The fear of menstrual blood is a phenomenon that has existed for centuries across many cultures. Women were considered impure, unclean, and even dangerous during their menstrual cycles. This fear and stigma have had a significant impact on women’s lives, causing them to feel ashamed and hide their periods. In this blog, we’ll explore the history of fear of menstruation and how it has affected women throughout history.

War On Women

Anthropologists believe that the first sexual prohibitions in history developed against having intercourse with women during menstruation. However, these prohibitions seem to be based on a deeper basis than hygienic measures: fear and hatred toward women

Eric Berkowitz summarizes this situation in his book Sex and Punishment:

“The sudden flow of menstrual blood reminded men that, despite their superior physical strength, they could not bring about human life on their own. As time passed, men’s fear of women turned into outright hostility, and menstruating women began to be viewed as both dangerous and dirty.”

So the war on women didn’t just start with Salem Trials, it was way before. According to Berkowitz, it wasn’t until around 9000 BC, approximately 185,000 years after Homo sapiens appeared, that people confirmed the connection between sexual activity and pregnancy. He also agrees that the first sexual restrictions might have been taboos in the Paleolithic era against having sex with menstruating women. As time progressed, men’s apprehension toward women turned into open hostility. Women were viewed as dangerous and unclean while on their periods.

Over the centuries, menstrual blood became a component of love potion recipes. During the Middle Ages, European mothers would gather and keep their daughters’ menstrual blood, eventually using it in aphrodisiacs for their sons-in-law.

Fear Of Menstrual Blood Around The World

“It is better to lie down on an empty stomach than to eat the meal prepared by the menstruating woman.”

-An Ivory proverb

If we look at historical examples, we see that this hostility is often displayed in various variations of a single pattern: the fear of contamination.

• In the Brahmans, meeting a menstruating girl was considered one of the seven sins. Women who had come into contact with a man during their menstrual days were beaten with whips. Those who saw a menstruating woman were forbidden to eat.
• In Babylon, it was believed that everything women touched on their special day – objects or people – became contaminated.
• In the Assyrians, the word “menstruation” was synonymous with the word “unapproachable”.
• In the Hebrews, not only the things touched by the menstruating woman but also the men who touches the women were considered unclean. At the end of menstruation days, it was necessary to wait seven days for purification and to sacrifice two pigeons: “… but if the bleeding stops, the woman will wait for seven days, then she will be considered clean. On the eighth day, she will bring two doves to the priest. The priest will offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. Thus he will purify her before the LORD from the impurity of her bleeding.”
• The Macusis Indians of South America used to lay first-menstruating young girls in a high hammock and beat them with a whip.
• Among the Carrier Indians, the menstruating girls were in seclusion for three or four years, living alone in a hut made of branches, far from their village. The young girls, who wore long and loose dresses, carried bands on their arms and legs to protect them from the evil spirit within.
• When we came to 1875, the debate on “whether a slice of salami would spoil with the touch of a menstruating woman’s hand” was lasting six months in the British Medical Journal, one of today’s respected scientific journals.

Turning A Blessing Into A Curse 

Sounds funny, right? How could such a thing be controversial? You are wrong if you think these funny days are well behind. Yes, the items touched by menstruating girls today may not be considered contaminated. However, if you pay attention, you can see that the fear of menstruating women is deeply rooted in every society. Superstitions about menstruating women are still carried over into modern times by tradition. During menstruation hair does not get dyed, nails are not cut, the dough does not stick… You must have heard these and similar superstitions around you.

Today, we know the cause of menstrual blood, and since we do not live in magical tribes, attributing negative meanings to it and being too afraid of its contamination should be ridiculous. Yet these beliefs continue to come with us, even though we know they are absurd. Like many beliefs that should remain in the depths of human history, the fear of menstrual blood continues to live with us and seep through the gaps left by logic.