Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Seeking Input from People Who Have Actually Menstruated:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_05_20-2007_05_26.shtml#1179963785
[1]Commenter Triet writes, in the [2]anti-menstruation pill post:
It's been amazing seeing my wife and other women deal with her
first pregnancy. Immediately upon announcing to the world she's
pregnant, my wife was part of the "in crowd." Every mother--whether
she knew my wife well or not--could smile and talk about morning
sickness, or finding out the baby's gender, or feeling bloated,
etc.
So, it is not aesthetic. Humanity derives meaning from shared
experiences, and deleting one of the most universal and central of
all female experiences can subtract perceived meaning from people's
lives. In that regard it is very important.
Humanity does derive meaning from some shared experiences -- but not
all. Shared experience that you bond over: pregnancy. Shared
experiences that you don't bond over: hangnails, nearsightedness,
tooth decay. Shared experiences that people sometimes seem to bond
over, but that I'm sure they'd be much better off without: various
illnesses or operations that some elderly people stereotypically
discuss with each other, but which they'd be glad to avoid without any
worry about lost "meaning."
My sense is that menstruation falls within the second (or, less
likely, third) category of experiences rather than the first. To many
women, pregnancy is a harbinger of their joy in becoming a mother, an
affirmation of their fertility (something many women worry about
before they become pregnant), a sign of a growing bond with their
husbands, and more. Menstruation, it seems to me, is far removed from
that: While it is part of the same system that may eventually lead to
pregnancy, it doesn't have the directness of connection to a growing
baby, it doesn't prove fertility in a way that would ease the woman's
fears, it doesn't strengthen the marriage, and in general it lacks
very little redeeming value.
But let's hear from some people who actually menstruate, and have been
pregnant. When you menstruate, do you feel that you're part of the "in
crowd"? If you chose to stop -- not because of menopause, which is a
marker of age and of lost fertility, but voluntarily and reversibly --
would you feel "out"? Do you smile and talk to your friends about the
cramps, the mood swings, and the like? Do you feel you derive meaning
from the fact that you share menstruation as an experience with other
women? Would you feel meaning subtracted if you stopped menstruating,
because menstruation is so "central" a "female experience[]"? Do you
find menstruation to be similar to pregnancy in any emotionally
positive way?
References
1. http://volokh.com/posts/1179956158.shtml#221143
2. http://volokh.com/posts/1179956158.shtml
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