Have a Happy Period!

[Bron]

That's fine, I understood.

Well one option is a mixture of egg white and blood orange juice. I can't imagine that that would look so good on an advert though!

[lph]

I always figured that the blue liquid was just because too many people would be grossed out by seeing something that actually looked like blood. Lots of people freak out just seeing blood from a scratch, not to mention the "unmentionable" type.

Come to think of it I read somewhere (BBC something on the "disgust" reaction) that blue is a colour people connect with clean, sterile, laboratory, non-biological, so they don't react negatively to it.

[Biciclista]

hey i just thought of a circumstance that would be "a happy period"
some poor woman with 3 kids in diapers who was afraid she was pregnant!!!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well maybe I'm bucking the tide here, but I think that letter from the Austin woman was really rude. I understand what she was saying, but I think her language was incredibly inappropriate. I would never write to a company like that unless they had intentionally caused me harm in some way. (in which case my lawyer would be writing, not me)

Call me old fashioned, but I lament a society where people feel they can freely write to strangers with "f***ing" this and that and "get your head out of your a**", etc. Her letter would have been way more effective without the crude expressions and bad manners. There are a hundred other ways that letter could be just as funny and effective.

Another thing- I fully realize that some women have a hard time during their periods. But I tire of the extreme cliches constantly being tossed around by some women...as though we all are 'homicidal maniacs' with 'out-of-control behavior' and want to shoot ourselves or rip our uteruses out with our bare hands when having our periods. Speak for yourself, but don't include me in this wild generalization. In my mind, the scale of pain and suffering would reach suicidal desperation somewhere in the burn victim or stomach cancer category, not in women having their periods.

Hmmm, maybe I'm just curmudgeonly in my old age. What the heck, I'll post this anyway.

[jobob]

I think it was meant to be funny.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I think it was meant to be funny.

I know that.

[SadieKate]

I've seen that letter before but it still remains hilarious. The satirical tone is priceless.

I highly doubt that someone who is that skilled at satire would be unnecessarily rude to others. If so, there are a bunch of book authors we should be boycotting.

[Aggie_Ama]

Lisa- I actually agree with you to a point. While it being a letter is not too bad, this woman probably does this to the bank teller, her doctor's receptionist, her husband.

I worked my way through college at Lowe's and was amazed how rude people will be to complete strangers. On more than one occassion when they were unhappy with the policies (I worked returns and then worse was a front end manager) they called me stupid, a b*tch, one called me ugly, one told me with my brains it was no wonder I was in retail. I actually have training in mediation and conflict resolution so my managers usually gave glowing reviews of my handling of such situations. Now in my current job there is a lot of phone time, I get it some days from people we have a business relationship with!

While I don't enjoy my period and do not feel all sunshine and happy like those commercials would suggest, I am not homicidal or outwardly angry at the world. And prior to BC I had periods that would get me in so much pain and nauseated that I skipped classes I needed to be in or thoroughly enjoyed. I know bad periods but violence to others or myself has never been triggered by those awful periods. I may be a little less patient (especially with poor DH), I may bemoan being a woman that day but I still am capable of acting like a mature person.

[shootingstar]

Well maybe I'm bucking the tide here, but I think that letter from the Austin woman was really rude. I understand what she was saying, but I think her language was incredibly inappropriate. I would never write to a company like that unless they had intentionally caused me harm in some way. (in which case my lawyer would be writing, not me)

Call me old fashioned, but I lament a society where people feel they can freely write to strangers with "f***ing" this and that and "get your head out of your a**", etc. Her letter would have been way more effective without the crude expressions and bad manners. There are a hundred other ways that letter could be just as funny and effective.

Another thing- I fully realize that some women have a hard time during their periods. But I tire of the extreme cliches constantly being tossed around by some women...as though we all are 'homicidal maniacs' with 'out-of-control behavior' and want to shoot ourselves or rip our uteruses out with our bare hands when having our periods. Speak for yourself, but don't include me in this wild generalization. In my mind, the scale of pain and suffering would reach suicidal desperation somewhere in the burn victim or stomach cancer category, not in women having their periods.

Hmmm, maybe I'm just curmudgeonly in my old age. What the heck, I'll post this anyway.

I guess definition of satire is different this days. I always thought satire was abit more cleverly written.

And even if the letter was satirical, the frequent joke or inference that menopausal women are homicidal maniacs or in alot of pain/discomfort once every month, is gettin' abit threadbare and tiresome..especially for a significant portion of women that I personally know who don't suffer much at all when they had their periods. General attitude is: yea, I got my period. Let's move on..what is really new and interesting in life?

[jobob]

I don't experience anything when I get my period. Seriously. Maybe a tiny ache a half-day beofe it starts. Sometimes I don't even know it's starting until it's too late. Luckily I wear cheap underwear.

But I do know women that go through hell every month and I certainly don't presume to speak for them.

Sometimes humor is a good antidote for pain.

Some thought this post was funny. Some don't.

So let's just quite the patronizing and move the hell on.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

So let's just quite the patronizing and move the hell on.

No need to be quite so polite, Jobob.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

But I do know women that go through hell every month and I certainly don't presume to speak for them.

But that's just it!- they presume to speak for us! The women you hear from most are the ones who talk about 'women' (and they usually do refer to women as a group, not just referring to themselves) becoming homicidal maniacs, etc. during their periods. They make it sound like all women are like this, that's my only beef. They pretend to speak for all of us when they talk like in that letter:

As Brand Manager in the Feminine Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customer's monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women....
...Are you f------ kidding me? What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness, is possible during a menstrual period?...FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.

Yes, it's funny in a superficial sort of way, but it also perpetuates a way of thinking that paints women as hysterically driven by their hormones, not unlike the pervasive Victorian notion of women's 'fits of hysteria' or 'having the vapors'- an attitude we look down on today...a way of saying women were not in control of their behavior because of some sort of biological weakness, and therefore were not to be taken seriously. I realize this may over-analyzing the issue a bit but please forgive me- I like to think in depth about the underlying meanings of all kinds of things. I have been enjoying hearing other women's opinions about this. I know there is no all right or wrong, but rather shades of grey in all things, depending on one's own perspective. And we all do have different perspectives, and yes we can only speak for ourselves, not for all women. I am speaking only for myself.

One of my daughters has to literally spend the day in bed once a month, in terrible pain, faint, weak, and nauseous. I feel so bad for her! Happily, this is not typical of most women.

I personally feel it's not so hilarious anymore to overdo the homicidal maniac school of menstrual humor about women, regardless of whether the comedian is a man or a woman. It's become a cliche about women and is not very accurate. They can speak for themselves, I'm all for that, but I just don't enjoy being lumped in with it. Let them talk about their own horrific periods, but not describe it in terms of women in general.
That's all i'm saying. (are we 'allowed' to post anymore?)
This is still on topic for the "Happy Period" theme. It's always interested me in fact, and I'm glad to be able to express my longtime feelings about it. I have no great malice about it.

P.s. In fact, I just had a happy one, and actually smiled and laughed during it!