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Way back when I had reasons to use public transportation I cultivated a sartorial equivalence to the menstruation badge.
Replace menstruation with another bodily function that is common across gender lines and not something commonly shared with strangers.
How about diarrhea? All employees must wear a special badge announcing to customers that they have diarrhea.
I guess that might normalize diarrhea but I’m guessing it will just single out the folks already not feeling well for some unwanted attention about something they don’t have control over. (no pun intended this one time)
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Of course when I think about it I realize that when I set my status now in our stupid chat app (BUSY GODDAMNIT) the salespeople I work with ignore it anyway.
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I dunno, if me having diarrhea meant I could go home early or not feel pressured to perform, I’d appreciate it. But I am not sure that is totally a good analogy.
Perhaps a better one would be how we accommodate people who have additional issues and we can see it. Like pregnancy or a broken bone. Generally there is little to no shame for those two things (well, there shouldn’t be), and people tend to be very accommodating to help them out while they are limited in some ways.
But because periods get a bad stigma (which they shouldn’t, it’s no big deal), I can understand people wanting to keep it on the down low. Though if there was no stigma then they probably wouldn’t care. It’s hard to say how reality would be, because of how reality is.
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For the sake of this loose analogy I would say you need to stay at work and make do. Assume this diarrhea will last 4-5 days. You need to smile big and help customers face to face all day. Now management comes over and puts a badge on you that says: “Be nice to me, I have diarrhea”. It probably wouldn’t improve your day or de-stigmatize diarrhea.
I agree that menstruation (and all the bodily functions) shouldn’t have a stigma. And an open discussion is part of the solution toward this end. But forcing people out of whatever closet they may be in at the moment is not the way. It is just playground bullying dressed up as policy.
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Or maybe, just maybe, people could be allowed to take it easier at work if they’re under the weather, regardless of the cause being menstruation, diarrhea, pregnancy, broken bone, migraine, etc. Maybe…
Thing is, the issue here is not really about menstruation having a stigma - yes, it does, it’s a bad thing, and that should change, everyone sane agrees on that. The issue is that this is an invasion of privacy on the employer’s part. Periods are a woman’s own damn business and nobody should be pressured to announce to the world that they’re on their period if they don’t want to. It’s literally pointless - if a woman has painful/exhausting periods she should be allowed to decide for herself if she wants to disclose the reason for being under the weatther or not, and if she’s fine then what does it even matter? I’m not embarrassed about periods, but also I don’t see why my clients and customers and coworkers should be aware when I’m on my period. I don’t need or want to be treated differently than usual.
And if the intention is to make people more open about periods, well, this sort of approach has the exact opposite result. Instead of accepting periods as a natural thing that happens and not some mystical/embarrassing taboo thing, it draws extra attention to it, singles out women who are on their periods, reinforces outdated/ignorant stereotypes (women on their periods need help with carrying shit, need longer breaks, etc.), and so on.
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YES. Everything you said is what I would have said if I was more articulate.
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I agree with you. However if there was no stigma involved I don’t think people would be as private about it. For example being gay used to be something you kept secret. Today people are much more open about it (though not everyone, and it is one’s prerogative per your next point below.)
Well sure, stigma or no, that is of course one’s prerogative. I don’t know if the article said it was mandatory or encouraged…
I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Sure, some people are embarrassed by periods (their own or other people’s, or just in general). But also, just as all bodily functions and generally body issues, periods are intimate and personal. Some people are more open about that sort of stuff than others, but regardless, they’re still private information that not everyone feels comfortable with sharing in professional spaces such as an office. Professional relationships even between coworkers on the same level, never mind employer/employee or employee/client are social contexts where many people put up barriers on what private info they’re comfortable with sharing.
To use your example, sure, a person may be open about being gay at work - but that doesn’t mean they’re comfortable with disclosing information about whether they’re having an active sex life or not, or hell, whether they’re in a relationship or not. (Same goes of course with any sexual orientation.) That’s private info that is no business of coworkers, clients, bosses, etc.
