The title of this article was probably startling to read, but why? What is it about the words “nipples,” “period” and “pubic hair” that is offensive? All relate to the human body, more specifically a female human body.
Recently, Rupi Kaur, a well-known poet with more than 167,000 Instagram followers, posted a picture to represent the beauty of a woman in her natural state of menstruation. The photo depicts a woman sleeping who is on her period, which has leaked through her sweatpants, a situation all females are comfortably familiar with. Apparently, this highly controversial image offended so many people that Instagram users reported the photo and had it removed due to “inappropriate content.” After the first deletion, Kaur re-posted the picture, and, surprisingly, it was removed again.
I find this baffling. Photos on Instagram of women who are clad in nothing but their skin and about a foot’s worth of floss for underwear, float around on social media and receive enough “likes” to persuade people that this is, in fact, the only positive portrayal of women that should be accepted. Yet, these racy photos have never been deemed “inappropriate.”
The female body is so much more than the sexual object society desires it to be. From the moment a woman is born to the moment she perishes, she is blessed with the most miraculous opportunity: the chance to create life. The female body is designed to carry a child. Nipples and breasts produce milk to nurse a hungry baby. Natural pubic hair, which is deemed unsightly, prevents dirt and particles from entering the vagina. And, periods, which pharmaceutical companies are trying so hard to eradicate through birth control and other unnatural methods, is a monthly reminder to some women that they haven’t created life, but they have ability to.
The only people who are offended by the image above are the ones who see women as one thing and one thing only: sex objects. It’s sad that society has succeeded so well in convincing people that a woman in her natural state is inappropriate. The “Free the Nipple” campaign strives to allow nursing mothers to feed their babies in public without any backlash, laws against abortion are dominating in several states, and now a simple picture of a woman on her period is being removed from social media because it’s offensive.
When is this patriarchal society going to start letting women have control over their own bodies? When is society going to project an image of women who isn’t sleazy, slutty or suggestive, like they want us to be? If this article were titled “breasts, butt and hips,” then the expectations of this piece would have been completely different; a lighter, sexier, probably entertaining, article would have been anticipated. It’s amazing that simple words regarding the female anatomy are conditioned in our brains to represent positive or negative images. Hair is praised on upon women, unless its pubic hair and breast are bountiful and full until they’re used to breastfeed.
Women are divine in so many ways, and it’s time for society’s portrayal of us to start reflecting that — period.
