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They’re just periods. So why the big deal?

Why do we refer to them as ‘that time of the month?’ Why do women always whisper when they need to borrow a tampon? And why do the ads for pads and tampons always use blue liquid to demonstrate their effectiveness?

They’re just some of the questions arising from a period-themed fashion shoot, by a photographer Emma Arvida Bystrom. It’s called “There Will Be Blood” and it aims to question the taboo surrounding menstruation. It’s a gallery of women menstruating. Each picture shows women doing everyday activities – jogging, listening to music, sitting at a cafe – seemingly unaware (or indifferent) to the fact they’re bleeding through their clothes.

Take a look. WARNING: these images are Not Safe For Work.

Click through for the full gallery.

Yes, confronting. Not since Germaine Greer suggested women taste their own menstrual blood back in the ’70s, have so many people been so….confronted.   “If you think you are emancipated,” she wrote in The Female Eunach, “you might consider the idea of tasting your own menstrual blood – if it makes you sick, you’ve a long way to go baby.”

Emma Gray from the Huffington Post admits to being shocked by the images.

It’s telling that even though we’re bombarded daily with graphic photographs of war and other violence — often involving quite a bit of blood — VICE‘s series still shocks. Period blood is so verboten in the public eye that the first “feminine hygiene” ad to use the colour red when illustrating what actually ends up on those products was released just last summer (the ad shows a single, prim red dot), and we’ve come up with an insane amount of euphemisms to allude to our menstrual cycles. (Some of those are priceless, by the way — see Cher Horowitz telling her high school teacher about how she was “surfing the crimson wave” and had to “haul a** to the ladies’.”) And even when we do see menstruation discussed openly, women are often shown being emotionally and physically incapacitated by it. The 2011 film “No Strings Attached” includes a scene in which Natalie Portman, Greta Gerwig and Mindy Kaling are all incapacitated in the living room, moaning in pain and binging on cupcakes.

Similarly, BuzzFeed‘s Donna B says she was also shocked, but concludes the photos are beautiful.

I’m woman enough to admit it. They got me. A friend sent me the link and we had a moment of outrage and giggling and disgust and moved on. But my brain didn’t. It percolated over those images with niggling sense that I was being hoodwinked. And finally, like the veritable light bulb moment, it hit me. There’s nothing wrong or gross with any of those photos.

What about you… what was your reaction to the pics?

Comments

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242 Comments so far

  1. Anonymous

    those pics r ggross :$

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  2. saftgek

    I fail 2 C the “outrage” or “grossness” of a normal womanly bodily function. I personally am stimulated sexually by the thought – and the practice – of sexual encounters while women in menstruating.

    Amazing what grosses people out. Interesting World!

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  3. Matilda

    I don’t think the photos are ‘beautiful’, but I do think they’re interesting and I like them.

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  4. Matilda

    Advertisement!

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  5. Lizzie

    Period Leakage is actually a big trouble maker especially when it happens at college, office, party or anywhere :(
    Getting rid of period Leakage is impossible & it always makes my day dreadful. But thanks to my friend Jennie who suggest me to buy adira period panties. It has a snug fit & keeps me stain free. No more Period Stains :)
    you can check them @ http://www.adirawoman.com

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  6. Anonymous

    this has got to be the most ridiculous post/story I have ever come across. Like apparently I am less of a woman for not totally embracing my period by taking photos of it, or finding meaning in it. Give me a break. It is a bodily function, that I’m not ashamed of – does that mean I would parade around the fact I get one every month and shouldn’t feel repulsed at photos that depict women having their periods bathing in their own menstrual blood. That is so disgusting. Give me a break. It’s like lauding men for bathing in their own shit. It’s a necessary bodily function, and without our periods we would not be able to carry children but whether it needs to be photographed and admired is another question entirely.

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    • Anonymous

      clearly you are missing the point. the capitalist system has problematized women’s bodily functions, their aim being to make women ashamed of their periods and their vaginas in order sell a product. this is a positive step, one which shows women embracing their bodily functions and creates a way for understanding periods as normal, okay, and not disgusting. as you’ve indicated in your response, you understand the normalcy and necessity of this function but you don’t seem to realize that many people don’t. do not overlook the politics of these images by relying solely on your own experience. this has nothing to do with anyone’s womanhood, it is a statement against capitalism and patriarchy.

