On a gloomy afternoon at the end of February, the advertising team of Xiaoru, a post-90s generation, was mustering up energy to think about the planning plan for the 38th Festival for a sanitary napkin brand. The word "menstruation" hit Xiaoru like a giant lightning, and she blurted out: "'Moon flowers, bloom often', how about it?" ”
The impact of the industry environment in the past two years has made this work more difficult to require brainstorming and creativity. What makes Xiaoru even more sleepy from time to time is that she doesn't understand what is the connection between these sparks of thinking and her real life experience? At this moment, the tide of Xiaoru's life that had risen and fallen in the previous twenty years revitalized the infinite thoughts between her and her body that began with shame, then rebellion, and finally shook hands and made peace.
Every woman and her menstrual experience has a decades-long war in it. This fierce and silent war is not her alone.
Xiao Ru's thoughts instantly drifted back to the classroom twenty years ago. She was twelve years old, and her body and mind were growing together, filled with a fresh thirst for knowledge. While flipping through extracurricular literary and artistic works, Xiaoru accidentally read a short story. The ignorant little boy asked the teacher in public, "What is menstruation", the teacher groaned a little, and replied with a smile, "Menstruation, it is the moon flower, which blooms often!" This story was originally intended to praise the teacher's educational wisdom in skillfully solving problems, but it made Xiaoru feel an inexplicable shame and horror of the unknown: she had not had menstruation yet, and she could only imagine menstruation as a "strange thing" that even teachers could not talk about.
A year later, Xiaoru's experience of menstruation for the first time was not pleasant at all. All of her physiological knowledge comes from the small chatter between her classmates in the dormitory, interspersed with snickering and whispering, and often comes to an abrupt end. Xiaoru listened vaguely, and she didn't understand why she didn't come back for a long time after her first menstruation, and wondered if she was sick. The first time was when her mother gave her a pack of sanitary napkins in a panic, and then she sneaked to the commissary and sneakily took out a black bag, as if it was a "special operations operation".
A good friend once joked: "When I make a lot of money in the future, I'll give you a wagon of sanitary napkins!" This promise moved her, not only because of "Gou Fugui, don't forget", but also because in the picture she imagined: the car of sanitary napkins did not need to be packaged, and passed through the downtown area openly.
Englishman Milley Hill has written an easy-to-read menstrual guide, The Girl's Body Book, for girls over the age of nine
After studying in college, Xiaoru was rebellious, went to the store to buy sanitary napkins and refused to use the black bag, and grabbed it directly in her hand, as if it was a gesture of declaring war. No one seemed to notice what she was holding in her hands, and she felt a little discouraged. However, an unexpected incident brought down her "warrior".
At that time, Xiaoru was reading in the library when her menstrual period suddenly rolled in, and she suddenly felt unbearable pain and dizziness. She held the book to her stomach and reached for help from the teacher on duty in the library. When the male teacher asked enthusiastically, she had to mumble, "That ......."I've got ...... on me”
It is said that there are thousands of subtle euphemisms for "menstruation" around the world, and she uses the most common of them. The teacher immediately made a "knowing" expression and drove her back to the dormitory. She was speechless all the way, and she was afraid of what she would talk about, but fortunately, the teacher didn't say a word.
The endometrium and follicles during menstruation.
After the pain eased, Xiaoru asked herself repeatedly: What am I afraid of? What is hidden? Is menstruation a disease? Why is it so eloquent to be sick?
These secret moments made Xiaoru realize that it was a long war to treat her physical phenomena calmly, and she was not alone. Even after she got married and had a baby, her mother-in-law and mother still expressed unspeakable disgust at her accidentally soiled sheets. Xiaoru remembered that in the first book of the Old Testament of the Bible, "Leviticus", it is written: "When a woman walks, she will be filthy for seven days; and whosoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. "Not only menstruation is unclean, but even menstruating women are unclean. What's more, not only is the person unclean, but the things she touches and the things she touches are all unclean.
What made her laugh dumbly was that in traditional Chinese culture, there is also a saying that "menstrual blood is unclean". These prejudices have been left on her elders for thousands of years, so they have also become the "sword of Damocles" hanging over her menstrual period, adding layers of folds to her heart that is rarely troubled.
Indian women also have their own "sword of Damocles", and some Indian girls drop out of school because they don't have a suitable place to change their sanitary napkins. The screenshot is from the documentary "Moon Revolution".
At home during the Spring Festival holiday this year, Xiaoru reunited with her middle school friend who promised to send sanitary napkins. I haven't seen each other for many years, and the two of them happen to be the mother of the little girl. After the embarrassing adolescence, they no longer talk about the entanglements of 20 years ago, but more about the hidden worries about their daughters and the future world: what kind of world do we want to create for our daughters? Despite all the ups and downs, they knew that they were destined to rise to the occasion and never look back, because a woman who bleeds for a few days a month is invincible!
In the 2019 Oscar Best Documentary "Menstrual Revolution", the story of a group of Indian women fighting for the rights of their compatriots for sanitary napkins is called out:The strongest creatures in the world that God created are not lions, elephants, and tigers, but women. Women's power does not grow in the minions, but grows in the complicated daily life of every second and holding a fire extinguisher at any time.
