How dare you not applaude bloody menses running down women's legs in public!

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

KamaAina (64,829 posts)

Woman freely bleeds running London Marathon without tampon

I know, I know, this sounds like a Lounge post , but read on.

http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2015/08/10/woman-freely-bleeds-running-london-marathon-without-tampon/

The night before the London Marathon, Kiran Gandhi started to menstruate. The 26-year-old Harvard Business School graduate decided wearing a tampon during the race would be uncomfortable.

“Running 26.2 miles with a wad of cotton material wedged between my legs just seemed so absurd,” Gandhi wrote on Medium. “Plus they say chaffing is a real thing.”

On August 7, she ran with blood freely flowing down her legs and used her story to raise awareness about women who don’t have access to feminine products and to encourage women to not be ashamed of their periods.

“If there’s one person society can’t eff with, it’s a marathon runner,” Gandhi shared on Medium. “You can’t tell a marathoner to clean themselves up, or to prioritize the comfort of others. On the marathon course, I could choose whether or not I wanted to participate in this norm of shaming.

But people are getting arrested for man-spreading because MALE PRIVILEGE.

Glorfindel (3,611 posts)

3. Good for her!

To quote Gloria Steinem:

"So what would happen if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not?

Clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, worthy, masculine event:

Men would brag about how long and how much.

Young boys would talk about it as the envied beginning of manhood. Gifts, religious ceremonies, family dinners, and stag parties would mark the day.

To prevent monthly work loss among the powerful, Congress would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea. Doctors would research little about heart attacks, from which men would be hormonally protected, but everything about cramps.

Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of such commercial brands as Paul Newman Tampons, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-Dope Pads, John Wayne Maxi Pads, and Joe Namath Jock Shields- "For Those Light Bachelor Days."

Statistical surveys would show that men did better in sports and won more Olympic medals during their periods.

Generals, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation ("men-struation") as proof that only men could serve God and country in combat ("You have to give blood to take blood"), occupy high political office ("Can women be properly fierce without a monthly cycle governed by the planet Mars?"), be priests, ministers, God Himself ("He gave this blood for our sins"), or rabbis ("Without a monthly purge of impurities, women are unclean").

Male liberals and radicals, however, would insist that women are equal, just different; and that any woman could join their ranks if only she were willing to recognize the primacy of menstrual rights ("Everything else is a single issue") or self-inflict a major wound every month ("You must give blood for the revolution").

Street guys would invent slang ("He's a three-pad man") and "give fives" on the corner with some exchenge like, "Man you lookin' good!"

"Yeah, man, I'm on the rag!"

TV shows would treat the subject openly. (Happy Days: Richie and Potsie try to convince Fonzie that he is still "The Fonz," though he has missed two periods in a row. Hill Street Blues: The whole precinct hits the same cycle.) So would newspapers. (Summer Shark Scare Threatens Menstruating Men. Judge Cites Monthlies In Pardoning Rapist.) And so would movies. (Newman and Redford in Blood Brothers!)

Men would convince women that sex was more pleasurable at "that time of the month." Lesbians would be said to fear blood and therefore life itself, though all they needed was a good menstruating man.

Medical schools would limit women's entry ("they might faint at the sight of blood").

Of course, intellectuals would offer the most moral and logical arguements. Without the biological gift for measuring the cycles of the moon and planets, how could a woman master any discipline that demanded a sense of time, space, mathematics-- or the ability to measure anything at all? In philosophy and religion, how could women compensate for being disconnected from the rhythm of the universe? Or for their lack of symbolic death and resurrection every month?

Menopause would be celebrated as a positive event, the symbol that men had accumulated enough years of cyclical wisdom to need no more.

Liberal males in every field would try to be kind. The fact that "these people" have no gift for measuring life, the liberals would explain, should be punishment enough.

And how would women be trained to react? One can imagine right-wing women agreeing to all these arguements with a staunch and smiling masochism. ("The ERA would force housewives to wound themselves every month": Phyllis Schlafly)

In short, we would discover, as we should already, that logic is in the eye of the logician. (For instance, here's an idea for theorists and logicians: if women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long? I leave further improvisation up to you.)

The truth is that, if men could menstruate, the power justifications would go on and on.

If we let them."

Urinating is natural.

Men urinate

It's illegal to urinate in public, you skrag.

Deadshot (84 posts)

4. Blood running down your leg can be a health hazard.

This is not cool at all.

Not to mention all the seagulls that followed her for 26 miles.

Nye Bevan (20,791 posts)

7. Leaving a 26 mile long trail of blood to make some kind of political point? Gross.

I hope that she never gets a diarrhea attack shortly before a race.

bettyellen (27,999 posts)

13. you sound sort of ill informed on women's anatomy, lol.

LanternWaste (22,017 posts)

18. Sounds as gross as people sweating in public

Sounds as gross as people sweating in public. The horror. The horror...

demmiblue (6,725 posts)

15. It is obvious that some men here don't understand menstruation.

Leaving a trail of blood?!

A woman's uterus during menses is not like an open wound.

The average blood loss is really not all that much.

P.S. Good on her!


Edit: maybe some women, too!

Brickbat (17,434 posts)

16. Some of the responses on here show why girls drop out of school when they get their periods.

Because they're pussies?

[JohnnyReb]

I bet she doesn't shave her legs either.

[zeitgeist]

I bet she doesn't shave her legs either.

Thanks for sharing Little Johnny, now go to your room!!   Must find mind bleach.....

[SVPete]

Just. Freaking. Dumb!

Not sanitary.

Probably had dozens of runners alarmed and asking her if she was OK.

Blood streaking down her thighs while running wouldn't cause chafing? I don't think so!

