Parental warnings about rape convert menstruation into crippling fear of men

Evidence

The little girl would not seek sterile compensations in narcissism and dreams, she would not take herself as given, she would be interested in what she does, she would throw herself into her pursuits. I have said how much easier puberty would be if she surpassed it, like the boy, toward a free adult future; menstruation horrifies her only because it signifies a brutal descent into femininity; she would also assume her youthful eroticism more peacefully if she did not feel a frightening disgust for the rest of her destiny; a coherent sexual education would greatly help her to surmount this crisis. And thanks to coeducation, the august mystery of Man would have no occasion to arise: it would be killed by everyday familiarity and open competition. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1977 (#complicates, via linked claim)

And once the first surprise has passed, the monthly unpleasantness does not fade away at all: each time, the girl finds the same disgust when faced by this unappetizing and stagnant odor that comes from herself—a smell of swamps and wilted violets—this less red and more suspicious blood than that flowing from children’s cuts and scratches. Day and night she has to think of changing her protection, watching her underwear, her sheets, and solving a thousand little practical and repugnant problems; in thrifty families sanitary napkins are washed each month and take their place among the piles of handkerchiefs; this waste coming out of oneself has to be delivered to those handling the laundry: the laundress, servant, mother, or older sister. The types of bandages pharmacies sell in boxes named after flowers, Camellia or Edelweiss, are thrown out after use; but while traveling, on vacation, or on a trip it is not so easy to get rid of them, the toilet bowl being specifically prohibited. The young heroine of the Psychoanalytical Journal described her horror of the sanitary napkin; she did not even consent to undress in front of her sister except in the dark during these times. This bothersome, annoying object can come loose during violent exercise; it is a worse humiliation than losing one’s knickers in the middle of the street: this horrid possibility sometimes brings about fits of psychasthenia. By a kind of ill will of nature, indisposition and pain often do not begin until the initial bleeding—often hardly noticed—has passed; young girls are often irregular: they might be surprised during a walk, in the street, at friends’; they risk—like Mme de Chevreuse—dirtying their clothes or their seat; such a possibility makes one live in constant anxiety. The greater the young girl’s feeling of revulsion toward this feminine defect, the greater her obligation to pay careful attention to it so as not to expose herself to the awful humiliation of an accident or a little word of warning. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 750 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mistrust of adults about sexuality magnifies a girl’s fear of childbirth — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 717; Menstruation horrifies girls because it signifies a descent into subordinated femininity — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1977; Psychic shame about menstruation produces real physical illness in women — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 837 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Sexual ignorance and fear can produce crippling obsessive phobias in young women #corroborates (0.82)
• Menstruation horrifies girls because it signifies a descent into subordinated femininity #complicates (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1977
• Menstrual hygiene’s practical burdens transform girls’ bodily revulsion into chronic anxiety about discovery #complicates (0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 750
• Psychic shame about menstruation produces real physical illness in women #corroborates (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 837