Science: Health: Menstruation
mandatory "curse" arm band   (+5, -15)  [vote for, against]
that women wear when its "curse week"

that way the men (and women) they encounter will know whats up--work, family, dry-cleaning clerk etc.. similar to the red-cross...red :| mad face even a small (not too small) pin similar to the "breast-cancer" ribbon would suffice.
-- reginagirl, Mar 03 2001

Alexandre Dumas: Camille (La Dame Aux Camelias) http://www.digital....ook/lookup?num=1608
(Famous literary precedent for menstrual signs.) "For twenty-five days of the month the camelias were white, and for five they were red; no one ever knew the reason of this change of colour, which I mention though I cannot explain it; it was noticed both by her friends and by the habitue's of the theatres to which she most often went."
Of course Dumas's heroine has an actual reason to signal - she works as a prostitute. [jutta, Mar 03 2001]

General information on PMS http://www.womenshe...com/pms/index.shtml
[ping, Mar 03 2001]

yes! just like it BUT??!!
-- reginagirl, Mar 03 2001


Ah yes, I knew there was a bodily function we hadn't made a big deal of on this site recently.
-- centauri, Mar 03 2001


thanks...i'm a woman and believe me it is just as much a taboo for one women to assume a woman is PMSing as much as when a man does it. this way seems to solve a lot of problems *before* they happen.
-- reginagirl, Mar 03 2001


why not mandatory? given the option, most women would say no. this way it would hopefully eliminate the taboos associated with it.
-- reginagirl, Mar 03 2001


That is the best Idea I have heard in years. Think about it if your boss happens to be a woman, and you want to ask for some time off or a raise, but you see the arm band you know instantly to keep your pie hole shut and get back to work. Reginagirl = genius
-- slick, Mar 03 2001


jutta that quote is lame, if you have an opinion give quit talking in riddles...oh excuse me are you wearing your arm band today?? My bad.
-- slick, Mar 03 2001


So, what made you decide on that particular user name?
-- Monkfish, Mar 03 2001


This may also serve as a reminder to the woman herself that her attitude and perspective may be influenced by hormones rather than clear thought...thus preventing any unwarranted outbursts. Perhaps women could voluntarily wear some sort of scarf or pin that serves as a reminder only to themselves rather than annoucing to the world their current "status".
-- blahginger, Mar 03 2001


"..her attitude and perspective may be influenced by hormones" - as opposed to men, those strongholds of logic and predictability, who, uninfluenced by hormones subsist on reason, truth, and beauty alone?

The attitudes and emotions of *all* of us are influenced by hormones. That's what hormones are there for. They influence stuff. How we think and feel is a mix in all people, both genders, all the time.

25-40% of women are said to be suffering from PMS symptoms that "make life difficult" for them. This is happening mostly before menstruation, not during. If they want to be left alone, they should have a way of saying so, just like anyone else who is having a bad day. But tagging menstruating women would get mostly the wrong people at mostly the wrong time, and would give sexists (of both genders) yet another excuse to treat women based on their sex, rather than as individuals.
-- ping, Mar 03 2001


See what I mean? This could have been avoided with a pin.

<SEXIST HUMOR OFF>
Sorry I couldn't resist.
-- blahginger, Mar 03 2001


Oops! Wrong sort of curse. Sorry! Just carry on with whatever you were doing and pretend I was never here.
-- WickedWitch, Mar 03 2001


And I have a pretty good idea where you can stick that pin, too.
-- ping, Mar 03 2001


Perhaps to make things fairer for the sexes, we can get guys little pins of people with their tongues hanging out, so we know when the guys are thinking with their "other brain."
-- ye_river_xiv, Jan 03 2009


PMS, where there are psychological symptoms, offers a different perspective on experiences. This is neither more nor less valid than experience at other times, just different. Some people choose to own that experience, others regard it as something which they have. In the absence of the kind of endocrine system which allows me to experience PMS without intervention, commenting further would be like a colourblind person talking about nuances of green and red.
-- nineteenthly, Jan 03 2009


I thought this armband would force you to curse (swear) at certain times. That would be so cool. Like a mandatory turrets armband. That's hilarious. Your idea, not so much.
-- Brian the Painter, Jan 06 2013



random, halfbakery