My idea for my final project is to a knock-off TED talk, or a BLED talk. I want to discuss social perceptions of menstruation and its impact on advertising and accessibility for feminine products. I also want to touch on menstruation for trans men and nonbinary people, as periods can be a pain regardless of gender. The project will be in the form of a video and will be posted on Youtube. I intend for it to be a resource as well as a critique on one element of how women’s bodies are policed.
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| It is bloody ridiculous that periods aren't normalized. |
Menstruation sucks. The cramps, the irritability, the nausea; it all sucks. But what is (almost) worse is the society’s response to this natural bodily process. Women are undercut by the phrase ‘must be your time of the month’ all the time, and misogynists use it as justification for why there are not more women in leadership positions. This attitude is in part due to the lack of comprehensive sex education, as boys are not taught about the process, and instead rely on pop culture and mass media to learn about periods, which paints a menstruating woman as a crying mess.
Mass media also often presents periods without blood. Ads for tampons and pads have historically never shown blood, instead relying on a blue liquid. These ads also always show women playing tennis in white outfits, which is unrealistic for many reasons. The products themselves are problematic because of their expense as well as their ingredients, which have been found to include toxic chemicals.
In exploring the policy, advertising, and conversations surrounding periods and feminine care products, I hope to inspire change. I want to research brands that are trying to change the conversation on menstruation, such as Bodyform and Cora. I also want to find ways to help women who may not be able to afford tampons and pads. Essentially, I want the video to educate people, regardless of gender, about menstruation.
The timeline for completing this project is quite simple. I will spend one week researching as much as I can on the topic, one week formatting the research into a narrative, and a few days filming. I will rehearse with peers to gauge engagement and flow. The final video will be accompanied by a transcript as well as a resources guide with links to further information.
This talk could lead to other TED-style videos, such as FED talk (looking at diet culture and gender), BED talk (the policing of sex), WED talk (marriage and feminism), MED talk (gender and health care), et cetera. While I will not be talking about menstruation when I am a first grade teacher, I could also extend this project by developing a curriculum to educate older children, as well as by getting involved in the push for sex education.
Love love love the name BLED talk as a variation on TED talk, as well as the others you have (potentially) planned for the future. Super creative and funny! Would definitely catch my eye if it came up on my YouTube homepage.
ReplyDeleteI also think looking into the problematic aspects of sanitary care products is especially important - it definitely freaked me out when I heard about toxic chemicals used by some huge brands. And no one talks about it!
Something that I would find important to reference, however briefly, is that the need to use sanitary care products is limited only to the having of a vagina and vaginas aren't gendered. Also because of this I might steer clear of the term "feminine" care products as well.
Menstruation really is a topic that is important for all and I'm so glad you're addressing this issue.
Hi! Thanks for the feedback, yeah I intend to shine light on the fact that trans men and nonbinary folk can still have periods, I just used the phrase 'feminine care products' because it is the standard term, but I think you're right to steer clear of it.
DeleteI love this idea! I think that the "Bled talk" format will be attention grabbing and easy for many people to digest. Not sure if you're planning on doing this already but I think that bringing in the tampon tax could be super relevant and a poignant way to illustrate concrete ways in which periods are used against us. I found this article “Bleeding Women Dry: Tampon Taxes and Menstrual Inequity” byJorene Ooi, that could be useful if you decide to bring this topic into your project.
ReplyDeleteHi! I hadn't even thought of the tampon tax, so thank you! I will check the article out.
DeleteThe name of your project interested me from the jump. I think a BLED Talk is a creative and unique idea as well as the other Talks you briefly mentioned.
ReplyDeleteMy concern is that you were planning on "researching as much as you could" on the policy, advertising and conversations surrounding periods and feminine care products. I'm afraid that making a film with all the information you find might be too much for viewers and could get messy.
I suggest maybe choosing one or even two aspects that you really want to emphasize in your BLED Talk and basing your film on just those things.
Not only would it be a lighter load for you to take on (not to say you don't like a challenge) but it might be a smoother story line for viewers to follow as opposed to a multitude of subtopics within your overall one.
Hi! Yeah I see what you're saying about including too much info. I think I'm going to do a lot of research so that I have information to choose from, but I'll try to limit the subtopics. Thanks!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlrighty.... as a man I do not really want to know more about menstruation, but I suppose it is important, especially for straight males to know. We should all know the male and female body. As someone who is not familiar with tampons and other feminine care products, I would like to know if they are necessary, what are the best products, can you really comfortably play tennis with a tampax sport tampon or is it secretly still excessively uncomfortable? I also never thought about diet playing a role in the period experience, so I would love to know if that does effect the flow, the cramps, and so on. Inform me! I'm ready.
ReplyDeleteThis project will teach me a lot about a subject I was not only not informed about but told to be disgusted by. As a cis-male, I do not experience periods but I do experience the stigma spoken about periods in male communities. Rather than seeing menstruation as nature, we teach women to hide their periods and teach men that women's temperament could be described by menstruation. The only thing I can offer for consideration to your project is the sales tax placed on pads and tampons could be an interesting factor to explore.
ReplyDelete