Sometimes keeping quiet around people gives you the chance to think small things through and reflect on what you usually think doesn’t matter. In this post I’m sharing one tiny reflection on a word that Tunisians use every day without giving it much thought:
It's the menstrual bloody monster!
That didn't make sense.. You know I'm talking about: "that time of the month", "the lady business", "The red badge of courage", The crimson tide"..
Anyway, the thing is, our use of specific expressions/terminology to describe it makes it sound like it’s something shameful and repellent or downright sickness. How so? When a Tunisian girl or woman is describing the fact that’s she’s on her period, she says “مرضت”, which literally means “I got sick”. Since when the menstrual cycle became a sickness or a disease? Last time I checked, no one in my family got contaminated when I had my period.
So my question is: Would it hurt if we expressed that divine intervention of nature in our bodies differently ? In a more beautiful or simply a purely scientific or neutral word? You don't have to be a linguist but it's okay to put some effort sometimes into changing something demeaning in language.
We are the “language” we speak and we are to make the necessary changes if we need to. Menstruation is nature’s way to say that we are beautiful important creatures on this earth . In some ancient cultures, menstruating women were considered sacred and powerful . A Native American tribe (Cherokee) even considered the menstrual blood a source of feminine strength!
Okay I wouldn't raise the bar too high but WHY is it that in our Arab culture we consider it as a sickness or something to be ashamed of ? It is not dirty or embarrassing ( well maybe a bit messy but that's beside the point..). Sadly, this perception is not only found within the private cirlcle (friends ,family members , partners ..) but is also evident on the public level ( in the media for example ) .
Why is it inappropriate to mention menstruation around boys or men ? (I’m not saying make it your favourite discussion topic whenever you meet friends ). I guess the justification to that would be the fact that it’s an inherent social preconception passed to us from generation to generation influenced by religious and cultural beliefs
Anyway, menstruation IS still a PRIVATE thing like ‘peeing’ and ‘pooping’ BUT, in this post I’m mainly questioning our choice of words when we mention or talk about it and the preconception that we bear in our unconscious minds when we think of it . No matter how insignificant this may appear to you, these small things reflect a whole system of thought , so give it a thought !