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  7. Anonymous

    I find these pics so beautiful… it’s a part of my life and my body… I love to have my period… a very special part that only women can really know how special it is…

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    • Anonymous

      are you kidding me?

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  8. Lady

    for me these represent one of those fears … that i faced and then obliterated. the fear of bleeding through. I wore white pants had no pain and had the biggest bleed ever at chadstone. With no one around to even screen this horrific event that was the embarrassment of being a women. It was the nightmare my father used to tell me about instead he was there for his sister and i … alone.
    6 weeks later when i was safely back in europe I had an IUD inserted – worst period of my life ensued and that was worse than the pain of an aborted child just for context of those that have lost one.

    I wish these photos was blood that we shed but that is red blood – and screams fake anyone who has bleed through and scrubbed “insert garment” clean that aint real…. I love what she is trying to do… and all i can say is that no man i have been with has ever shied from the blood – if he had of he wasn’t there for long…. mensturating is one of the best times to have sex – chocolate urge = sex urge…. just go to the sex … blood it washes off in cold water. Choclate remains a lifetime on the hips.

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    • Jade

      I’ve heard it’s the best relaxant for cramps!

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  9. guest

    lets not forget how funny we get about perspiration. How embarrassing is it to have that dark wet stain underneath our armpits. Perhaps the taboo with the red stain has more to do with what it represented to us growing up. No longer a child, and suddenly a woman…….

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  10. Pingback: On the (Rest of the) Net. « The Early Bird Catches the Worm

  11. guest

    Weirdly enough, the images make me pine for my period! I have an IUD so bleed a minuscule amount. Rather than enjoying the convenience of it though, I kind of feel strange not having my monthly ‘clean out’. There is something cathartic (and of course very womanly) about it.

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  12. susan

    Some things are just not needed to be in one’s face to know it happens. We do get caught out on occasions with menstrual blood..so what?
    It’s just another bodily function.
    But it’s still bloody private and something we try not to let happen.

    The elderly shit their pants…so what?…do we really need to photograph that and stick it up for public view as well?

    I wouldn’t want to be out in public with lipstick on my teeth, bed hair, or blood running down my leg from my period. If it happens I’d clean it up and move on not take pics of it.

    What’s next? the abortion bucket? there’s no shame in abortion either…but do we want to see pics of it?

    I think not.

    What a silly subject!!! and no…they’re not beautiful…just silly.

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    • Anonymous

      “…. an elderly shit their pants…” The truth of that statement Cracked me up!!!

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    • Anonymous

      Well said, Susan. Photograph-worthy? I think not.

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    • Anonymous

      love this susan. right on the mark.

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    • croaghie

      Susan you’re all over it. This post is banal, trying to be edgy. It’s one of the negatives blogging has bestowed upon self-publishers, they feel at liberty to publish all sorts of crap they erroneously deem ‘interesting’. If this blog was really about and for women – who we are, how we live, what makes us tick – why is our intelligence being insulted? I log on to this blog about every month or so as research for my own. It’s turning into a great roadmap for what not to do.

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    • Megan

      At the risk of upsetting the pro-choicers, I can’t carry on and let slide the fact that abortion was just aligned with such natural bodily functions as menstruation and defecation. It’s not. And in some cases, there truly should be deep shame in it.

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  13. Girlfriday67

    At 44, I was shocked to discover that I’d been “caught out” by my period, having bled out my tampon and a mini pad whilst out with a girlfriend earlier this year. I was wearing white linen pants. I had stopped to get petrol on the way home too. Completely unaware that I had a big red bleed mark between my legs. It was only when I got home and went to the toilet did I see the big red stain. I felt soo ashamed. I thought back to my morning – who saw it? Was it there when I filled up – did the guy at the petrol station notice, and what about the other customers? what about my girlfriend? Did she notice and not say anything?? Was she embarrassed by my bleeding too?? All I can think is that given how unpredictable our legacy of the bleeding is, it is a wonder we don’t see more women caught out like I was – unsuspecting and 44. Being a woman is a privilege and a shit simultaneously.

