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No need for monthly curse? Date published: 9/17/2006
IT'S CALLED "the curse" for a reason. Since the dawn of womankind, women have dreaded their periods. Instead of deciding what to wear based on mood and the occasion, during our period we women have to take into consideration a third factor--if I have an accident, will it show? White is best avoided in favor of red (the best choice), black or some other dark color. And, except for the occasional lucky woman, most of us don't feel our best during our periods. With cramps, bloating and mood swings, it's far from So it's not surprising that once science made it possible to time her period or avoid it altogether, womankind took notice. It's been possible for women to skip their period since the birth control pill was invented, but many women shied away, worrying that there was something unnatural or even unsafe about missing periods. In the last few years, the first pill specifically formulated for the purpose of decreasing the number of periods a woman has per year, Seasonale, has brought this possibility to the forefront of more women's minds. But with it has come many questions, and much uncertainty. It's a common misconception that the period has a cleansing effect. That somehow, the shedding of the uterine lining every month cleans the vagina and without it, we would be somehow dirty. In actuality, women have periods in order to have babies. The uterine lining prepares itself every month for an embryo to implant and a baby to grow. If no embryo makes its way to the uterus, this lining is shed, and the whole process starts all over again. It's as simple as that. The vagina does have mechanisms to keep itself healthy, but the monthly period is not part of this process. Think about it, if periods were necessary for vaginal cleanliness, then young girls and postmenopausal women would have very unclean vaginas, something we know is not the case. But periods do serve another useful purpose. They let a woman know whether she is pregnant every month, a very reassuring function for most women. Without a period to count on, we'd have no way of knowing if a pregnancy has occurred until the pregnancy is very far along.
Date published: 9/17/2006
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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