Menstrual blood is a separate category from any other type of blood. This is due to the fact that menstrual blood is not born of violence, yet is viewed as the most disgusting and heavily censored form of blood. This is perplexing; this blood is life-giving and powerful, yet it is to be hidden. Commercials for menstrual products utilize a strange blue liquid to represent menstrual blood, yet images of war and violence are readily available in the media frequently. Iris Marion Young, in her essay Menstrual Meditations, outlines the way in which menstruation is portrayed, making young women feel ashamed of their bodies. She describes a feeling of disgust that accompanies the process, as “a reluctance to assume the feminine status that the girl knows is subordinate” (Young 100). Young also quotes Simone de Beuavoir, who describes girls feeling “disgust at this flat and stagnant odor emanating from her.. Disgust at this blood… she must think of making her changes, must keep watch of her underwear, her sheets, must solve a thousand little practical and repugnant problems (Young 100). Menstruation is viewed as dirty and unhygienic, as a problem to be dealt with, and as an inconvenience. Menstruation “makes her deviant… puts her on the other side of a fear of disorder, or the subversion of what is right and proper” (Young 107). If menstruation ceases to be hidden, the fear and disgusts surrounding the process starts to dissolve. 

Viewing menstruation as a “problem” is directly tied to the notion that the male body is the default. Young explains that “the dominant model of health assumes that the normal, healthy body is unchanging. Health is associated with stability, equilibrium, a steady state. Only a minority of persons, however, namely adult men who are not yet old, experience their health as a state in which there is no regular or noticeable change in body condition” (Young 57). 

This is not the case for the female body, which is subject to cycles and changes constantly. Artists Shigeko Kubota and María Evelia Marmolejo use menstrual blood in their performance works to normalize the process, drawing attention to the changing female body and making art from a natural process generally viewed as disgusting. 

Vagina Painting, 1965
Shigeko Kubota’s Vagina Painting was performed in 1965, just following action painting. “Action painting” was focused on the process of artmaking and the physical labor that the work entailed.  The work is not only normalizing the cycles of the female body, but is also feminizing an art movement which is historically male dominated. The most famous artist to come out of this movement is Jackson Pollock, who was deemed “The Greatest American Painter” just for flinging and dripping paint onto a canvas. Kubota’s work, although much more labor intensive and rooted in the body, was not celebrated like Pollock’s. She attached a paintbrush to her underwear, and using squatting motions dragged red paint across the floor, leaving blood-like streaks as documentation of her movement. This was a radical move, especially in the 60’s. Kubota inserts herself unmistakably and confidently into a practice that celebrated men as pillars of strength and masculinity for their action-based work, while forgetting women artists making work with their bodies that truly gave new meaning to the term “action-painting”. 

11 de marzo, ritual a la menstruación, 1981
María Evelia Marmolejo’s 11 de marzo, ritual a la menstruación equates the cycle of menstruation to a cosmic or magical ritual; she turns it into art. She brings her body into the  gallery in order to celebrate and highlight a process which is typically considered dirty and expected to be kept secret. The following is the artist’s own description of the piece:

“Using my menstrual fluid, something unique and exclusive to the female being, naked and with several pads stuck to my body, I perform a dance. With my pubis I draw stains and lines of blood on the wall and I let drops of menstrual blood fall on the ground.” 

When menstrual blood is elevated to the status of art, a radical statement is being made. Girls are conditioned to be fearful of their bodies, and taught that menstruation is embarrassing, awkward, and unnatural. Adolescent years are plagued with questions such as “How do I keep from staining my clothes, sheets, or the chairs I sit on? How can I carry pads or tampons to the bathroom without detection? How can I ensure that I am able to get to a bathroom as often as I need to?” (Young 103). This leads to women feeling ashamed of their own bodies and its processes and functions. To be comfortable and secure in one’s own skin is a source of power. Work made by and with the body, such as feminine mark making, allows women to feel strong, and to feel as though they belong to themselves. This is still important and relevant to contemporary culture, where men are still dominating positions of power and passing legislation regarding women’s bodies, and menstrual blood is censored in social media and commercials. Women should not be made to feel inferior because male bodies are prioritized and normalized in patriarchal power structures.