FWIW, in about 3 weeks I'll be attempting to complete my 21st half marathon, with a 10K (my 4th) this coming weekend. So the running world isn't entirely alien to me.

[DUmpsterDiver]

With enough hair on their legs and a big boosh, the blood should clot up, stick to the hair and not make the track slippery.

[delilahmused]

Seriously? Even if I was one of the lefty cool kids, this would drive me nuts! Why not just pee your pants along the way too? Who wants a wet crotch when they're running? You can buy tampons and pads at the dollar store. No reason poor women need to go without, just turn in a few soda & beer bottles and cans. A few nickels and you've got yourself a box of tampons.

Cindie

[Big Dog]

Seriously? Even if I was one of the lefty cool kids, this would drive me nuts! Why not just pee your pants along the way too? Who wants a wet crotch when they're running? You can buy tampons and pads at the dollar store. No reason poor women need to go without, just turn in a few soda & beer bottles and cans. A few nickels and you've got yourself a box of tampons.

Cindie

They can roll their own from toilet paper and twine, too.

 

[BannedFromDU]

Seriously? Even if I was one of the lefty cool kids, this would drive me nuts! Why not just pee your pants along the way too? Who wants a wet crotch when they're running? You can buy tampons and pads at the dollar store. No reason poor women need to go without, just turn in a few soda & beer bottles and cans. A few nickels and you've got yourself a box of tampons.

Cindie

     No one turns shame and embarrassment into outrage faster than a ****ing liberal.

[landofconfusion80]

Fun fact:  During the Civil War, red dye was difficult to find so the stars and bars was made from the recycled cotton used by the female slaves in the fields.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Fun fact:  During the Civil War, red dye was difficult to find so the stars and bars was made from the recycled cotton used by the female slaves in the fields.

So that's why they act that way every time they see the Confederate flag.

[landofconfusion80]

So that's why they act that way every time they see the Confederate flag.

[ChuckJ]

Thanks for sharing Little Johnny, now go to your room!!   Must find mind bleach.....

So JohnnyReb is the one all those Little Johnny stories are about?

Two thumbs up to you Mr. Reb.

[USA4ME]

What's the difference in a girl's track team and a group of pygmies?

One is a cunning bunch of runts.

.

[Texacon]

So basically, Gloria whatshername, is saying MEN'S life's would go on normally and that women just make a big deal about ... well, nothing?!

Did I read that wrong?

Bwahahaha!

KC

[Mr Mannn]

Leave it to a D@mn feminist b!tch to make the most disgusting display of her self and call it enlightenment.

We are entering a new dark age.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

We are entering a new dark age.

Much further back than that. You would have to return to the sacred groves of the goddess Astarte with her priestesses to find similar behavior.

[98ZJUSMC]

FWIW, in about 3 weeks I'll be attempting to complete my 21st half marathon, with a 10K (my 4th) this coming weekend. So the running world isn't entirely alien to me.

Very familiar with it, ....... and after 100 some odd PFTs, 20 klick night patrols and years in the gym, my left knee wants to kick my ass.

[Lacarnut]

Need a doctor to open up her head to see if her brains are covered with shit.

[Ptarmigan]

I bet she doesn't shave her legs either.

Do you have to make it even more gross?

[JakeStyle]

Well that's just gross.

[wasp69]

KamaAina (64,829 posts)

Woman freely bleeds running London Marathon without tampon

I know, I know, this sounds like a Lounge post , but read on.

The night before the London Marathon, Kiran Gandhi started to menstruate. The 26-year-old Harvard Business School graduate decided wearing a tampon during the race would be uncomfortable.

Figures it would be a Hah-vahd grad...   

On August 7, she ran with blood freely flowing down her legs and used her story to raise awareness about women who don’t have access to feminine products and to encourage women to not be ashamed of their periods.

Raise awareness about all of those poor women who can't afford these things, or an excuse for her unsanitary laziness?  I guess that Adam Sandler was waaayyy ahead of his time.

[txradioguy]

Leave it to a D@mn feminist b!tch to make the most disgusting display of her self and call it enlightenment.

It's really sad what Feminism has devolved into.

Murder of babies and the right to not wear hygiene products.

THAT is was being a woman is about to the modern feminist.

We are entering a new dark age.

Judging by that story...it's a dark red age.



FWIW...both my daughter and my wife said that what that woman did was gross.

[SVPete]

On August 7, she ran with blood freely flowing down her legs and used her story to raise awareness about women who don’t have access to feminine products and to encourage women to not be ashamed of their periods.

"Ashamed"? In what neighborhood, country, region, or planet? Her hypothetical is an absurdity, possibly excepting in some Muslim countries/regions. She should take her feminist crusade to where this need is, if it exists. If it's a Muslim country/region, I'm sure her name, Kiran Gandhi, will make for a very warm welcome.

If she's really worried "about women who don’t have access to feminine products", handing out free maxi-pads and tampons on the streets of Addis Ababa, Kolkata, Islamabad, or Yangon might accomplish more than dribbling blood-borne pathogens along 26.2 miles of the streets of London!

[Karin]

“Running 26.2 miles with a wad of cotton material wedged between my legs just seemed so absurd,” Gandhi wrote on Medium. “Plus they say chaffing is a real thing.”

Excuse me, but who is being ignorant of anatomy here?  The wad of cotton isn't exactly "wedged between your legs" and it is in no position to chafe. 

[SVPete]

Excuse me, but who is being ignorant of anatomy here?  The wad of cotton isn't exactly "wedged between your legs" and it is in no position to chafe.

H-5! I noticed that too, but wasn't sure how to "go there" delicately.

Did a 10K this AM in San Jose. Didn't see any dribblers-of-blood-borne-pathogens-for-feminism.