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  14. Anon

    I am trying to conceive, have endometriosis and suffer from EXTREMELY painful periods (enough to hospitalise me for the morphine) so I live and breathe periods haha! Ive seen western and eastern practitioners for years and I’m so used to talking about them that anyone close to me knows everything about them too (a “sorry” to my friends!).
    I find periods fascinating and help my stay connected to my body,I know when it is due by the phase of the moon etc. so bring on more candid talk about periods…as a teenager it’s such a strange/embarrassing experience when you get them and it shouldn’t be that way.
    Ps I highly recommend reading the Red Tent – inspiring book especially how connected all the women are with their cycles

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  15. Dusk

    These images are beautiful, a perfect example of strength in femininity…. I’m amused by the warning though, about these being not suitable for work… underlines the hypocrisy quite well.

    I have always said “period”. Why call a spade a large toiling spoon?

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  16. sami

    I don’t find them ‘beautiful’ or ‘confronting’. To me periods are periods and not a big deal. Most of us get them… on implanon mine were so sneaky and random that I’d have a bit of mess some days but it never freaked me out. I’m not one for fancy knickers anyway so even if I ruined a few pairs it was no big deal.
    I think the worst thing about periods is the cramps and bloating, not the blood!

    I’m not about to advertise it or shout from the rooftops when I’ve got my period but I don’t think it should be hush-hush either. It’s just… everyday life.

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    • Jade

      Im with Sami
      I like my comfy undies haha but it’s life for us..even my partner doesn’t blink when he puts clothes in the wash for me and see’s them I actually think he feels for me because they’re can be painful :/
      I don’t think they’re beautiful either that’s just weird
      I actually laughed at the pic of the reading the magazine who the hell sits like that??

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  17. Mill

    I don’t find these images offensive, although I admit that they make me a bit queasy as I’ve had painful periods for most of my life :-/ Definitely in the mood for chocolate brownies and a cup of tea, now!

    I’ve never been particularly embarrassed by menstruation – have to thank Cher Horowitz for the ‘crimson tide’ line, though, it’s been welcome ice-breaker toward the beginning of 2 of my relationships, including current! Both are great guys with no problems with blood, and both thought it was a cute way of being open about a potentially awkward situation.

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  18. Alice

    I know a lot of people are commenting with “who cares, we don’t need to see this, natural doesn’t need to be advertised” etc. Initially I agreed, but then I remembered being at a friends house and he dad changing the channel when a tampon ad came on and muttered “ugh, they should sell that stuff under the counter”.

    Yes, he’s probably an exception – but probably not the only person (male or female) who feels that revolted by periods. Does anyone have a problem with toilet paper ads or condom ads? I think there’s still a bit of that stigma of it being “dirty, private women’s business”.

    That said, I feel super uncomfortable buying toilet paper OR tampons. Maybe excreted bodily functions just don’t need to be seen or graphically discussed – who knew!

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    • Anonymous

      I don’t mind buying either
      The shop assistant doesn’t know if they’re for me or my daughter or a friend who is too shy!

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  19. Mooner

    The photos of women with blood on their knickers… not something I needed to see but it’s the reality of periods sometimes.

    The last one though, of the woman with blood all over her abdomen, lying on a table looking pale with her eyes closed??? That looks more like a picture of someone who has died a violent death to me, which is not consistent at all with the stated aim of this photoshoot, which is supposedly “to question the taboo surrounding menstruation.”

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    • rudyroo

      I beleive she is relaxing in the bath.

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  20. Gemma

    Breaking menstruation down to what it really is – blood and tissue from your reproductive system, it’s not gross, disgusting or offensive. It’s a natural part of life and essential to the continuation of the species.

    Having said that, urinating and defectating are also essential parts of life but I don’t choose to advertise those bodily processes to the world either…

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    • JessB

      Yes, but look at some of the ads for toilet paper – the one with the cute puppy dog comes to mind for me. Men, women and kids are shown in high spirits having a laugh – not necessarily what I’m feeling when I’m on the toilet.

      I think the issue is the way that one of those ‘natural processes’ of life is treated as unnatural by advertisers – menstruation.

