Caution: Girl Stuff

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Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I have memories of entire outings (Magic Mountain, for one) ruined for me due to surprise periods and crippling cramps. Only after I disempowered and chemically suppressed my sacred blessing from Mother Earth's womb was I ever really free of it.

Been there, believe me. And I have even been told by another woman that my hysterectomy was due to me buying into the patriarchy. I am not kidding.

A large part of me is thinking menstrual/physical suppression equals emotional suppression of yet another generation of women. Let's personalize this. I'm thinking of my two daughters, ages 17 and 14. I want things to be different for them than they were for me. I hope my two daughters can resist the constant bombardment of messages that teach women to dread menstruation, to conform to media-driven images of beauty, to become a silent, smiling, nodding people-pleaser. There has to be a correlation between our society's menstrual taboo and rampant low self-esteem expressed by eating disorders (and other things).