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Period Peace

Submitted by Elizabeth on 30 September 2007 - 4:27pm.
Another example of high school students standing up for themselves and for each other. A few weeks ago Chris posted about the students at a Nova Scotia high school who stood up for a classmate who was teased for being gay because he wore a pink shirt to school. The students organized online and the next morning brought in pink tank tops for everyone.

On the New York side of the border some US high school students went to school with tampons and pads attached to their clothing to protest the humiliation of their female classmates who have been questioned by security guards about whether or not they are menstruating.

It seems that in this age of unreasonable fear of school crime it seems some schools, like this one in upstate New York, have banned students from carrying any bags with them to class or in the halls. An exception was rumored to be made for female students who have their periods so they could carry a small bag with supplies in, apparently at least one security guard pulled some girls out of classes, questioning them about whether or not they had their periods.

As Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon and Jessica Valenti at Feministing point out this is absolutely humiliating to many young women. And while I realize that the students are protesting the bag policy, it is my deepest (and hopelessly idealistic) hope that they decide to keep up the protest until they get rid not just of the bag policy but also of the stigma around menstruation that causes these young women to be embarrassed in the first place.

And while they're at it, I think they should demand pad and tampon dispensers in the bathrooms.
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...because public space really matters!

Elizabeth

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Menses Power!

Submitted by Chris on 1 October 2007 - 4:09am.

I was just thinking about posting regarding this issue. One of the things that's so intriguing about it is how many different issues it puts on display:

First, and most obviously, it's an excellent example of the conflicting feelings that we have about women's sexuality in general, and about menstruation in particular. Sex ed programs for young women have traditionally shown menstruation in the most sentimentalized, candy-coated manner possible -- and yet, it's also a symbol of women's physical uncleanliness and mental instability. If anything makes women unqualified to wield power outside of the home, it's their menstrual cycle; how many times have we heard jokes about how a female president might push the button because it was "that time of the month"? In the specific case of the girls at this school, their periods both privileged them (to be "allowed" to carry a purse) and made their very personal bodily functions of public interest.

But second, it also shows how our schools are geared nowadays towards training our children to live in a police state, rather than a democracy. The original policy is geared to maximize control and surveillance of the students' posessions, and the question asked of the girl extends that to her body. Such complete control of how we move and live is incompatible with a democracy, and it seems clearly geared to make sure that the students get used to living with such measures, rather than expecting the rights of privacy or self-determination.


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