# What possible justification is there for suppressing/avoiding discussion of menstruation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 9, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830 "2025-10-09T16:10:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/21 "2025-10-09T21:13:19Z")
> [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](#): > > yes, but again, that is during her menstrual cycle only, it is not a religious belief that women are _generally_ unclean, which is the notion I was pushing back on. Oh, I don’t really care. It’s misogyny either way. To treat any woman differently at any point in her menstrual cycle simply because she is biologically different than a man is heinous, and many religions do it. And the gall, I mean the _gall_ to shame her for something that is actually required for reproduction, which is apparently the only reason women exist in these religions anyway, it’s astonishing. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/22 "2025-10-09T23:29:13Z")
Some historical information from the chapter on Kotex I wrote for our book. After Kotex was introduced, Kimberly-Clark had a hard time getting anyone to sell it. Most store clerks in the 1920s were men. Ladies Home Journal banned ads for it. Ad man Albert Lasker (he invented Smokey Bear) finally got the publisher’s 60-year old secretary to read the ad to see if it was offensive. She thought it was great, and they ran it. The first mention of the word “period” in an ad was by Courtney Cox in 1985. And I bet lots of people think menstrual blood is blue, because that’s the color of the liquid absorbed by tampons in ads. We’re very insane about stuff like this. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/23 "2025-10-09T23:55:40Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I knew about periods long before I had one, but I picked it up by reading (thanks, Judy Blume!) I did a fourth grade essay on Judy Blume. Women of a certain time owe a debt of gratitude to that woman, who wrote openly and unapologetically about girls’ lives, including puberty, menstruation, bullying, sexual abuse, and yes, even sex. She remains to this day a favorite target of book banners - but I imagine she’s used to it by now. I do wonder how many girls learned about menstruation from her books. From what I recall, at the earliest signs of puberty, my mother handed me a copy of _Our Bodies, Ourselves_ which covered _wayyyy_ more than menstruation! She never tried to keep information from me about reproduction, though I recall earnestly asking her if sex was illegal because adults always talked about it in a whisper like something was wrong with it. Other than the book that’s the only talk I remember having. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/24 "2025-10-09T23:57:56Z")
I expect the “avoiding” part comes about due to the fact that most men don’t _want_ to hear about it, and women don’t _like_ it. So women don’t normally have much reason to _try_ to push men into listening about it, while since it doesn’t apply to them men can get away with ignoring the issue entirely most of the time. _Suppression_ though, that’s all about misogyny and prudishness. There’s a difference between avoiding a distasteful subject when you don’t need to talk about it, and trying to keep it from being talked about when it _does_ need addressing. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/25 "2025-10-10T00:04:29Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > And in the particular case of the girl who died by suicide over it, what possible justification would have existed that compelled her mother to not explain to her that at some point blood was going to come from her vagina and it’s OK and natural? Another thing that comes to mind is that all the pain and suffering of childbirth and its associated troubles is attributed by Christians to be the consequence of women’s sins against God. So in a really fundamental way, women were not allowed to think about it as okay and natural. They are supposed to think about it as a mark of their inferiority. That’s a lot harder to talk about than reproduction. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/26 "2025-10-10T00:06:40Z")
[Moderating] This isn’t really a Factual Question. Off to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/27 "2025-10-10T01:01:35Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > But it seems to have been a taboo issue in many different cultures for thousands of years? I remember a story a few years back about a girl being killed when a tree fell on the menstruation hut she was required to stay in. It is mentioned in this broader entry. > **[Menstruation hut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstruation_hut)** > > A menstruation hut is a place of seclusion or isolation used by certain cultures with strong menstrual taboos. The same or a similar structure may be used for childbirth and postpartum confinement, based on beliefs around ritual impurity. These huts are usually built near the family home, have small doors, and are often dilapidated, with poor sanitation and ventilation, and no windows. The Nepali version, the Chhaupadi, is probably the best-known example, but cultural attitudes towards menstruati... ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/28 "2025-10-10T03:35:33Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > And the gall, I mean the _gall_ to shame her for something that is actually required for reproduction, Are menstrual periods _required_ for reproduction? That’s news to me. Growing up on a farm, we had horses, cows, dogs, cats, etc. – all of them reproduced quite abundantly, but none had any vaginal bleeding, etc. typical of a period. They all had estrus cycles, with fertile and non-fertile times (important to know when breeding), but not the symptoms discussed here. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/29 "2025-10-10T03:59:56Z")
