What if men could menstruate?

Farid Eysack

One of the astounding things about any process of transformation is the speed of and extent to which the powerful can embrace the language of change in order to hold on to power. This phenomenon is played out wherever power is to be found; race, class, religion and gender.
During the South African election, we observed, for example, how many Afrikan-ers rapidly abandoned those parties who have a profound commitment to Afrikanerculture and Afrikaans in favour of parties who secure their class interest (and in theprocess they can even claim the additional bonus of having voted for an anti-apartheidparty.)
And so it goes in the sphere of gender relations where a common comment among the most incorrigible chauvinistsis "Oh, I'm all for gender equality. In fact, I have always been."

Gender as a social construct

A recent workshop on gender equality with the senior management of a govern-ment department was an eye-opener into the myths of transformation, the gameswhich the powerful play in order for it to remain just that--a game--and to thechallenges awaiting those committed to a non-sexist society. This particular depart-ment had produced a comprehensive and very impressive policy document on gen-der equality policies. The first workshop was poorly attended by senior manage-ment who sent the most junior woman. (This is a usual phenomenon in a numberof government departments, particularly at provincial level, throughout the coun-try.) The Minister was visibly upset and insisted that all the senior managersattend the next workshop--and they did.
    The afternoon session--15 males (allbut two whites) and four females (all but one white)--was all mine, and I wonderedhow many of those present knew what gender as a social construct was all about.I presented a short one page input lifted from the Internet to illustrate the notion of gender as a social construct rather thana biological given.
    The question was "What would happen if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not" and Ihad a one-page sheet outlining some of the consequences.
    Menstruation would become an enviable, masculine event and men wouldbrag about how long and how much. Boys would mark the onset of menses,that longed-for proof of manhood, with religious ritual and stag parties. The government would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea to help stamp out monthly discomforts and sanitary supplies would be funded by the government andbe free. Military men, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists wouldcite menstruation ("MENstruation") as proof that only men could serve in thearmy ("You have to give blood to take blood"), occupy political office ("Canwomen be aggressive without that steadfast cycle governed by the planet Mars?"),be priests and ministers ("how could a woman give her blood for our sins"), orrabbis and imams ("Without the monthly loss of impurities, women remainunclean").
    Liberal males and even revolutionaries,however, would insist that women are equal, just different; and that any womancould enter their ranks if only she were willing to self-inflict a major woundevery month ("You must give blood for the revolution"), recognise the pre-emi-nence of menstrual issues, or subordinate herself selflessly to all men in their Cycleof Enlightenment.
    Street guys would brag ("I'm a three-pad man") or answer praise from a buddy ("Man, you are lookin' good") by givingfives and saying, "Yeah, man, I'm on the rag!"Men would convince women that intercourse was more pleasurable at "thattime of the month". Lesbians would be said to fear blood and, therefore, life itself--though probably only because they needed a good menstruating man.Of course, male intellectuals would offer the most moral and logical argu-ments. How could a woman master any discipline that demanded a sense of time,space, mathematics, or measurement, for instance, without that in-built gift formeasuring the cycles of the moon and the planets--and thus for measuring any-thing at all?
    In the fields of philosophy and religion, could women even compensate for missing the rhythm of the universe? Orfor their lack of symbolic death-and-resurrection every month?

A hostile response!

Even before I completed handing it out, I sensed a seething hostility flooding theroom. "Wat se kak is dit?" murmured one guy in the corner, another, the deputy head, seeking to distance himself from the "filth" without wanting to offend the guest, gently pushed the paper ahead of him far enough for him not readits contents. Another crumpled it and quietly let it slip on to the floor. All ofthis before they read through it.
I did not want this; I did not think ofit as provocative. This was a workshop where I merely wanted to elaborate on how we - men - manipulate biological givens - of which menstruation was only an example - to create gender and then imprison the other in our creation, calling it God's will or natural. Sex is biological and natural and gender is constructed. Finished and klaar. Instead a piece of paper was received as if it were a strip-o-gram jumping out of a box at an African Christian Democrat convention.
I went on to do my oral presentationand the responses at question time were really revealing. "How do you expect meto take this home where my sixteen-yearold daughter may see this?" said one ofthe senior managers, as he tore up my hand-out and threw it over his back."Gender equality was fine, but you people are taking things to far." Another praisedgender equality while lamenting the death of civility and politeness. "Thesedays a man doesn't even know whether to open the car door for his woman or not,"yet another complained.

Confronting gender inequalities

With all the hostility on the table I abandoned my plans for a detailed input onpolicy matters and gently proceeded to unravel the underlying issues. (With theHead of the Department having given some of the more hostile members of hisstaff a thorough scolding for impoliteness and restating the Department's policythat there is no turning back on confronting gender and gender inequalities, I could afford to be gentle.) Where doesthe embarrassment in dealing with menstruation come from? What really upsetyou--the contents of my handout, or something deep inside you? Was it reallyyour sixteen-year-old daughter that you were concerned about or was it your owninability to deal with menstruation. Why do we think of it as filth and how do wedeal with notions of women--our partners --as the carriers of filth for a numberof days a month. Does this regular load of "filth" not carry over into their "clean"days and thus they become permanent victims of unchallenged notions of clean-liness.
    Wouldn't it be a contradiction in termsto speak about taking equality "too far"? Ever travelled or walked through businessor first class on any flight anywhere in the world? That's where real power lies andthat's where you see how far we have to go in racial and gender terms.I lament the passing of the days when I could open the car door for "my woman"without being accused of sexism and I fail to reflect on the notion of ownership overwomen. As for the opening of the car door, is the assumption that I, the man,am going to be the driver and offer, you, the woman--a passenger--an act of cour-tesy? How do notions of men as drivers and women as passengers translate intosocio-political life? As for politeness, that's always nice. However, it's an act ofcharity that does not ask you to give up anything. A bit like "old clothes for thedomestic worker instead of a living wage". Is politeness not a substitute for genderjustice that insists on questions about the ownership, driving of the car and the des-tiny of the trip?
    "My culture puts women on a pedestal" said one Afrikaner male - echoing many a male voice and female voice in my own religious tradition. Who in your culture placed them there? Is that where women belong rather than in driving, office, parliament, and judges' seats? Pedestals are wonderful and well deserved in old age, but powerless. Putting people on them before they decide that they want it says more about your refusal to get off your seat of power than about your desire to have them on a powerless pedestal.
    This is why gender equality is only in the second instance about women. In the first instance it is about men's refusal to let go of their chairs of power.

Dr Farid Eysack, a Muslim theologian, is a Commissioner on the South African Gender Equality Commission, a state institution supporting constitutional democracy.
The new South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996), Section 185 is intended to promote equality and the protection, development and attainment of gender equality.