Amy Nordby

ENGL 204

Professor Ballenger

October 1, 2014

That Time Again

            Menstruation happens all the time but we hardly ever hear about it. Let alone talk about it. Furthermore, though every society faces this act of nature, many tend to treat it differently and those customs have changed over time. In uncovering the mystery of menstruation, I will focus on the words, customs, and beliefs.

            First, there are some interesting words regarding menstruation, nicknames such as Aunt Flo, Leak Week, Surfing the Crimson Tide, among others. Some names are much more specific. Menstruation is from Old English “mondablot” or “month blood.” In Latin menses means month. And the term period dates back to 1822 meaning an interval of time. Some of the terms for feminine products are also interesting. Tampon is French for plug or bung a variant from the Old French tapon meaning a piece of cloth to stop a hole. The o.b. Tampon Company, o.b. means ohne Binde which means without a pad in German.

Second, there has been a vast array of customs and beliefs. Let’s take religion. It’s been said that Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam all prohibit sex during menstruation. Those women were required to perform a purity ritual after menstruation, as in a collection of water, to cleanse. During the nineteenth century, it was widely thought that intercourse with a menstruating woman would transmit gonorrhea.

There have also been beliefs that the mis-informed in Ancient Greece thought when observing women suffering from bloating, aches, and pains that the blood would cure warts, birthmarks, gout, goiters, hemorrhoids, epilepsy, worms, leprosy, and headaches.

And other strange rituals were that it was used as a love charm to ward off demons and was occasionally used as an offering to the gods.

Menstruation may have been overlooked over the centuries, but has had a huge impact on society through words, customs, beliefs, and especially us women.