and how business both shapes and creates attitudes to menstruation, menstruation from a feminist spiritual perspective, New Age medicine and Mainstream medical advice and lots of womens analysis and research . So its not like no one talks about menstruation or that the subject does not have sufficient material within it to be the subject of conversation writing studies or research in fact its the very way we talk about it, or dont thats a real interesting part of issue. Its also interesting the attitudes to women and that women have of themselves when they stop bleeding but thats a connected but other issue I suppose.

The book called The Wise Wound was first published in the 70s and has been through several printings http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wise-Wound-Penelope-Shuttle/dp/0714534056
A more recent publication on the subject is New Blood: Third-Wave Feminism and the Politics of Menstruation published in 2010 http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Blood-Third-wave-Feminism-Menstruation/dp/0813547547/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411662944&sr=1-1&keywords=new+blood+third+wave+feminism

"New Blood" offers a fresh interdisciplinary look at feminism-in-flux. For over three decades, menstrual activists have questioned the safety and necessity of feminine care products while contesting menstruation as a deeply entrenched taboo. Chris Bobel shows how a little-known yet enduring force in the feminist health, environmental, and consumer rights movements lays bare tensions between second- and third-wave feminisms and reveals a complicated story of continuity and change within the women's movement. Through her critical ethnographic lens, Bobel focuses on debates central to feminist thought (including the utility of the category 'gender') and challenges to building an inclusive feminist movement. Filled with personal narratives, playful visuals, and original humor, "New Blood" reveals middle-aged progressives communing in Red Tents, urban punks and artists 'culture jamming' commercial menstrual products in their zines and sketch comedy, queer anarchists practicing DIY health care, African American health educators espousing 'holistic womb health', and hopeful mothers refusing to pass on the shame to their pubescent daughters.

Here is a playful little link to make up for some of the images I couldnt post
http://www.tamponcrafts.com/heart.html

Vogera says
I'm really glad to hear there are so many people who don't have an issue with talking about periods.

Im really glad too so Ill say a bit more.
First a question, do men not know the taste of their own semen. Honest question. I do know the taste of blood, dont most people know the taste of blood, even if its just from a bit of bleeding after brushing your teeth or sucking a wound and do women not know the taste of semen, Id guess lots do. Is it just your own blood or semen that's not to be tasted. Were getting into what goes on in sex and how people react to bodily fluids, if you cant taste your own bodily fluids how could you expect someone else to? Maybe its an advantage to be gay being faced with someone whos body has simular fluids to your own not that gay or bi women dont sometimes have issues around this too but maybe we are faced with it a bit more directly. Do heterosexuals keep it that separate, women taste sperm and men taste blood, or do they? I think they are valid questions.

You do all know that was not blood on those ear ring tampons, it showed pictures of how to apply the paint and all, the earrings were made of cotton on a string with red paint. Again the site was poking fun at and inviting us to look at our reactions in a fun way similar to the game in the OP. Guess not everyone gets the joke or sees the fun in it, but lots of people do.

I thought this was the most questionable quote Mokokoma Mokhonoana a male philosopher saying that “Periods are a period when nature forces prostitutes to go on leave.”
But so far thats not the quote people feel so strongly about or even show enough interest in that they post their reactions to it. Theres more reaction to tasting menstrual blood and the idea that that may be liberating or to wearing cotton earings soaked in red paint that look like tampons.

And nobody is saying you have to like periods extreme feminists or not . Well maybe the advertising industry but again thats another story.

Tbh I find it weird that people find it weird that girls don't talk much about their periods. What's there to talk about? Don't tend to talk much about bowel movements or ear wax or runny noses in detail either from what I can tell...