Oh, if men could menstrate

I found the article "If Men Could Menstruate" written by Gloria Steinem comical and very interesting. The line that first got me thinking was,
"What would happen, for instance, if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate,  and women could not? The answer is clear- menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event: Men would brag about how long, and how much."

This article got me think about not only the biological differences between men in women but also the emotional and social differences. The article went on to say that if men could menstruate that the government would supply them with supplies and whatever they would need to comfort themselves. Why is it hat if such a thing as menstruation where to occur in men that the situation would be handled so differently? It seems to me that due to the characteristics that men are often portrayed that if they were to menstruate it would be quite catastrophic.

In Patricia Hill Collins article, "Towards a New Vision" she lists what some of the common stereotypical traits of both males and females are.

        Males                   Females

    aggressive                 passive

     leaders                      follower

       rational                     emotional

strong                       weak

    intellectual               physical

With all these traits laid out in front of us it's hard to grasp that women are often perceived as weak when we are enduring pain at least once a month, not to mention that we are the ones caring and giving birth to children. I don't think that women are given enough credit, and I don't believe they have ever been. The things we have to go threw just to live our day to day lives in some cases is quite painful. And under some circumstances women can't get the help they need even when they are in such pain. Once example that really touched me was the story of Simeesh Segaye. In the article, "Cursed by God?" written by Agnes R. Howard and Nicholas D. Kristof they talk about a women, Simeesh Sigaye. Simeesh is a 21-year-old Ethiopian women who due to her four day child birth which resulted in the death of her child's death and to her dismay soon after she realized she was suffering from obstetric fistula. Simeesh spent the next 2 years curled up in a hut which her family had made for her. Her husband left her and she couldn't get on a bus to seek medical attention because of her smell. Simeesh was lucky to survive but there are many that aren't as fortunate as her.

According to World Health Organization every minute, at least one women ties due to complications involved with child birth, that's about 590, 000. Not to mention, for every one women that dies in childbirth 20 suffer from injury, infection, or disease- that's about another 10 million per year. 

In addition, in honor of breast cancer awareness month I would like to recognize the women who are diagnosed and die from breast cancer every year. 

According to The Centers of Diesase Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov) in the United States in 2006, 191,410 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 40, 820 died. 

 Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women.

Support Breast Cancer Awareness.

The point is, ladies, we are far from weak. If men were the ones menstruating I know it to be true that they could not handle it. As a matter of fact they wouldn't be able to handle half the stuff we have to put up with on a daily basis. This world would be nothing without us. Stay strong ladies, we are the world.