Feminism: chat
poem about if men menstruated.
vivariumvivariumsvivaria · 18/07/2021 16:41
I read a really good poem ages ago, and can't find it now.
It's about if men had periods they'd take to their bed and be granted 12 weeks leave a year. Quite a short poem, I think by a UK female poet.
CANNOT find it anywhere.
Anyone able to help? It's for an argument with my dad.
user1745 · 18/07/2021 21:08
Yes, it's From Mrs Tiresias:
Then he started his period.
One week in bed.
Two doctors in.
Three painkillers four times a day.
And later
a letter
to the powers that be
demanding full-paid menstrual leave twelve weeks per year.
I see him still,
his selfish pale face peering at the moon
through the bathroom window.
The curse, he said, the curse.
genius.com/Carol-ann-duffy-from-mrs-tiresias-annotated
nancywhitehead · 20/07/2021 06:43
If men had periods throughout their lives then they would deal with them. Just like women do. Same as childbirth or whatever else women say "men couldn't possibly do X".
This is daft.
(I am a woman btw but I think a lot of women like to think of themselves as martyrs to things that men couldn't cope with - ridiculous and yes it is sexist).
ErrolTheDragon · 20/07/2021 08:53
It's satire based on it being a word designed and built for men. It's based on the reality that women and men are treated differently by the medical system.
If throughout history, a proportion of boys and men had routinely suffered debilitating pain for a day or two a month (the poem is exaggerated for comic effect), it's entirely likely that schools and workplaces would take some account of this.
Maybe read Invisible Women (or a bit about its key points) if you don't understand.
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