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  21. bee85

    What is it they say on South Park? You just can’t trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn’t die!

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  22. AnnaD

    Urgh…Vice magazine… there seems to be no end to your quest to be edgy and shocking. I look forward to your abortion photo shoot soon.

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  23. a

    I don’t find these pictures confronting but a little gross, perhaps. Just as I would be if I saw pictures of anyone else with bodily fluids excreting from their nether regions. My friends and I talk about our periods all the time and ‘keep watch’ whenever anyone has their period. It’s just that in an office you whisper because not everyone needs or really wants to know where you are in your cycle.

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  24. redqueen

    There’s a lot of body hate around. People are okay with violent films, gore, crime scenes etc. but heaven forbid we should discuss or show pics of menstruation. It’s a part of life, I have no problem with those pics.

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  25. Jude

    Interesting photos. It is strange that we see blood from gunshots or violent images and don’t think twice but menstrual blood is somehow seen as different and gross. No one would be really embarrassed by a bleeding nose in public but heaven for forbid if you had a period leak it would so humiliating. Thanks MM for once again getting us thinking. x

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  26. Tara

    I actually found all of the photos in bad taste. I’m nearly 42 and started my periods at 12. From that age until I had a hysterectomy at 34, I suffered extremely heavy periods. I would be heavy from Day 1 to Day 7 and then they would stop. Day 8 to Day 15 would be heaven, Day 16 to Day 18 would suffer ovulation pain, Day 19 to Day 28, sore, swollen breasts, PMT, cramping and fluid symptoms would commence. What I also fail to mention that I didn’t have ‘cramps’ I had pain that was like a band around my lower torso including pain down my thighs.
    I had two children – one at 22 and one at 27 and was hopeful that maybe after pregnancies they would improve, but no they got worse. A lot of women take the pill for relief of symptoms, but I couldn’t tolerate it.
    Try wearing super size tampons with an overnight pad each day and having to change them every two hours, not to mention spending nearly $20 each month in that aisle each month.
    Do I miss them, definitely – NO. Do I want to celebrate them – NO. Having also suffered low iron levels/borderline anaemia all of my menstrual life, I’m glad to now have perfect iron levels and don’t have to be conscious of eating enough red meat and taking iron tablets.
    Periods don’t define a woman at all. Its her whole make up as woman. The way she carries herself, her dress, personality. Not whether she bleeds or not.

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    • oliveblanche

      Oh Tara that’s horrible and I thought I had it bad! I was also 12 when mine started and when I turned 13 omg the agony! Throwing up migraine abdominal pain. Ugh! Mum used to offer my alcohol cos it was so bad. She remembered hers being that bad as well. I was extremely lucky tho because I went on the pill at 17 and have never had a problem since. I didn’t find those pics confronting or gross just kinda boring.

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    • Mum of 2

      Oh thank goodness, there is light at the end of the tunnel then! I don’t have it quite as bad as you, but I’m not far off though. I have PCOS. The only thing that really changed after having kids is that I get them more often! (They used to only come 3-4 times a year, but now I get them every month!). I have been worried that it will all mean that menopause is going to be even worse, just minus the blood. Please tell me then that this isn’t going to happen? It sounds like you are much better off?

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      • Tara

        Mum of 2, I’ve been menopausal for a few years now and I suffer hot flushes, terrible short term memory and all the other symptoms but I’d much rather have these symptoms than the awful periods I suffered. Probably the one thing I hate is that all my life I’ve had oily skin but now it is dry. Other hormonal changes are dark hairs on my upper lip and a few sprouting from the chin but nothing that wax won’t fix. Still better than heavy painful periods.
        I was probably about 38 when I went from peri-menopausal to menopause. I have read somewhere that the younger you are when you start menopause means that it won’t last as long. Not sure how true that is but as I had my first hot flush at around 36, I’m hoping that I’m over the half way mark.

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    • rudyroo

      Tara,
      I say periods can define you.
      I’ve had similar experences to yours.
      I’ve bled so heavily I literally couldn’t risk moving far from the bathroom at home. Would bleed through a super tampon within 15 – 20 minutes plus fill a pad at the same time.
      I have severe endometriosis. It definded me.
      I couldn’t leave the house.
      I wasn’t ever sure when my period would arrive, so when I did leave the house I had a handbag full of products and could only go where there was public toilets.

