Breaking the omerta around the rules is the fight of Demetra Nyx, an American sexologist. His method? Every month, she uses her period blood to express herself: she smears it on her face, for example, and posts a photo or video on her instagram account. A few days ago, the Huffington Post highlighted his action.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we talk about struggles that are still far from over. Many of these fights revolve around menstruation: periodic protection with pesticides, overpriced protection, shame of menstruation, pain and gynecological diseases still too poorly treated… On this subject, the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, proposed new measures to treat endometriosis, this gynecological disease which affects one in ten women of childbearing age.
When will period shaming end?
On the taboo side, a study of Les Glorieuses as part of their campaign #StopMenstrualPrecariousnessrecently revealed that shame always surrounds the topic of menstruation. The proof, in this study, 7 teenagers out of 10 testify not to dare to ask for help in case of forgetting hygienic protection.
This shame around menstruation is precisely the fight of Demetra Nyx. On her Instagram account, she published a few weeks ago a photo of her thigh with the inscription “without shame” in English. In the legend that accompanied it, she recounts all the taboos and all the embarrassments she has felt since her childhood and struggles to emancipate herself from them. She explains her monthly ritual in which she posts the blood of her period, for “free other women from shame, and please herself“.
As social media swirls around hashtags like #RespectOurRules, the Los Angeles-based sex therapist writes about menstruation “When we call something beautiful that has historically always been considered dirty and disgusting, we regain power over our own body.“.
Read also:
- A petition for free sanitary pads
- The menstrual cycle, a mystery for 44% of French women
