That never happens
At long last, a period emoji!
I kid, but actually I think “Good.”
More:
It’s happening. We’re definitely getting a period emoji.
Unicode has confirmed the period emoji has been given the go-ahead and will hit keyboards in spring 2019.
The blood drop emoji is the result of a campaign led by girls’ rights group Plan International UK backed by 55,000 people, which set out to smash the silence and stigma surrounding menstruation by bringing a period emoji to global smartphone keyboards.
Sure; why not?
The period emoji is officially happening. It might not seem like it's a big deal, but it is. The stigma & shame surrounding menstruation can have a damaging effect on girls' lives. An emoji won't solve the issue, but it will start a conversation https://t.co/hfBiPpf4wp @PlanUK pic.twitter.com/gjYYsjjn3L
— Rachel Thompson (@RVT9) February 6, 2019
But that’s not the funny part. This is the funny part.
Stigma? Have never met a girl ashamed of the bodily function that is menstruation.
— Tristan Pfeifer (@tpfeifer7) February 6, 2019
Of course. A guy mansplaining to a woman that there is no stigma on menstruation because none of the girls he knows has ever told him about any shame feelings around menstruation, and it’s perfectly certain that if any of them had such shame feelings they would tell their good friend acquaintance Random Dude all about them, because that’s how shame works.
I don’t know if I’ve ever actually met any girl who wasn’t somewhat ashamed…at least, they are sure it is something to hide, and even if they claim not to be ashamed, they will find some reason why they can’t talk about it.
I did menopause about 15 years ago, so I’m a bit low on hormones and yet I feels that I would like to slap Tristan upside his haid.
Am I bad?
Chigau, no. Especially not having read the thread and seen how the oblivious little mansplaining fucker tried to repeatedly argue his ‘point’.
None of us here on Earth designed our own bodies, though we each took a role in building them, starting our own very modest contributions to each project as it was well underway. Yet, in social settings, we can be expected by others to take full personal responsibility for who we are, how we are, when and where we were born and raised, what we have achieved in life, why we are the way we are, who our parents are or were, and a whole lot else.
We expect snakes to be snakey, and commonly blame them when they are so. (I refer here to the reptilian variety of course.) In patriarchal societies (ie most of them) it also helps each patriarch’s cause to remind women of their lowly and naturally servile status by treating them when menstruating as somehow ‘unclean’. Which is ironic, given the really unclean anal end of the digestive systems of each and all humans of both sexes which lies right next door in females to the wellspring of the menstrual blood: to which Holy Place most men are inclined to make pilgrimages, and as often as possible.
I have been to Tintagel, where the Lady of the Lake threw the sword Excalibur to King Arthur. But it pales by comparison….
I’m pretty sure it was this book I read decades ago:
https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9780333482346
In the introduction the author acknowledged that it might seem kind of weird to write a book about men and menstruation, since it is literally the only thing that has to do only with women…but I remember being enlightened and horrified by the opinions men expressed about menstruation and menstruating women.
A man who writes “Have never met a girl” on the internet is giving a large hostage to fortune.
Wait.
Won’t this new emoji be upsetting and disturbing to trans activists? Why should menstruaters be taking the limelight that rightfully belongs to them? This emoji will be shared and liked by MILLIONS! HOW COULD THEY DO THIS?!! What are they THINKING!??! CALL THE YORKSHIRE POLICE!!!
I reading about menstruation in the Regency era yesterday. There is not much information about it, because no-one talked about it.
One wonders if Tristan thought to google before posting.
I am waiting for the THAT’S EXCLUSIONARY, too.
I remember, way back in the 1990s, when I was slim and lovely, a squat party full of people who no doubt counted themselves as very right on, in a large British city. Bunch of lads skinning up on the stairs, blocking the way to the toilet, not paying me any attention. I smile, and shake a wrapped applicator tampon at them. ‘Gonna let me past lads? Bit of an emergency!’ They retreat in horror, spilling tobacco and skins. I smirk to myself – how silly – and go and do my business. Going back to the party, I’m suddenly shunned. By everyone. My cool female friend lets me know that my behaviour was beyond the pale and that I should have tucked it up my sleeve. Even if you start off unashamed you soon learn.
But that was then; now we’re much more enlightened.
*hollow laugh*
Uh huh. You should see the looks on my student’s faces when I discuss menstruation, menopause, or even male/female reproductive structures in Biology class.
As far as I am concerned, the term “girl” refers to young human females, before the age of adulthood (though perhaps this is just a 2nd-wave feminist thing). I do know there are progressive families whose daughters (and sons) are raised to be completely matter-of-fact about sex, sexuality, and bodily functions, so I suppose there must be some girls (by that definition) who have not yet encountered menstrual shaming, though I’m sure there are also plenty of families where women are still hiding their feminine hygiene supplies, and whispering euphemistically about “the curse”.
But as for Tristan Pfeifer, unless he is a health worker, educator, or parent, I find it creepy that he would be speaking to “girls” about their attitudes towards menstruation. And if he is actually referring to the attitudes of women, I have serious doubts that many would be likely to share this sort of thing with a man who calls them “girls”.
Just to derail slightly, but triggered by Pfiefer’s profile photo, it creeps me out when when guys use profile photos that obscure their own faces while fully revealing the face and often torso of an attractive female partner. It’s a kind of ‘you don’t need to know what I look like, but I can pull this trophy’ sort of thing.
Rob, I’ll give you a pound to a penny that’s his sister. He’s probably hiding his face to reduce the chance of being pointed out in the street and laughed at – or punched – for his idiotic opinions.
I know what you mean about the obsuring of faces, though it does seem to be somewhat defeating the object of showing off their trophies if they remain unseen themselves. How are random strangers supposed to know who to high-five should their path’s cross if they don’t know what they look like?
I do know that my ex was quite adept at making sure to stick his face out proud in any picture of him and his trophy (me). I had no idea I was a trophy wife until later, because I had no intention of being any man’s trophy. But I speak from experience, and had another man try to parade me around as a trophy some years later. That’s when I figured out what my ex had been doing. Man 2 had no luck with his trophy. He discovered that some trophies have a mind of their own. But yes, they both wanted to make sure their face was seen in conjunction with mine.
I’m all for eliminating menstruation stigma, etc. I just don’t see how a drop-of-blood emoji accomplishes that. But great if it somehow helps.
My concern is that this is instead going to be used as a shorthand “she’s on her period” taunt. A woman will tweet a strong option, and a couple hundred 4chan idiots will tweet the period emoji in reply. But maybe I’ll find that I’m underestimating humanity for the first time ever.
Ok just to make it crystal clear, I never thought for a single second that a period emoji would eliminate menstruation stigma. My reaction was – you can see it right there at the top of the page – “Sure, why not.” That doesn’t translate to “Hooray this will eliminate menstruation stigma!!!!”