Menstruating girls banned from crossing Ghana river

[muriel_volestrangler]

Ghanaian schoolgirls have been banned from crossing a river while they are menstruating - and on Tuesdays.

The ban, apparently given by a local river god, has outraged children's activists, especially as girls must cross the river to reach school.
...
Unicef's menstrual hygiene ambassador Shamima Muslim Alhassan told BBC Pidgin that the directive, which applies to part of the River Ofin, violated girls' right to education.
...
"Sometimes I think that we need to ask for some form of accountability from these gods who continue to bar a lot of things from happening, to account for how they have used the tremendous power that we have given them."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42652314

[procon]

1. 2018. Sigh. Nt

[Loki Liesmith]

2. About time.

I hope they deal with those bastard UFOs next.

[MineralMan]

3. Old Testament menstrual laws are not far from this.

Menstruating women were treated as "unclean," and had to retreat to special places to avoid contaminating others. Menstrual shaming is a very common component of patriarchal religions. It's yet another way of controlling women.

Fragments of this were still existent when I was a teenager back in the late 1950s. Girls I knew were carefully taught that there was something shameful about that natural monthly occurrence. I remember it well.

While such nonsense is disappearing, I suspect it still exists in some places and groups. Many men will refuse to buy products having to do with menstruation, even now. I'd ask men in this thread:

Have you ever purchased menstrual products for your significant other?

I certainly have.

[Fix The Stupid]

4. Yes...many times. When your wife has endometriosis, you get used to it. n/t

[trotsky]

5. I have, for my wife and daughter.

Men who have a problem with this need to get the fuck over it.

[MineralMan]

6. Yes. Still, some men treat such products as though

touching their packaging would lead to some sort of contamination. It would be funny, if it were not so indicative of the continuation of patriarchy.

There are numerous negative words and phrases connected to menstruation, and almost all of them are used exclusively by men.

We're not done with this, even now.

[SwissTony]

12. I used to have to do it for my wife and three daughters

I used to do our weekly shopping on my own. My wife would slow me down and we'd argue if we did it together. I got instructions from all four women/girls on what to get.

In some places in Australia, if you bought menstrual products in certain shops, the person on the till would immediately slip them into plain, brown paper bags. We can't have people exposed to such dreadful products, can we?

[Mariana]

9. My husband has done it. My father did, too.

Neither man is religious.

My mother was born in 1942. She said her grandmother (born 1879) tried to forbid her to swim during menstruation. Her mother (born 1910) told my mom to go ahead and swim.

[MineralMan]

10. Good for them, and good for your grandmother.

Attitudes have changed, but there is still a stigma attached to menstruation in the minds of some people. It's hard to believe, but it's still there.

[Heddi]

14. My husband has bought pads, tampax, etc, for me many times

if he's shopping and I'm not, why should I have to make a special trip 'just because?" He's also picked up my BC pills, purchased condoms and gotten KY jelly...all by his own self. He's also an RN (like me) and has a fully functioning brain and grew up in a house with a mom and 2 older sisters, so knew at an early age that touching a kotex wouldn't turn him into a pumpkin. He also isn't a dunderhead and isn't under the impression that the checkout lady/guy will tee-hee-hee think the TAMPAX ARE FOR HIM HA HA HAHAHA OH MY GOD WHAT IF A MAN IS BUYING A TAMPON FOR HIS BUTT HA HA HAHA HO HO HO HEHEHEEHEHE OR KY JELLY FOR HIS BUTT HA HAHHA HEHEHEHE HAHAHA HAHAHA. yeah. Okay. that's totally outside of his realm of thought or fear.

He's 44 now but we've been a couple for 20 years this year. He's been buying menstrual products for me, BC products for the both of us, and varieties of lube, dildoes and vibrators for, well, everyone for longer than we've been together. Sometimes, I'm shopping and I'll be the one to get the items. Sometimes he's shopping and it's a waste of time for me to go back out to the store just to get a fucking box of tampax. Jesus Christ it's 2018, we're about to die in a nuclear war because shit for brains is running our country and men are still afraid to pick up a box of OB tampons because OH MY GOD COOCHIE COOTIES!!! WHAT IF SOMEONE THINKS THEY'RE FOR ME!?!?!?! hint: no one does and no one gives a shit and you'll get massive coochie points if you buy your lady friend some tampax or pads without making a big fucking stinking deal out of it. Double points if you pick up some lube while you're there. Same aisle most of the time. PS, ask her if she wants wings on her pad. Not all ladies do.

[PragmaticDem]

7. Ridiculous ruling!

[Iggo]

13. How dare you second-guess Local River God!!!

[PragmaticDem]

15. I have sinned!

[BigmanPigman]

8. Religion and men have been doing horrible things to women for thousands of years.

Combine the two and you see how control and power are used to commit crimes and hateful actions against females. We all know it is occurring right now in most cultures to varying degrees.

[Iggo]

11. Religion! It's the best!