      Twice my period arrived on the drive to dropping kids at school. Having to get out, rush to a school toilet (primary) and try and clean up as best as possible to make it back home.
      I also had them arrive at work, when I was resuscitating someone, very difficult to leave in that sitution to go and clean yourself up in the toilet.

      It defined me.

      Its also about how people treat you. Ive have to pull out of social engagements, cancel appointments, stay home from work. If you say you have your period, watch out for condemnation. That’s why awareness is the key here. Some people have it bad, some don’t. Those that don’t often aren’t aware of how bad it can be for others.

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  27. Miche

    These photos are liberating.

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  28. Anonymous

    Love it! I’m one of those women who will proudly/loudly ask for a tampon and happily discuss my menstrual cycle with anyone who enquires.

    Then again, I’ll happily discuss my bowel motions with you (over dinner?) too. I’m just not that grossed out by bodily functions.

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  29. katec

    Not confronting to me, and if people do find them confronting then I guess that makes the project worth doing.

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  30. Claire

    Sorry but menstruation IS grosse. I hate having to deal with it. We don’t glorify thrush or discharge. How about a bunch of photos of women with clag glue or cottage cheese smeared all over their pubic region? Not pleasant.

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    • sandandsurf

      Yes, I was going to say, when was the last time you saw an ad with someone popping a huge pimple?

      Or do we want toilet paper ads with smeared shit? No, don’t think so lol

      I don’t think it’s a case of being liberated, but of just showing taste.

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  31. clarinette

    I quite like them! I couldn’t tell you why though , they just seem very human …

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    • katec

      I like the bath one. Kind of pretty. The rest seem quite ordinary to me and I think that’s the point?

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  32. Jessica

    I posted the link on my facebook page…Only one girlfriend responded but perhaps it spoke for the majority thinking of today’s women (see below)
    “Well, it is quite dirty – it’s unused uterus lining FFS! Women know how uncomfortable it is, and men don’t wanna see blood coming out of a vagina. I think people are OK with the idea of a period – there’s just no need to shove it in everyone’s face! Women would SO not be OK with photos of men ejaculating all over the place. The photographer is just another crazy feminist, trying to be shocking and artsy.”
    While a couple of my fiance’s mates confronted him at football training tonight asking him why his Mrs was posting sh*t about rags on facebook?”
    (sorry honey, forgot to warn you before you left…). I showed him when he got home to hear his thoughts and after the first image he was done. Asking me to never show him again. I asked why? He couldn’t really answer, besides “no wonder my mates said something…”
    I don’t think they are overly confronting but rather an exaggeration of what some women are unfortunate enough to experience in life somewhere throughout the cycle. I don’t think they are necessarily artistic but just someone’s perception about the issue. I partially agree with my girlfriend who posted her comment on facebook – yes it is a dirty cycle – the shedding of the uterus lining but in a way it’s also a ritual of cleansing that a female’s body naturally goes through. I guess that’s the key word to remember – NATURAL…It’s all natural. Some are just more put off by it than others just like any other bodily function. Not quite sure what the big deal and don’t necessarily think it needs to be out there and forced for discussion. The cramps we experience are uncomfortable enough let alone trying to have the conversation about it…

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  33. Mxx

    Interesting so many people say “we don’t talk about bowel motions because it’s disgusting, so why would I want to talk about my period?” Can I just say, as someone with a serious bowel disease, I fucking WISH I could talk about my bowels without people being disgusted and wanting to shut down the conversation ASAP. It’s hard to make any of my friends understand what I go through because it’s obvious they all feel so damn uncomfortable the minute I try to talk about what I go through.

    Maybe people with reproductive diseases like endometriosis feel this way about periods? I don’t know much at all about what it’s like to have any sort of reproductive disease and I don’t mean to put words in anyones mouth, but maybe if we weren’t so confronted by periods I WOULD know something about it because sufferers wouldn’t feel like they were talking about something “gross” or something that’s “meant to be private”

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    • Shannon

      Hmm, I hadn’t considered it that way. I suppose, for me, i have no problem talking about these things, I just doubt the necessity of representing them in imagery as though it is something we should want to look at.

