The Twitter Period Movement

by All Maxim Hygiene, Menstruation

Although the Twitter phenomenon that is the #livetweetyourperiod hashtag has circulated for a few months now, this week saw it put to political use in the primaries in the run up to Presidential election. Competing candidate Donald Trump’s fumbling menstruation-inspired insult of Republican debate host Megyn Kelly has him disappearing under a landslide of period-related thoughts, observations, and descriptions as women live tweet their period directly to his feed with the new trending hashtag – #periodsarenotaninsult

Created by Buzzfeed editor Tracy Clayton in December 2014 to draw attention to both the struggles of menstruating and the normalcy of the event, this hashtag has taken on a life of its own, attracting prosaic period details as much as witty insights into the menstrual taboo. Women have taken enjoyment from sharing details of an experience many go through on a monthly basis, but have few outlets for discussion. The trend was brought to the attention of the New York Times wherein writer Jenna Wortham suggested the hashtag might go some way to destigmatizing menstruation and bringing the healthy reproductive function out into the open.

In the early 1970s during the time of self-help movement, driven by women’s health centric feminists like Carol Downer, women would meet in small groups to share the details of their menstrual cycles and learn more about their reproductive health, sort of like we do with our period parties and in store educational events. They desired to gain and develop knowledge outside of the male-dominated medical field that delivered research and treatments tainted by patriarchy. Their goal was “women’s health in women’s hands” – that is, females ought to be predominantly in charge of well-woman health issues like menstruation, contraception, pregnancy, childbirth and so on. The #livetweetyourperiod phenomenon appears to echo and reflect these historical feminist intentions. Yet social media allows this to go a step further by confronting agents of patriarchy like Trump with the information.

However, it is interesting to note that the majority of what is shared under the hashtag leans towards the difficult, painful, and annoying end of the period experience spectrum – the cramps, the cravings, the stains, PMS, and crying fits. A few women discuss more neutral points like the feeling of knowing you just started your period, although these are generally given a negative spin. But hardly any (none in the last few days, as a random selection example) highlight the positive points of the period experience. It is, of course, important that we acknowledge the women that are dealing with very problematic periods that negatively impact their quality of life, but the ratio of experiences under this hashtag suggests no women like, enjoy, or gain anything positive from having a period.

Is this true to life or is it that what we want to share publically is a reflection of the menstrual taboo in itself? In an effort to normalize periods is this hashtag also revealing how we normalize the pain, PMS, and heavy bleeding that women experience rather than confronting these symptoms as indicative of wider health issues and discussing treatment protocols? We might consider how these negative experiences might be encouraged or supported by the menstrual taboo.

Scrolling through the #livetweetyourperiod feed, the majority of tweets might serve to concrete the expectations of many men about what is means to menstruate. What will someone like Trump learn from this?

What we hope you will learn from this is one of our favorite trending hashtags in this growing Twitter Period Movement – #PeriodPositive

Similar to our #FierceWoman philosophy and the reasons why we are thankful for periods, the creator of this great hashtag, Chella Quint, is working on the challenging the media’s representation of menstruation. Based on our recent thoughts about whether periods are still taboo and presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s recent remarks, we need more people like you and Chella to paint the town red with all the things you love about your period! Join us in the amazing Twitter Period Movement and make sure to tag us in your revolutionary period related #hashtags so we can support you too!