BIO-218X
Noah Delaney-Manuel
6/11/18
Artifact 6: Menstruation
In female life, the menstrual cycle is an intricate part of a female’s life. There is no escaping the fact that menstruation is an important cycle that must happen in order to regulate the females body. There are two parts in the menstrual cycle; the ovarian and uterine cycles. The ovarian cycle controls the development and release of the egg and hormones in the body of a female. The uterine cycle builds up and breaks down the endometrium of the uterus. Just like sex, menstruation is a natural phenomenon, but menstruation is almost hidden away from public discussion and seen as gross. In our country alone, men tend to know little to nothing about periods (the menstrual cycle) because they say, “it’s gross”. This contributes to women having to hide their pain while going through the cycle. Despite being in the horrible pain, women still go to work and function in our society, often times not showing any signs of being on their period.
Different societies also have different views on the menstrual cycle. In African societies, while the female is going through the menstrual cycle, they are separated from everyone and put in separate huts until they are over the cycle. While they are on the cycle, people do not have contact with them because this process is not a rejoicing moment in their community. Because of the lack of talking about it, they put their females at risk of getting toxic shock syndrome, a rare disease caused by a bacterial toxin associated with tampons. Tampons are safe, but if left in too long, you are in danger of contracting this potentially fatal disease. Contrary to the African culture, in Apache society, the menstrual cycle is a rejoicing moment. Like circumcision in some cultures, the menstrual cycle is a part of coming of age for females. The Apache culture believes that this is a sacred moment in a female’s life. Maybe society should model their behaviors towards the menstrual cycle after this old culture.
Help Received: Powerpoint slides and videos from class
Noah Delaney-Manuel