what if the tabels were turned?…. what if men could menstruate and women couldn’t?… this is by far one of my favorite readings from the book “Women’s Voices Feminist Visions” by Lee and Shaw.

What if? how would our views on mensturation be culturally world wide? how would we define gender role and masculinity or femininity? i once heard a comment about a man saying he doesn’t trust anything that bleeds for seven days and still functions normally.

Needless to say the word menstruate would have a whole new meaning. The same reasons used to supress women would be used to empower men. In many cultures and religious women are not permitted to do certain things simply because we menstruate. In the East Orthodox Christian Churches women are not allowed to be behind the curtains or serve in the church in any way other than being in choir. The only place for a woman in that church is in choir or in the crowd worshiping with everybody else or maybe teaching the children about the bible. You will never catch a woman giving a serman or caring the holy bible out for one of the holidays, also called “Tabot” in Amaharic. One of the main reasons for that is because a woman is seen as being impurity because she bleeds every month. A woman is not supposed to take communion if she is on her cycle and if she already start having sex before marriage. That is just one religious that is supported strongly by it’s culture. 

Imagine if the tabels were to turn. what if it was men that could mensturate and women couldn’t? do you think the rules are going to change back to where only women could give sermins and carry the Tabot? do you think it’s the women the whole community goes to with everything that’s going on?

I beg to differ. I presume the men would be praised more because they menstruate. They would be looked up to more and probably the prist who is actually on his cycle would do the service because he is supposedly more manly or probably more holly. i know this is a very contrivercial topic because it’s religious but none the less it’s true. 

what if we took out religious… what if we just focus on cultures and different societies? as the book mentions, little boys would look forward to the day they can mark their manhood with extravigant rituals in every culture. the definition on what’s manly would change drastically; maybe the man that stays more days than others would be ”The Man” eveybody stives to be although scientifically or biologically they have no control over that. views on athletics would follow right along with everything else; men would be more dominant in any and everything they do because they menstruate and women would still be viewed as being incapable because they don’t menstruate. in fact it would probalby be one of the main requirement to inter into different programs or different organizations available. the many different government assistance available would expand simply for the need of men and there would be legistations passed to enforce them. i’m sure the count for crime rates would drop significantly because it would be understood that he was on his cycle and he had no control over his mood swings. there for the highest punishment would probably be vouluntary hours and probably counseling or medication because they are unable to control their mood swings.

so i guess the question could never be answered in full because all we can do is imagin what if it was men that menstruate.