Mireya Garcia, Published March 30th, 2021
As women, we learn from a very young age about what we can and cannot discuss with society. We learn to stay silent about our problems and handle them ourselves. Often, the problems that we suppress are used to exploit us. Throughout history, menstruation has been one of the topics women have had to suppress and handle on their own. Something that should be viewed as natural and respectable has been stigmatized in our society, but that hasn’t always been the case. In fact, before European colonization in the Americas, a woman’s menstrual cycle was revered and celebrated.
Native American tribes such as the Ojibwe and the Hupa, in the Great Lakes region and northwestern area of California respectively, are just a few of many tribes to have menstrual traditions dating back to before European colonization. These tribes corresponded menstruation with the moon cycle. During a woman’s moon cycle, menstruating women would separate themselves from their daily lifestyle and instead stay in a secluded lodge full with other menstruating women called a “moon lodge.” The moon lodge served as a sanctuary and as a safe space for women. The tribe would come together in assisting these menstruating women by completing their daily responsibilities, provide women in the moon lodge proper meals, and provide safety.
Native Americans viewed a woman’s period as a pathway to mother nature herself and as something with great potency. These views however, changed following European colonization. In Europe, the perception of menstruation was profoundly influenced by the church, who viewed periods as “unclean", as medieval surgeons did not fully understand menstruation's role in the reproductive system. Menstruating women were expected to abstain from receiving Holy Communion, and their blood was viewed as dangerously powerful. This misogynistic outlook on menstruation immigrated to the New World along with European colonists. Like the rest of America, many Native American communities today have adopted this Eurocentric view of menstruation. This stigma is especially prevalent in Native American reservations where menstrual products are scarce and more expensive than in large cities. These cultural and economic factors have resulted in "period poverty" within Native American communities.
According to the University of Michigan scholars Ashley Rapp and Sidonie Kilpatrick,
Period poverty refers to the prevalent phenomena of being unable to afford products such as pads, tampons, or liners to manage menstrual bleeding.
Period poverty is common in many Black and Brown communities where poverty rates are usually higher and period-related resources are scarce.
In a 2017 Huffington Post article, journalist Eleanor Goldberg explores period poverty in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, S.D. She begins by interviewing a female teen resident, Dominique Amiotte, who tells her story of living on the reservation. Amiottee explains the scarcity and the expense of menstrual products in Pine Ridge and discusses how the inaccessibility or menstrual products affect her and other girls’ education. She states, “We’re living in poverty and we’re trying to keep up with school, and we’re trying to maintain our personal issues. But it is very hard.” Amiottee makes a point; Pine Ridge’s residents grapple with high rates of alcoholism, poverty, and low high school graduation rates. Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, period poverty and its negative impact on education are hitting poverty stricken communities harder than ever. In fact, in a recent study by the menstrual product brand Always, it was discovered that 1 in 3 parents are anxious about the expenses of menstrual products due to their current financial situation. For Amiottee’s community, this statistic is a reality. At her local corner store, a box of tampons costs $7.39, while a box of tampons in Rapid City costs $3.97.
In response to the high rates or period poverty and period stigma in Indigenous communities, many Native American women are trying to reclaim the honor menstruation once had. Some of these leading changemakers are Cleora White from the White Earth Band of Ojibwe tribe, Patty Smith from the Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Ojibwe tribe, and Cutcha Risling Baldy from the Hupa tribe in California. In a 2019 Rewire News article, these women describe the suppression of period empowerment and the historical trauma left behind by European colonists. Smith-whose tribal name is Bagwaji-kwe- recalled the sacredness of menstruation in native culture stating, “Our moons are a time of cleansing and renewal. Recognizing this cycle helps keep us healthy in body and mind and reminds the community of our significance as women.” She explains the belief in a woman’s “moon cycle” and their role in their tribe during menstruation. Additionally, Smith discusses “moon lodges” and the amount of power women are believed to have during menstruation. Cleora White shares a similar respect for menstruating tribe members. White, however, details the legacy of the U.S. assimilation policies and its impacts on Native culture. Under U.S. assimilation policies, traditions like moon cycles were deemed as a relic of savagery and were forbidden. White’s mother, who grew up with these assimilation policies, was forced to reject all Ojibwe culture and traditions including her native language, spirituality, and belief in moon cycles. White remembers her mother’s advice to survive in her tribal community, “My mother told me, ‘No, I’m not teaching you about any of that; you’re better off without it. I don’t want you to struggle like I have.’
Researcher and Hupa tribal member Cutcha Risling Badly dives deeper into white America’s institutional racism in Native communities. In her book, We Are Dancing for You: Native Feminisms and the Revitalization of Women’s Coming-of-Age Ceremonies, Badly discusses the various ways European colonists suppressed women’s’ position, authority and traditions in Indigenous communities. While colonists relied on the church’s teachings to legitimize their obtrusive actions in Native land, they were not afraid to take matters into their own hands.
In the Hupa tribe, a female’s menstruation and rite of passage are celebrated and honored in a communal festival called the “Flower Dance.” During the Flower Dance, coming-of-age girls celebrated with their family members, gathered sentimental items and a plethora of food before they ran on sacred trails and bathed in holy rivers named “Tims.”. After these women completed their journey, the men would then bathe in the Tims in hopes to receive the health and power that the women exerted. In an attempt to undermine the sacred tradition, male colonists would capture and rape Hupa women.
This collective historical trauma has resulted in the current stigma Native communities have for periods and for the high rates of period poverty. However, that doesn’t mean that Indigenous women, non-profits, and period-positive activists aren’t trying to change this. Native tribes like the Hupa and the Ojibwe are starting to reinstate menstrual coming-of-age traditions and reteach the lost traditions of their tribes. The Hupa tribe reinitiated their Flower Dance in 2014- a tradition that many new generations will cherish and pass down to their offspring. In the Ojibwe community, the concept of moon cycles is being taught to young tribe members, and moon lodges are reopening for menstruating women to relax and surround themselves around other women. As for Dominique Amiotte and her community, national nonprofit organizations such as Lakota Kidz and Distributing Dignity have teamed up to help provide the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and Crazy Horse high school with more menstrual products.
As we advance in America, we must remember this society was originally built upon- European ethnocentrism and misogyny. These stories of Native American women reclaiming their power and traditions as menstruators show us that period stigma wasn’t always the norm in America. Therefore I propose that we as women, we as menstruators, reclaim our periods as a source of power, growth, and health. Menstruation has often been a source of suppression that our patriarchy has exploited, but if we reclaim our menstruation then nothing can stop our voices from being heard. We need to change the narrative. In order to reclaim our periods, we must fight like never before. We must demand that local, state, and federal politicians and legislators prioritize our needs and our concerns. This includes the Tampon Tax. The Tampon Tax—which taxes menstrual products in over 30 states—must be abolished in order to ensure that we are creating equitable communities for women and to ensure that our fundamental rights as women are secured. We must donate menstrual products to our local homeless shelters, school, and incarceration facilities. We must have discussions about our periods with family members. We must reach out to those who don’t have that same resources as us. We must be united.
As Michelle Obama said best, “There is no limit to what we as women can accomplish.” Together, we can accomplish anything and everything.
Find our cited sources for this article here.