Breaking: Blood is Red July 6, 2011 Jill Even when it comes out of your vagina. American menstrual product manufacturers have finally taken notice, and menstruators across the United States are thrilled to learn that they are not, in fact, freaks of nature because they don’t bleed blue.
this is awful news, because the blood that comes out of my vagina is green. I’m guessing it means one of those X-Files aliens has taken over my body.
gretel: Well I never! Next they’re probably going to reveal that babies don’t pee and poop blue! I saw something on TV and they used a melted Snickers bar to represent poop and it kind of made me grateful for the blue liquid or gas bubbles they usually use.
Ha. This is funny. When I was in 9th grade, we were assigned a project in my Civics class to create a new product, or something to that effect. Unable to think of anything else, I decided to do my project on requiring companies who advertised “feminine products” to use red liquid rather than blue, so as not to confuse new menstrators and scare them when they saw that their blood was red, not blue. Obviously, it was tongue-in-cheek, but it was a riot to present to the class. I used milk that I dyed red and let sit out overnight in hopes that it would curdle, and poured it on a big pad I stuck to a presentation board. My teacher, a middle-aged male, refused to even watch the presentation. I got an A (and an award at the end of the year for “Most Creative Student”).
I have long noted the strong aversion to showing menstrual blood, or depicting it realistically. It’s weird (the aversion, not the menstrual blood, which is quite normal!). It’s weird because there is not really an aversion to showing other blood, or depicting that realistically. For example, I doubt a bandaid ad would use blue liquid on a kid’s knee. Or an ad to donate blood would use bags of blue liquid. Etc. When the movie Towelhead came out, (I’m not commenting now on the merits of the movie overall), I remember hearing a lot of reviews in which the reviewers were disgusted that there was a scene in which (presumably fake) menstrual blood was shown on a tampon (or maybe a pad?). One reviewer in particular said that this was too much “gore.” This was so much less blood than is present in the average war or crime movie, but because it had (fictionally) come from a woman’s vagina instead of a head or chest or whatever other body part, it was gross, “gore”, and “crossing the line.”
I think the aversion to showing menstrual blood is that it is different than other blood, like the color the consistency the clots. Its the whole blood AND gore thing. I’m not squemish about stuff like that, I had c-sections and was upset I didn’t get the mirror treatment so I could watch it. But then again I loved the Discovery Health channel, blood and gore doesn’t bother me, pain does. I can’t watch one of those shows where someone breaks a bone, I’d need the whole blue liquid treatment.
You know, I think I somehow convinced myself when young that they probably used blue because it showed up better on camera or something. (Blue and Green having higher luminance or what not). That this started in the early days when it mattered (like the whole “home and away team jerseys have to be dark or light to show up easily on a black and white TV”) and just carried through. That it was a taboo on bodily fluids didn’t occur to me, even though it really is a far more reasonable explanation than mine in many ways.