A friend had a dog wearing diapers because she was menstruating. Other mammals menstruate, too. It’s just that most mammals don’t have a lot of menstrual cycles when they don’t get pregnant. And humans, even in societies with high birth rates, do. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/30 "2025-10-10T04:59:03Z")
Not that you were criticizing the school for separating the sexes here, but I remember sex ed in 6th grade being coed. Talk about a guaranteed way to avoid questions! And for yet another example of bizarre attitudes, Google “touch the pickle”. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/31 "2025-10-10T05:54:25Z")
We had a class for the girls run by the school system nurse. It was corny and a bit cringe inducing. One example: School nurse: “Tell Mrs. (recess attendant):” “Mrs. (recess attendant) I’ve become a woman.” Despite the cheese the information was good though I was already aware of most of it. I can’t really remember how I knew. Someone wanted me to sign a petition once that wanted to ban menstrual supply commercials. The petition claimed the ads were “humiliating" or some such twaddle. It was offered to me by a woman who was a very hippie type celebrater of everything natural. I was sort of shocked she was supporting the thing. I think I changed her mind though. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/32 "2025-10-10T10:54:57Z")
My take as to why is the ‘adult-child firewall’. Certain subjects are not talked about to children openly as it is seen as a parental responsibility when they determine the time is right for their child. A lot of these have to do with sexuality, including the changes that happen during puberty. So it is not the place of someone to openly talk to this to a child, or where a child can hear. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/33 "2025-10-10T13:13:45Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Are menstrual periods _required_ for reproduction? In humans , yes. > [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Growing up on a farm, we had horses, cows, dogs, cats, etc. – all of them reproduced quite abundantly, but none had any vaginal bleeding, etc. typical of a period. And humans don’t go into heat once or twice a year - some animals ( I think only mammals) may have a bloody discharge either during or after heat. Instead of a “menstrual cycle” they have an “estrus cycle” and the bloody discharge isn’t the lining of the uterus being shed. I believe there are a couple of other primates that menstruate , but not dogs and cats. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/34 "2025-10-10T13:28:04Z")
If a dog has a heat cycle and doesn’t breed, yes, she menstruates. At least, that was the experience of my neighbor, until she got her dog spayed. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/35 "2025-10-10T13:38:16Z")
I bet that pamphlet was called “You’re a Young Lady Now”, because that’s what my mother gave to me to explain the subject. I still have it, by the way. It said that Disney had made a film on the subject, The Story of Menstruation. (1946) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/36 "2025-10-10T13:41:01Z")
I’m 100% sure that’s what your neighbor told you, but with [dogs](https://www.webmd.com/pets/dogs/how-tell-if-dogs-heat) and other mammals, the bleeding is a sign that she is in heat and either ready or will soon be ready to mate \* , not a sign that she isn’t pregnant. \*my first post was incorrect about bleeding after heat ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/37 "2025-10-10T13:57:00Z")
I do know what it means, but you are quite right, that was improper usage on my part. thanks. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/38 "2025-10-10T13:58:03Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > criticizing the school for separating the sexes here, but I remember sex ed in 6th grade being coed. When I was in junior high PE was interrupted each year by a couple/few weeks of “health” class. Sex ed was part of 8th-grade health class, and since that was part of PE, the classes were of course segregated. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/39 "2025-10-10T15:24:15Z")
I remember having sex ed, I wanna say sixth grade, so it would have been after starting my period, but I do remember the whole reproductive cycle seeming like new information. Boys should definitely have this education too. When they grow up to be men, how else will they find the clitoris? I’ve never understood the drama about this, but it stems from the fact that adults, despite their own experience dramatically contradicting this reality, don’t want adolescents to think about sex. I think it’s very stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830/40 "2025-10-10T15:49:30Z")
My primary school in the UK started sex ed when we were about 7, including cartoons explaining menstruation. I don’t remember the exact time, but I moved to a different school not long after turning 8, and it was definitely before then. It was in very basic terms, but did incude a video with fully nude adults and a kid (I remember hoping his classmates didn’t see it and bully him). Apparently our parents were invited to view the video first - pretty sure they mostly had the basics down anyway, but to approve it. I assume they could opt kids out, but no-one in my class did at least. My aunt was another of those who found out about mensturation when it happened- being brought up without a mother and with no school sex ed at the time. Mum is younger, so at least found out from her sister. I think my aunt found out what was going on and got more info from a neighbour’s mother, who was their general go-to for female advice, but I guess it hadn’t occurred to her that no-one else would have mentioned it to my poor aunt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-possible-justification-is-there-for-suppressing-avoiding-discussion-of-menstruation/1023830.md?page=3)