Menstruation opens the source of life. People tend to praise the bright face of the new life, but rarely face up to the blood red that is inextricably linked.
Screenshot of the documentary "Lunar Revolution".
The Menstrual Revolution is more direct than The Indian Partner, which won Best Documentary Short Film at the 91st Academy Awards.
Often, people ask Xiaoru half-jokingly, "Will taking children affect work creativity?" "Isn't it annoying to have multiple threads in your work-life?" She always replied, "Is there anything more inspiring than dealing with a creative child?" Is there anyone better at multithreaded work than someone who has been coping with menstrual cramps since adolescence while trying to study, take exams, and read books as usual? Jou lacks what the poet Mary Oliver called the condition: "Creative work requires solitude, concentration, the whole sky to fly, no one to watch." ”But she knows that juggling her body, her children and her work is the most creative work in itself.
Xiaoru gradually paid attention to the physical and mental health of her adolescent sisters and menopausal female elders.
Menstruation and menstrual flow are directly related to physical health.
Pay more attention to the amount of menstrual flow and the number of days, these are the first signs of a problem! The soft reminder melted the ice of their past conceptual differences. Menstruation is like a flexible vine, naturally linking them with different ages and visions. As Ito Hiromi says in "Amenorrhea", "We are devastated women." Both old acquaintances and new girlfriends are soaked in blood and scarred. There are children who are injured for the sake of the children; Parents who are still alive are parents; If there is a man, the man is the culprit; Those who don't have men have their own pain. We are exhausted and broken, but when the new sun rises and we stand up calmly, we do whatever we have to do. Usually, I don't even feel that I am covered in scars. ”
Ito Hiromi's "Amenorrhea".
Ito said better than Lu Mei: "Beautiful or not, go to him." Growing old means freedom, a new freedom. Xiaoru longs for freedom after menstruation, but before that, she is more nostalgic for the "empathy" that pain brings to her and the weak people around her, and tries her best to exert her natural energy of softness and rigidity to stand side by side with the disadvantaged.
Menstruation has never been a restriction on women, but a smelter of female strength.
However, the revolution of individual concepts cannot break the deep-rooted social and cultural prejudices.
Over the years, Xiaoru has participated in a wide range of activities to "see the needs of menstruation", such as giving sanitary napkins to women in mountainous areas and disaster areas, and participating in the discussion of "whether high-speed rail should sell sanitary napkins" and "menstruation does not have to hide out of public view". From opening windows to breaking doors, she sees that public welfare actions are gathering more and more social consensus.
The first sanitary napkin Xiaoru used during her adolescence was the seven-dimensional space handed by her mother, and because of this, she has a special affection for the seven-dimensional space. Over the years, Seven Degrees Space has been trying its best to wave the banner of "freedom without limits" for women. Since 2012, this national brand has always insisted on going to primary and secondary schools every year to hold public welfare activities for adolescent education, disseminating scientific knowledge of female physiology, and helping girls get rid of the shackles of the concept of "menstrual shame". As a sanitary napkin brand, Seven Degrees Space has also insisted on speaking for female consumers, and has stood with women again and again with projects such as "Born Free Without Black Bags" and "Pink Feather Wings Menstrual Mutual Aid Public Welfare".
Seven Degrees Space "Born Comfortable Without Black Bags" activity.
One day, women will no longer be criticized for being "hypocritical" because they need a pack of sanitary napkins, they will no longer feel "embarrassed" about buying sanitary napkins, and they will no longer need to wrap this daily necessity in a black plastic bag. In life, sanitary napkins can be placed on the table like other regular hygiene products. "Menstruation" can find its own name, and it does not need to be replaced by nicknames such as "that" and "aunt", and all women do not have to deliberately shy away from menstruation and sanitary napkins when talking about menstruation.
Seven Degrees Space "Pink Feather Wings Menstrual Mutual Aid Public Welfare" activity.
A story shared by Liang Yu, a public welfare person who initiated the "Menstrual Safety Action": A girl from Guizhou Province wrote to us, "The boat of our friendship will never capsize, because we are on a spaceship!" If menstruation is the tide of life, then our "drumming and shouting" for menstruation is the most natural friendship, which resonates with the universe at the same frequency.
The similar experience of Xiaoru and countless companions clearly proves that menstruation is the most common and daily physiological phenomenon, and there is no need to avoid it or exaggerate it. Saying the name of "menstruation" and normalizing your period is a sign of respect for women.
Hirumi Ito likens menstruation to "reuniting with old friends": "The red blood is like a brilliant firework blooming in the night sky, and the flags fluttering in the wind at the sports day are completely festive." ”
This celebration deserves to be widely advertised. For the most precious body, we should have shaken hands and made peace. On this year's Women's Day, 7 Degrees Space collaborated with artist Liu Yaohua on the "A Billboard" project to advertise menstruation, loudly challenge the silent dilemma faced by menstruation with billboards in no man's land, and promote the openness of menstruation to the public
Menstruation is not "that".
Menstruation is a surging vitality.
Menstruation is a real situation for all women.
Menstruation can be talked about openly.
Menstruation is not a curse, menstruation is not hypocrisy.
Menstrual products are a necessity of life.
If you were to continue this menstrual poem, what would you write?