Not to mention, periods being what they are, these stupid period badges also disclose a bunch of other info to coworkers, clients, bosses… That you’re actually having periods (hey, trans girls, older women, women who don’t have periods for whatever other reason), how regularly you have them (“hey, Suzuki-san seems to be late, I wonder if she’s pregnant?”), etc. It’s such an immensely private thing.
It was “optional” - but knowing Japanese business environments (hell, business environments in general, but especially Japanese) “optional” means “mandatory unless you want to be regarded as disruptive”.
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Again, context is everything. I asked an honest question, you provided a laundry list devoid of facts or evidence of any kind. It is entirely conceivable for menstruation to be seen as no different than any other bodily function. These things are not necessarily a big deal in every culture. For all I know it could be seen as a positive and celebrated openly. I just don’t know because I’m not from there.
You’re JAQing off.
There’s definitely negative things that can happen to women in japan for disclosing whether they’re menstruating and there’s many legitimate reasons why a woman should be allowed to keep it her business including the most important one: “fuck you I don’t need a reason”.
Whether or not there’s social stigma is irrelevant.
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Or maybe you didn’t read what I wrote. (That, or you’re being disingenuous.) Because what I wrote was:
I answered your question, and explained why, in this case, menstruation having or not having a stigma in Japan (and you’re seriusly asking this question, with a manga avatar?) is not the context you’re looking for because the issue is that individual women should be able to decide for themselves whether they want to tell the world about private and intimate things such as being on their period, and if yes, in what way.
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Seat on the Tube (almost) guaranteed
That is unfortunate phrasing
You seem to think I’m defending this policy. I don’t see where anything I wrote would indicate that. I asked a simple question and got virtue signaling in return. Social attitudes are always relevant. There was a time, not long ago, when it was scandalous for a pregnant woman to appear in public. Even more recently the word ‘pregnant’ could not be uttered on television. It’s none of my fucking business if a woman is pregnant but the social stigma that was once attached sure as fuck mattered to her.
I’m not defending this practice. I asked wether there was a social stigma and you unloaded on my post. If you assumed I was playing devil’s advocate, you assumed wrongly. You see malice where none was intended.
Pretty much? Not exactly a confident statement. Can you cite evidence or are you making an assumption? You’re painting with an awful wide brush. I you’d simply said yes I probably would have taken your word for it but the tirade gives me pause.
Yes. I’m seriously asking this question with a manga avatar. I don’t change my avatar on a post-by-post basis though I am considering changing my handle as it has recently occurred to me that it may be offensive to the Inuit. Reading a manga does not make me, or anyone, an expert on Japanese culture. If you wanted to explain American culture would you use Hellboy as reference material? I use the avatar because Monster is a great story. Incidentally, its setting is Eastern Europe.
Sorry, you lost me at “virtue signaling”. That’s usually a good indicator that there’s no point in having a conversation with someone.
You’re clearly not interested in what I’m saying, anyway, so why should I bother?
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Women have been saying (at least in the west) that menstruation carries a social stigma for a long time now. I don’t really know why we have to keep going over this, again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. Yes, our basic biological function IS STIGMATIZED. women know this, because many of us menstruate or have at some point in our lives been made to feel gross because of it. I guess if you don’t believe what we say, then it’s irrelevant.
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Jiro Ono, owner of the Michelin 3-star restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro, has a son who told Speakeasy (the Wall Street Journal blog) that women shouldn’t become sushi chefs because they menstruate. In the interview he said, “To be a professional means to have a steady taste in your food, but because of the menstrual cycle women have an imbalance in their taste, and that’s why women can’t be sushi chefs.” He didn’t elaborate on their chances of becoming sushi chefs after menopause.
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Well, not evidence enough… a man didn’t post it… /s
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