Old school feminism

Oh brilliant, thanks scallops! I was beginning to worry about my subconscious . Clearly I just conflated the two quotes. That usage makes much more sense, it would have been a provocative thing to say even for Greer!

Ooh ooh found it Irene. You aren't going mad. Suddenly remembered I had Female Eunuch on the kindle so went and searched. And she is relating a story of one of her friends who did exactly that and Greer is confessing to be shocked about it.

"Despite my own proselytizing attitude, I must confess to a thrill of shock when one of the ladies to whom this book is dedicated told me that she had tasted her own menstrual blood on the penis of her lover."

Phew. We can all sleep easier now

She could have carried on to say that Irene. That's the problem with quotes, there is no context around them. So the next sentence could have been "better still, suck it off a man's cock". Or words to that effect. I won't be making writing my career any time soon.

The thing to remember about Greer is that though she was great in many ways she was a bit of a diva. Liked to shock for shock's sake. I'm afraid I parted company with her over her defence of FGM as a part of cultural identity and it being wrong to outlaw it.

Or she might have said something involving penises on another occasion? I can imagine her saying that, with relish.

Oh God, have I totally misremembered the quote? I have a vivid recollection of reading it aged about 19 and being - it doesn't feel like something I could have made up, but it's certainly possible I've conflated two quotes together.

Agree that woman was being a bit of a pratt.

Agree with ideas around getting over this tabboo that menstual blood is in some way dirty or revolting, I don't understand why it seems to be in the same category as poo and wee. Our wombs are presumably fairly sterile (not in the no babies way in the no germs way!) and our vaginas are naturally "clean" so it seems all wrong that it's in the revolting category. Staining, and annoying and so forth yes, but not actually disgusting.

Loads of people aren't fussed by it at all apart from the mess factor, well I'm talking about men I guess but I don't see that they would be less squeamish than women about this...?

Countess I would guess the penis came into it as in he was happy to have sex with a woman who was menstruating IYSWIM.

According to Goodreads the quote is:

"If you think you are emancipated, you might consider the idea of tasting your own menstrual blood - if it makes you sick, you've got a long way to go, baby."

Another good quote from that page is:

"The housewife is an unpaid worker in her husband's house in return for the security of being a permanent employee: ..." You see that underlying thought process a lot in response to threads where women find their partners aren't pulling their weight.

I thought what Greer said was more like 'taste your own menstrual blood - if the thought disgusts you, you've got a long way to go, baby.' Surely penises didn't come into it? And I doubt it was as stark as 'if you haven't done this you're not a proper feminist'.

As I recall Germaine Greer actually said that you weren't a proper feminist unless you had sucked your menstrual blood off your lover's penis. - Oh, good, I'm a proper feminist after all

I'm 60 and I do get the hives when younger women (so, most women!) take basic rights - like paid mat leave, equal pension, theoretically equal pay, educational & financial rights, etc - for granted. They're very recently won in historical terms and there is sufficient pressure to rescind them that we should be cognisant of the need to keep defending & expanding them. I'm pretty sure no self-identifying feminist would need reminding, though, and wouldn't dream of setting any kind of spurious feminist test. Feminism gets tested enough as it is!

She sounds like a bit of a prat.

Good point, Bertie. I can't remember what The Female Eunuch said about cunnilingus

Greer has always been quite keen on sex (with men - I don't recall her going through a political lesbian phase, though someone may correct me). Probably a more unusual position then than it is now. (Fnarr.)

Surely proper feminists don't give men sexual pleasure which doesn't involve reciprocation for themselves?

Well, this thread makes me think about the idea of women thinking that shaving/waxing all their pubic hair off is "cleaner"

glass floor, not glass ceiling floor!

As I said, it is bollocks: it was propagated by a small minority of "extreme" feminists - the same ones that claimed you couldn't be a feminist unless you were a lesbian and also thought it was a good idea to examine your own cervix with one of those mirror things that dentists use. Most of us were just busy getting on with achieving (in theory anyway) equal pay, obtaining credit and bank accounts without male guarantors and generally kicking in the glass ceiling floor as we tried to climb out of the basement.

As I recall Germaine Greer actually said that you weren't a proper feminist unless you had sucked your menstrual blood off your lover's penis.

As someone said above, it's a rhetorical flourish about taboos... I don't think we need to take it as an actual instruction. At least I hope not

It is something I've heard before, and I think Germaine Greer, too. I don't suppose it's any less hygienic than sucking a cut finger, but I don't make a habit of that, either.

WTF? It just sounds bizarre. Okay I don't think women should be afraid or ashamed or think their menstrual blood is dirty but I don't want to taste it particularly.