by Vanessa Hawthorne, London, UK
RELIGION, PERIODS, POWER.
In Catholicism women are not allowed on the altar because they are unclean – because they bleed.
In Judaism you are not to touch anyone when you are bleeding: a quick search on google revealed this quote:
”A menstruating woman defiles everyone and everything she touches”. Hackles up.
I was talking with a young girl recently, who is being brought up as a Muslim; we spoke about being Muslim and what sense she made of their traditions. When I asked how a woman’s period was viewed, she wasn’t sure but knew that a woman could not pray while she is bleeding as her prayers would not be accepted by Muhammad; she can only pray when she is clean.
Not long ago I watched a movie ‘Agora’ – about Hypatia, a renowned astronomer, lecturer in philosophy and a woman who made a ginormous contribution to the development of mathematics during Roman Egypt. In a scene where the Christian priest is reading from what they were implying was the bible and therefore the word of God, that women should be silent, modestly dressed and not really seen – my hackles went up. In this speech he was condemning Hypatia to her death by saying she was a witch. I got angry at this point.
And I was struck by the theme that was staring me in the face: Continue reading “Is the Way Of The Livingness the First Religion to Honour the Menstruation Cycle?” →