Free Bleeding: Au Naturel Goes Too Far, Prepare Your WTF Face.

At the beginning of the month, the internet exploded with the hashtag #FreeBleeding. Tweets were issued from "feminists", claiming tampons were male inventions that are oppressing us and that instead of feeling shame for our time of the month, we should instead embrace the flow allowing it to bleed freely. It has since come out that this whole saga was a hoax on the part of trolling-famous website, 4chan.

But, brace yourselves, because a bit of research shows that free bleeding is, in fact, a thing.

When you think about it, there had to be a time BEFORE the invention of sanitary napkins, tampons etc. What do you think cave women did? There are many written accounts from as close as the late 19th century that suggest many women used nothing at all to prevent their flow from, er, flowing. A favourite quote of mine comes from a book discussing German women in the 19th century that claims "Most women seemed to have made their own pads, or, like rural women, wore neither pads nor underpants. When they menstruated, they left a trail of blood behind them." What a grim image.

To this day a little Googling will reveal several personal blogs where women admit to going au naturel at that time of the month. A long and detailed post can be found on myvag.net where the authoress goes so far as to enjoy the sensation...

"I hopped up first thing and ducked into the bathroom to discover two quite lovely smears of shiny, ruby-red blood on my thighs. It occurred to me that I liked being allowed to overflow. I don't know how these two events go together, but that is how it happened. Perhaps because the blood was attractive for the first time, instead of looking like a mess. It was a nice colour and a nice shape and it was mine."

For me, personally, I imagine free bleeding to cause many embarrassing moments in every day life. I had a little spill on the back of my pale grey school skirt many moons ago and to this day it makes my cheeks flush to think of the other girls kindly informing me that there was something there and asking what it was. To make it worse, we only realised when we were boarding the bus to an art gallery so I had to stay that way for the day. I can imagine a kindly-type stopping you on the street to whisper discreetly about the little leak showing. What would you say back, "I know, yeah. I'm embracing it"?

Whatever the reason for free bleeding - the feminism, the laziness, the saving on the ridiculous sales tax on feminine hygiene products -  I can think of a dozen reasons against it. What about the germs, the smell, the additions to your wash basket, your furniture? I am pretty sure nobody I know would appreciate me leaving red snail trails all over their couches. You wouldn't walk around allowing other bodily fluids to fall on the floor as it is "only natural", so I just cannot get my head around this phenomena.

If you must be natural about it, I recommend a mooncup even though the thoughts of those gives me the heebie-geebies although not quite as much as the Period Panteez.

So tell me your views on this or is all of this period lark giving you phantom cramps?