      But then again, if it gets the conversation started, I suppose it serves a purpose.

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  34. missamoo

    I find them interesting neither good nor bad. When i was working in bars and i had my period i would have to go the toilet more often than normal. However because i couldn’t leave my bar unattended i would have to ask the manager to mind the bar. He used to playfully say no until i’d pull out the ” If you don’t i might just bleed down my own leg”. Worked every time.

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  35. Faybian

    They had a scene at the beginning of “the runaways” with Dakota fanning’s character have menstrual blood leaking. Doesn’t particularly excite me either way. I’ve seen enough body fluids over the years that this doesn’t really affect me. I’m not into tasting my menstrual blood however, just the same as I don’t drink the blood from a blood nose. If that makes me not liberated, so be it.
    On a lighter note, years ago, had a male friend over after an extended OS trip and my then toddler son came out chewing on a tampon, string hanging out his mouth.

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  36. Sarah

    we don’t celebrate our bowel movements… it’s a natural bodily function that we are equally quiet about. What’s the problem?

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    • rudyroo

      Perhaps we should be less quiet about our bowels.
      Like children are.
      We would be healthier for it. Lots can be told about our health by the type of poo you do. Some cultures aren’t so uptight about such things. We have a couple of children’st stories from Korea about poos. One is a ‘poor little puppy poo’ and its his story of self worth and how he finds he is useful when he disolves into the ground and helps a dandelion grow.
      The other is about a little Lion and his belly ache and how he has to poo for the doctor. He ends up having parasites but you learn about all different types of poos in the story.

      Paediatricians have a picture poo chart. The kid shows the doc which one their poos is like…Mr Whippy, pebbles, logs, etc. Kids usually are quite matter of fact about it. If you showed the same to an Adult they are more likely to freak out and get embaressed and likely be not so truthful about it.

      It’s all important to our health. Although I don’t think it is something worth discussing every minute of the day, it should be still ok to talk about it sometimes.

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  37. J

    yeah cos I know when I get my period i have blood smeared all over my belly…. and when i go in to a cafe I dont bother wearing pants and spread my legs wide open so everyone can see whats going on….

    Oh yeah, and when its seeping thru, I just sit back like its nothing and concentrate on my ipod…

    These arent realistic depictions of feminine issues… they are ridiculous.

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    • Donsie

      Well said.

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    • karen

      thank you!

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    • Lecky

      she is in a bath, the water is red on her stomach.

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      • Anonymous

        mmhmm…… ive still never had a realistic situation in the bath like that either lol.

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    • Anonymous

      maybe not for you, but for some women they are realistic.
      Not everyone knows when their period is about to occurr.
      Not everyone can tell when their perioed has started, espcially in the younger age groups.
      People do bleed through their clothes.
      It happens.

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      • J

        ohhhh so you sit in public places with yuor legs wide open and your underwear showing so people can see everything including your leakage?

        Of course people leak… but it doesnt happen like any of these pictures… So you just hang out at a bus stop not at all mildly freaking out while youve got blood trickling down your thighs?!
        Riiiiiight!

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  38. Jen

    These photos are sensationalist. It’s not like any of these women are going about their everyday activities and opps, I’m leaking some blood, so I’ll just continue along my merry way. They are art, which is great, but I don’t really see how they are effectively ‘questioning the taboo surrounding menstruation’?

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  39. MsChief

    I had a moment only a couple of weeks ago (@TAFE) and was very lucky that a nice lady told me that I’d leaked through, imagine my surprise as I’m going through menopuase and wear an IUD so there is normally zero chance of anything, but it was enough to go through the back of my pants.
    Luckily I’m off the age of little embarrassment, took myself to the loo, fixed myself up, tied my jumper around my waist and kept on with my day. I thought the photos an artistic expression they don’t really shock me and after watching an episode of GIRLS (US show HBO) where one of the girls is on her way to an abortion but hooks up with a guy, who starts to feel her up and comes away with a hand full of blood, to the girls joy, now that I found confronting.

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  40. Shannon

    Meh, I didn’t find the photos confronting or particularly interesting.

