Visual Culture

Isabella Nardini
Group 3

PERIODS TAMPONS AND

STIGMA

I am a woman, I was born like this, I did not decide it, I was simply born, I grew up and at
some point, at the age of twelve, menstruation decided to make the first appearance in my
life, shock, trauma, fear, but fortunately for me also awareness that my body was changing,
growing, preparing for the future life, that that funny mother nature has decided for us,
women, a hypothetical motherhood.

I did not decide to menstruate at the age of twelve, potentially I would never have chosen
them, I would have much preferred to have a beard rather than spend two days folded in bed
in pain and bleeding like in the worst splatter movies.
And on top of that, I am a human being, like everyone else that can be a male a transgender
or non-binary, we all deserve human rights. After speaking around with friends both male and
female I realize that periods are unknown, stigmatised and many people are scared and feel
shame to speak about it.

In this essay, I will discuss how the social perception of menstruation and the ideologies that
underpin it have evolved over time and what can we do to make it better. a journey through
history made up of beliefs and prejudices, false myths and questionable habits, social
perception and personal perception, of how they were seen, perceived, lived and how even
today they are and still a taboo despite all the progress that we already made. we will look at
the prehistoric era and the roman era, jumping to China and looking at the Victorian era
 This is another reproduction found in
Western Australia that shows two
women whit them period.

It's a perplexing image because it

appears that the first figure on the
left intends to kill the figure on the
right with the weapon he's holding.

Rock art from Australia

Another masterpiece by Georgia

O'Keeffe, this time of a black iris. I am
always fascinated by O'Keeffe's
paintings because of how she manages
to paint a concept for many taboos that
is not profane.

Black iris
 A portrait of The Jinjing Emperor whit a
fabulous gold dress probably embroidered
whit a classical antique Chinese dragon
design.

I'm pretty angry looking at the picture of a

man who was torturing young women for
his beloved/ disgusting potion

The emperor Jiajing

Artistic installation founded at The

Vagina Museum whit two menstrual cup
and a tampon covered whit paillettes. I
love this work of art, it's of significant
impact

Menstrual art

An old red petticoat on a mannequin

that was used during medieval time.

Both because it was a fashionable

colour and a symbol of wealth and well-
being at the time, and because,
according to modern historians, it was a
choice aimed at making any bleeding
spots during the menstrual period, as
opposed to garments with lighter
colours, which would allow you to
understand your health and thus feel
uncomfortable carrying out daily
activities, while most people wore no
underwear.

That make me feel glad to be born in

now days that we have underwear and
 tampons

The red petticoat

This poster with a stylized uterus and

two middle fingers with the slogan MY
BODY MY CHOICE make me feel
happy because it expresses exactly
what I think

The vagina museum poster

A display whit some period products like

a menstrual silicon cup, reusable pads,
period panties and intimate JK Rowling
clean gel.

I like the fact that the company are

using a recyclable packaging, I think it is
a good decision to respect the
environment

The menstual product display

 I chose this image of this silicon
menstrual cup because I like the colour
fuxia; it's a colour that always attracts
me in some way, and I wanted to share
with you one of the conscious choices
that we can make to be more
sustainable.

Intimina Lily cup

My contribution to the TAMPON WALL

made with costumaize tampon and a
note to share feelings/though/ideas.

Tampon art

A pillow embroidered with different

fabrics and pearls representing a
vagina, I found this pillow to be quite
cheap and laced, but also fun and
irreverent, reminding me of Victorian
furnishings.

Embordered pillow
There are few records of menstruation during the prehistoric era, some representations can be
found in some ideograms that we interpret as paintings of menstruating women.

While Pliny The Elder (23-79 ce), the author of the first encyclopaedia, believed that
menstruating women could control storms with their magical blood, could also cure malaria,
tumours, rabies, boils, and could reanimate someone after a seizure, but also that if they were
touching living things to die. He also believed that menstrual blood and sperm were, the
material used to form a foetus.

The following testimony comes from the mathematician of Alexandria, Egypt, Hypatia (350-
370ac 415ac), who, in order to refuse a particularly insistent suitor, showed him a patch
soaked in menstrual blood and said, "you love this, o youth, and there is nothing beautiful
about it”.

Another man who believed that foetuses were the result of the combination of menstrual
blood and sperm was the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 bce), who also believed that
the sex of the unborn child was determined by the warmth of the pregnant woman's belly,
worm womb for a boy and cold womb for a girl.

The Chinese Emperor Jiajing, who believed in alchemy and used the menstrual blood of 13-
14 year old girls, who were fed only with mulberry leaves and rainwater to keep their blood
pure, was the victim of a failed assassination attempt by sixteen of them in 1542. While the
Emperor was regaining consciousness, Empress Fang executed all of the women in the
palace, as well as ten of their relatives. Despite this, Emperor Jiajing continues to prepare his
elixirs of long life, lowering the age of the averted by up to 8 years. Anyway, he died at the
age of 60 in 1567.

Hippocrates, the doctor, and inventor of the medical record as well as the concepts of
diagnosis and prognosis established a school of medicine based on the idea that man was
made up of four humour, established a school of medicine based on the idea that man was
made up of four humours (yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm) and that they should be
kept in balance by doing physical activity to expel the excess, however for women, who were
far to practis physical activity, these moods were expelled with menstruation. The current of
thought was revived further during the seventeenth century, with one of the key beliefs being
the importance of humoral evacuation, which classified menstruation as the sixth^ most
potential suspect of motherhood in a 14 sign list."Where there are no flowers, there are no
fruits," as the popular saying goes, which led to the image of a flower being associated with
the concept of menstruation and reproduction, like the flower become fruit, in various artistic
representations. It's also one of the favourite painting subject of Georgia O’Keeffe

Reference

Woman flower baby

https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/black-iris.jsp

BY ANDREA ZUVICH ON WED 4TH SEP 2013 A.D.|35,308 VIEWS|4 THOUGHTS

http://www.andreazuvich.com/history/sara-read-menstruation-and-female-bleeding-in-
seventeenth-century-england/ [acces on 03/08/2022]