Hey, maybe they'll start subsidizing tampons!

what. the. fuck.

At least they acknowledge that women have periods... And are perfectly competent to work during "that" time.... I mean considering somee of the "oh my gosh it does not happen" cover up i have seen regarding a woman's menstrual cycle- in homes, at work, in school, this is almost progressive. ) But yeah this sucks. Because women in india are conditioned to be "guilty" about their cycles. The whole "dirty" part of it being attached very closely( not allowed to enter temples- yup, not allowed to enter more tradtitional kitchens even.. etc etc..- yeah it still happens in very "progressive" homes too) this will only create more mortification amongst the ladies. Another way to subjugate them.

And you know what they do not encourage the use of tampons in India... for specific "anti- virginal" effects( yeah "unmarried" girls are not really encouraged to use tampons... )

Wow. How humiliating.

In better news, that tampon is made by the fabulous Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane! I've purchased a number of her plush at craft fairs. She's based in Pennsylvania, but makes the rounds to craft fairs around the U.S.. She really does make the cutest shit.

Will they ask for prostate exams for all male civil servant's under the guise of "health concerns" as well? somehow I doubt it.

In other news, check this out. I don't know quite what to think of this south african inverted razor vaginal insert. It allows rapists to enter, but not to withdraw.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/04/rapestoppers_ra.html

Will they ask for prostate exams for all male civil servants under the guise of "health concerns" as well? Somehow I doubt it.

In other news, check this out. I don't know quite what to think of this South African inverted razor vaginal insert. It allows rapists to enter, but not to withdraw.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/04/rapestoppers_ra.html

Oh, it'll let them withdraw, taking device with them, which they'll have to seek medical care to have removed. What it won't let them do is get off. I think it's fantastic. Unfortunately, the woman gets raped, but he doesn't get an orgasm and the proof in the puddin', so to speak, is left on his dick.

This might have to do with a woman's fertility. Not to defend it, but to think of why, it could be so they know which women are likely to become pregnant, and therefore miss work...

Does this have anything to do with the government not wanting to pay maternity care? I have zero idea how on-the-job benefits work in India, but I could easily imagine employers in the US who are concerned with hiring a woman who would become pregnant and raise their health insurance premiums and then demand maternity coverage.

Not that it makes it right, but misogyny is often rooted in basic economics.

Not to defend it, but to think of why, it could be so they know which women are likely to become pregnant, and therefore miss work...

Forgive me but I'm confused by this, so if she's bleeding every twenty-eight days then they'll know she can get knocked up? You can still be infertile and menstruate so I don't get what tracking their periods proves. Unless they've missed one or two, THEN I can see the point for them.

If they are truly interested with women's health they should be asking them important questions relating to issues about their health, attempting to tackle the big health problems women face like cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. A much more efficient way to "monitor" the health of women would be to require yearly pap smears, mammograms, and physicals.

QUOTE FROM http://www2.oprah.com/health/yourbody/slide/numberone/slide_yourbody_numberone_101.jhtml:
"In the past 12 months, more women—494,000, to be exact—were killed by cardiovascular disease than by any other cause. In fact, more women will die from cardiovascular disease than from the next six causes combined."

QUOTE FROM http://www.breastcancer.org/press_cancer_facts.html:
"Breast cancer incidence in women has increased from one in 20 in 1960 to one in eight today."

Wow. The world's largest democracy instituting policies from Ceacescu's Romania. Nice. Not.

And I read about the vagina dentata. I'd be worried that the injured rapist would attack his victim as a result, but the inventors argue that he'd be so shocked the the victim could make a run for it before he had stopped hopping around, clutching his genitals. Hmm. And if he has a gun? But this is off topic...

It's because women are more emotional when they're on their... you know. Duh!

Har Har Har!

Yeah...Allytude...I don't know if you were referring to Indians in general or if you had a strange upbringing in India, but I can safely say from experience I have not only entered temples while bleeding out my cooch, but most Indian girls (from India, even) love tampons. Granted, there may be some sects and cults that discourage young girls from using tampons and entering a temple while menstruating, but I *imagine* it would be clear from the women's outrage that this isn't true for the majority of the populace.

"You can still be infertile and menstruate so I don't get what tracking their periods proves. Unless they've missed one or two, THEN I can see the point for them."

Yup. Seriously, the first thing this news reminded me of was the "menstrual police" in CeauÅŸescu's Romania.

"Granted, there may be some sects and cults that discourage young girls from using tampons and entering a temple while menstruating, but I *imagine* it would be clear from the women's outrage that this isn't true for the majority of the populace."

Clear? I could understand someone wanting to save her hymen for marriage, preferring pads to tampons, *and* being outraged by workplace menstrual checks at the same time.

Beonda Pale: I checked out that link. I'm not really sure what to make of it either. But that line was perfect: Medeival device for a medieval deed!"

In another vein: I work as an aide at a Girl Scout Camp during the summer. We are required to talk about certain things so that the girls can earn badges. The issue of womens jobs came up, and the leader told us that 15 years ago she had to put down the date of her menstrual cycle on her application. just goes to show you that LDCs arent as far behind as some think.

Thank you, Mina. Also, I suffer from a chronic case of sarcasm so words like *imagine* are said with a strain here in the real world. But thanks for understanding :)

In response to comment posted by Beonda Pale:

"In other news, check this out. I don't know quite what to think of this south african inverted razor vaginal insert. It allows rapists to enter, but not to withdraw.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/04/rapestoppers_ra.html"
___________________________

Wow, this is amazing! I think that this devise could make a huge impact on vaginal-rape percentages. If women actually use this devise it could save tons of lives. Not only would it stop the rape from happening, but, due to the pain it causes the male, it could even help prevent murders that so often come attatched to rape.

The article says that some people find it "vengeful" and are criticising it for this reason! They must not realise how much of a violent, "vengeful" crime rape actually is!

Honestly, if "health-history" was the best reason they could come up with I'm astounded that they're even fooling themselves.

On the vagina teeth - shouldn't rape prevention hold higher priority than rape punishment? South African women shouldn't have to operate on an assumption that they are going to be raped and that the only question is when - and whether or not they feel like having the last chuckle when it does happen. Who's out there seriously trying to stop men from brutalizing women in the first place?