    But I want to see periods about as much as I want to see male ejaculation or any other number of natural bodily functions.

    We don’t have to celebrate and embrace everything our body does. It’s okay for some things to make us a tad squeemish. Like scabs, pussy wounds, etc.

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  41. Anonymous

    I think the photos are kinda cool. They aren’t pretty or gorgeous or beautiful but I like them coz they/re different and force the viewer to think outside the box. The pic challenge us to re-examine our preconceived notions about femininity, sexuality and menstrual blood.

    I like them.

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  42. Emily

    I don’t see anything wrong with it at all. If men, or women or anyone, are bothered by it then they can go and get stuffed. This happens to EVERY woman. Get used to it. As the article perfectly articulates, we are bombarded with other violent images containing a lot of blood, why should this be any different? Besides, this is the blood that can create life.

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  43. Kate

    These photos may be confronting only because it’s not something you see all the time. I must say I don’t particularly like looking at it. I see it every month as it is! Yes, it explores a part of our lives that is usually private but I don’t think it’s fair to say that if you’re grossed out by it you’re not recognising how natural it is. I would be equally (probably more) grossed out at a photo shoot showing men with cum all over their pants.

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  44. lauren

    i tried to show my husband this article and he was VERY annoyed at me telling me it was gross. i asked him why and he said it is just not something people need to know about.
    My response was that is bull. you are allowed to say oh i have a sore back today, or even i had the worst gastro on the weekend, but god forbid a woman announces oh i have my period this week. He told me noone needs to know about it! I think this is just the way society see’s menstruation, very odd indeed. i thought his reactions were summing up this article! haha

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    • masd270248

      So how did that make you feel????

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  45. Kaz

    My 4 yo son often sees me change my pad and in the bath with period blood. I just think that if he’s exposed to normal bodily functions then he won’t be embarrassed by it when he’s older. Although I think telling him that he used to bathe with me and talk to me when I was on the toilet might extremely embarrass him. Oh well.

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    • Anonymous

      good on you for having baths while on yr period. I can’t. It irks me.

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  46. chellebelle

    I arrived at work the other day and was fishing in my bag for my security pass. Out tumbled a tampon. It merrily bumped along the car park while I scurried behind it trying to pick it up. I could hear someone approaching and thought I was going to make a pretty funny sight – bent double, hand outstretched, trying to snaffle up the unruly little tampon that was tumbling about the car park. I finally managed to scoop it up and straightened up to come face to face with a woman I didn’t know. She gave me a grin of pure solidarity and we went on our way. It was pretty funny. I was actually thinking as it happened how I didn’t care two hoots, but that if it was a man approaching he was going to feel embarrassed.

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  47. elli

    Confronting? A little, I guess. My reaction is that I shouldn’t be looking at this – like someone else’s periods aren’t my business to be sticky-beaking at and I should look away to save her from embarrassment about her leakage.

    For someone who’s fine about most other bodily functions I shouldn’t be as shy as I am about menstrual blood. I work for a GP (so discuss health problems all day), I’ve studied remedial massage, I did the Spencer Tunick naked photo shoot at the Opera House a couple of years ago and my partner has studied Chinese medicine. We have an open bathroom door relationship except for my period, when I close it (he draws the line at me seeing him dye his hair LOL), although I know he’d be fine with changing a my tampon if I was somehow incapacitated.

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  48. Mrs R

    What is the point of them? We all poo as well but I don’t want see pics of other peoples poo! It’s just gross.

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    • Anonymous

      Maybe we should.
      You can tell a lot about your health by your poo.
      Maybe we should just get over ourselves and not over react to normal bodily functions.

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  49. Lauren

    I love these photos! Its an amusing topic to depict and its a bit sad that some people are offended or grossed out by an act that is completely natural!

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  50. Red Dragon

    Just made me hope that if someone would let them know, discreetly. After all, most of us have had a surprise period or leak at one time or another.

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    • trixie melodian

      I have always wondered whether I should tell someone in that situation. If I mention it to them, they know that at *least* one person has noticed, whereas if I don’t mention it, they might get home, realise what’s happened and hope that no-one else noticed!

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      • MissT

        If it were me, I’d want you to tell me.

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