I don’t know what it is with Vice.com, but they sure have a thing for the “free bleeding” feminist movement that’s become more popular the last year or two, thanks in part to a hoax by teenaged boys and when a marathoner named Kiran Gandhi ran – letting it all flow – right through light colored spandex pants, for all the world to see.
Now, in an effort to try and jump on the environmental bandwagon, claiming the average American woman throws away around seven pounds of feminine products a year, feminists are touting the wonders of free bleeding and how women can save the world, “one menstrual cycle at a time!”
In Tanja M. Laden’s Earth Day article for Vice’s feminist channel “Broadly, which ironically can be found under the “Health” section of the site, she seriously ponders the question, “…why should our bodies be so burdensome to the Earth?”
She writes:
Women's bodies have never been burdensome to the Earth, and the products we use to care for ourselves should not be either…Women who advocate free-bleeding typically cite two main reasons for doing so: comfort and the environment. It's estimated that women in the US throw away about seven pounds worth of feminine hygiene products a year. With an estimated 100 million menstruating American women, we're collectively ditching about 700 million pounds (350,000 tons) of tampons, pads, plastic, and cardboard boxes annually in the United States alone. There are health concerns, too, the biggest being the fact that tampons actually contain carcinogens.
Really? How many condoms and condom boxes do men throw away each year? Should they do as a free bleeder and let their bodily fluids flow freely wherever and whenever? My guess is no. And speaking of health concerns, Ms. Laden neglects to tell her readers of the unsanitary nature of free bleeding. Think about it – go to any doctor’s office or lab and blood is handled with gloves and plastic bags or some sort – they handle it carefully because of safety and health concerns. Right? Now think of free bleeders in public, sitting on all kinds of seats – bus, train, airplane, theater, school, work, restaurant, library…let alone leaving behind a trail of red wherever they walk. Where’s the safety and sanitation in that?
However, if you choose to free bleed, you can do it the “original way” – by not wearing any feminine products or underwear, OR you can get your own free bleeding underwear called “Bloody Marys.” (I will never think of a Bloody Mary drink the same way again.) And what’s cooler than a feminist free bleeding? A feminist free bleeding on underwear that features the faces of pro-life politicians in the crotch! Yes. You heard me.
In March, Vice.com posted an article triumphantly headlined "Finally, You Can Menstruate All Over Ted Cruz's Face." These “Bloody Mary” underwear, also known as “blood dumpsters” were created in response to abortion regulations and allow women to choose which face they’d like to have on the crotch of their underwear - Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Sarah Palin – to name a few.
I wonder if the irony is lost on the creator, Sarah Palatnik; that she’s trying to use menstruation, which shows a woman’s ability to nurture and create life – as a means to make a statement about abortion, which destroys and ends life.
