'It's OK to make mayonnaise': The bizarre myths about periods we used to believe - and still do
Ladies - listen up! Refrain from drinking wine while on your period as your ‘poisonous’ blood will turn it to vinegar. Please don't share a bed. Oh and, by the way, you might want to know that if you have a period, you’re a dark witch. Got it?
Over the centuries, there have been many ridiculous taboos and myths surrounding a natural bodily function that affects half the world's population.
In Britain and Western Europe, it was only until the middle of the nineteenth century that people stopped believing that if a woman had a nosebleed or was vomiting blood it was a way of releasing blood if the period was suppressed.
Thankfully, we've moved on. But in many developing countries such myths are still accepted as fact.
In the 19th century it was common knowledge that butter wouldn’t churn and ham wouldn’t take on salt
In Madagascar, women are told that they can't make mayonnaise while menstruating because it will curdle; not to walk through fields of pumpkin and courgette crops, as the seeds will rot; and not to shower, as the water will enter their bodies and provoke more bleeding.
Now, reports the BBC, a scout master called Lahatra is on a mission to bust these myths in Madagascar, by talking to the country's 30,000-strong scout network and teaching them it's not taboo to talk about periods, with the help of charity Water Aid. While charity ActionAid, which has been working to improve the facilities available to women and girls in areas like Rwanda and Malawi, as well as educating communities to change the way periods are perceived.
We've gathered a handful of the most far-fetched myths that plagued British women - and those that still plague women around the world today.
1. Your period will destroy crops and kill bees
According to Pliny The Elder, a Roman naturalist, contact with the ‘monthly flux of women’ made crops wither, dried seeds in gardens, caused the fruit of trees to fall off and even dulled the edge of steel and gleam of ivory.
But it doesn’t stop there. Pliny was also convinced that blood from a woman killed bees and had the power to dim the bright surface of mirrors. Obviously.
2. Menstruating women can control the weather
Pliny The Elder (him again) also claimed that hailstorms and whirlwinds were driven away if menstrual fluid happened to be exposed to the flashes of lightening. Ladies, tampons at the ready next time you hear thunder…
3. Blood destroys butter, wine and ham
In the nineteenth century it was common knowledge that butter wouldn’t churn and ham wouldn’t take on salt for curing if a lady was on her period. A scientist claimed in 1919 that menstrual blood contained “menotoxin”, a poison that causes women to turn wine into vinegar.
4. Avoid sharks, bears and dogs
According to folklore, if dogs come into contact with period blood they go crazy. Also, it's best to avoid camping or swimming in the sea as sharks and bears are attracted to your lady blood.
5. Stop the sleepovers
Old wives tale alert: if you share a bed with another woman during your monthly flow she will instantly start her, period too. What a bloody mess that would be.
6. Your period will murder flowers
If your partner brings you a lovely bouquet, throw them out of the window immediately. It was once believed that touching flowers while menstruating instantly wilted blooms. This comes from the mistaken belief that women were ‘dirty’ during their periods; the same myth that also banned ladies from canning foods, and making jelly or bread.
Menstruation myths that are still believed today...
Fortunately for most of us in the UK, the above beliefs have been established as myth. We can now go about out lives safe in the knowledge that women aren't responsible for the decline of bees and are free to walk through gardens without causing massacres. When ‘Aunt Flow’ comes to pay us a visit we can stock up on painkillers, sanitary products and have the internet to bust period uncertainties.
But in continents such as Africa and India, such myths remain and are drastically impacting the lives of young women.
Here are some of the beliefs women have to contend with:
1. Malawi: your period will cause peoples’ teeth to break
Girls and women have to avoid using salt for cooking when on their periods, as it's though to make other people ill. It is also believed that if a person walks behind a woman while she is menstruating, their teeth will break.
2. Nepal: you will be banished from the house
In parts of Nepal, girls and women on their periods should not enter another person’s house, as it's seen as disrespectful. They are often banished to dark rooms or sheds outside - as any contact with people or animals will is believed to lead to sickness, a practice called 'Chapaudi'. These sheds often consist of a raised platform with no walls and a thatched roof. Women will stay outside for the duration of their period.
3. Rwanda: you could kill your partner
In Rwanda, it's thought that having sex with a woman on her period could bring fatal consequences for the man. Although, young girls are told that sex cures period pain.
4. Burundi: menstrual blood will kill your family
Women in Burundi are banned from bathing near any shared utensils as it is believed that their menstrual blood will lead to the deaths of their family members.
5. India: your time of the month causes pollution
In India, if a woman is on her period she is told to avoid cooking, as she will pollute the food.
6. Uganda: your period will be fatal for livestock
In some tribes, women are banned from drinking cows' milk due to the belief that they will contaminate the entire herd. Due to these beliefs, one in ten girls in Africa will miss school during their period. Research from ActionAid found that girls who miss regular days at school are more likely to drop out of education all together. In most cases, a lack of education leads to girls, who are still children, getting married and having babies themselves.
