I Also Don't Want To Know About Your Poop
Tweeted:
@NYTmag How #LiveTweetYourPeriod challenges gender bias on social media. http://nyti.ms/1MT2XJa
Really? Really?!
Jenna Wortham writes in New York Times Magazine about the hashtag #LiveTweetYourPeriod -- now, apparently in frequent use:
On the surface, this seems like little more than communal commiseration, but to me, it felt like something bigger: a microprotest against a modern paradox. Social media is saturated with images of hypersexualized women, but these are rarely considered as scandalous as content that dares to reveal how a woman's body actually functions. The hashtag came to my attention a few weeks after Rupi Kaur, an artist and poet, posted images on Instagram of a woman, fully clothed, with what appear to be menstrual stains on her pants. Soon an Instagram user or moderator flagged it as objectionable, and the post was quietly deleted. Which is precisely what Kaur expected to happen. She reposted the images with a note about Instagram that included the phrase "Their patriarchy is leaking."
Oh, please. Research on disgust confirms what we already know -- that we are grossed out by leakage of bodily fluids. It's an adaptation for avoiding disease.
Also, tweeting about your yicky bodily functions does not "challeng(e) gender bias": it says that you, as a woman, feel you are so useless and worthless as a human being that your best pathway to power and attention is going public about your bodily fluids.
I felt the same about the embarrassingly ridiculous play, "The Vagina Monologues," by the way.
Wortham continues:
These two campaigns exist in separate but parallel universes, each highlighting gender bias as it exists on social media. Why is it that Facebook users are mostly fine with certain kinds of imagery (bikini-clad spring breakers, say) but often offended by others (a mother breast-feeding her child)?
What bullshit. Some people are offended by the breast-feeding; some are not. It tends to connect with their feeling about naked boobage, not the fluid coming out of it.
We're all offended by poo, boogers, and other bodily fluids. We evolved to be this way, and exist because our ancestors were the ones to avoid those things -- avoiding disease spread by bodily fluids in the process, and the death that would very likely have followed.
No, everything is not about "the patriarchy."
My favorite response:
@micnews #LiveTweetYourJockItch
via @CHSommers
Yea, try that same thing with a guy and embarrassing stains on his pants and you'll get the same effect. Or as you point out, crotch rot.
Ben at June 25, 2015 5:35 AM
Spot on, Goddess.
My erections are, like most males', often involuntary. I'm gonna post pics of myself on a busy train with an erection. I mean, do you people know how embarrassing it is, to have to get up for your stop, with an erection you didn't request, on a train carriage full of people? Please try to understand - people look at you like you're a pervert, but the erection was involuntary. I'm sick of havng to be ashamed of my manhood!
*takes pic of erection and posts on the internet*
Dr. Gonzo at June 25, 2015 5:56 AM
Hilarious, Dr. Gonzo.
Amy Alkon at June 25, 2015 6:15 AM
I have to #PoopLikeARacehorse.
Wut?
What's funny to me is these women, these feminists, are voluntarily reducing themselves to their body functions. Patriarchy not required.
I R A Darth Aggie at June 25, 2015 6:33 AM
As someone whose livelihood involves my prying into (and frequently cleaning up) every aspect of lots of peoples bodily habits and fluids, I really DON'T want to see this online when I'm off. Ick!
Past that, how about #NoPeriodDueToHysterectomyAndItsTheBestThingEverInLife ?
Seriously-if you are done (*or never) having kids, find a doc to get rid of that thing. It'll be the best decision you ever make in life. And I guarantee you if men had cramps, hysterectomies would be available on every street corner clinic.
momof4 at June 25, 2015 8:08 AM
I don't want to talk to people about my period, and I don't want to hear about other women's. Bodily fluids are gross. Talking about one's "cycle" isn't empowering, any more than talking about one's sinus infection.
ahw at June 25, 2015 8:27 AM
People fart one to two dozen times a day. After I've enjoyed a comfort meal of a ballpark hot dog, smothered in spicy mustard, onions and chilli with beans (like Dad used to treat the kids to during the 7th inning stretch), I'm sure Jenna won't mind if I plant a wet one on her during the subway home. Right?
Wfjag at June 25, 2015 9:45 AM
How drab and uninteresting must these women's lives be to have them resort to this type of activity in order to feel noticed.
I actually feel sorry for them.
Jay at June 25, 2015 9:52 AM
I call "The Vagina Monologues" "Snatches Of Conversation".
Steve Daniels at June 25, 2015 2:06 PM
Sometimes I live tweet my comma or my semicolon.
Snoopy at June 25, 2015 3:07 PM
Oh, momof4, PREACH IT! My hysterectomy in '97 was the happiest freaking day of my life.
And I saw that pic when it came out. My first reaction was "GROSS!" followed quickly by, "WHY????"
Daghain at June 25, 2015 5:34 PM
I happen to be a member of The Patriarchy, and wanted to share some poetry of my own (my answer to the Vagina Monologues):
My Magnificent Penis - by The Jolly Patriarch
My penis is my strength.
The blood of The Patriarchy flows through its veins.
With it I pee freely.
Glorious golden liquid.
But best of all is when it comes!
Thick white sticky virile liquid.
It spreads forth my seed.
My penis is empowering.
My penis is me.
I'm sure you all just loved that wonderful imagery. Really an intelligent and mature piece of writing, huh? Just like The Vagina Monologues or Jenna Wortham's writings.
The Jolly Patriarch at June 25, 2015 6:10 PM
...after Rupi Kaur, an artist and poet, posted images on Instagram of a woman, fully clothed, with what appear to be menstrual stains on her pants.
Well, that's likely gonna happen when you put too much menstrual blood on your hot dog.
JD at June 25, 2015 10:51 PM
"What's funny to me is these women, these feminists, are voluntarily reducing themselves to their body functions. Patriarchy not required."
Exactly. I'm sick of feminist wannabees who insist that they not be regarded for their bodies, yet their own body obsessions are to the point that they never talk or write of anything else.
Cousin Dave at June 26, 2015 6:57 AM
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