In our technocratic and scientific world view the human body is rarely viewed holistically, but understood as an object made up of transferable bits and pieces. Body components can be exchanged or replaced like spare parts: blood transfusions, organ transplants, prosthetic devices, artificial bones and joints, false teeth, plastic surgery, breast and penile implants. We can all be disassembled and reassembled like the cyborgs from our favorite sci-fi flicks.
The pragmatic goals of some scientific advancements are clear: the alleviation of pain and suffering, the ability to make all bodies fully “functional”, and the prolongation of life. But there are times when this pragmatism gives way to another goal; in our drive for a pain-free and healthful existence we are also seeking a means to perfect the human body.
Some of the most radical physiological transformations that are now possible involve sexuality and reproductive processes: genetic engineering, sex selection, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, test tube babies and sex changes demonstrate that nothing, absolutely nothing, is immutable.
A recent study by Brazilian Elsimar M. Coutinho adds to this mind-boggling list of what we can now do to alter the human reproductive system. In a controversial book published by Oxford University Press, Coutinho suggests that menstruation is an unhealthy and unnecessary process that causes women countless health and emotional problems. Is Menstruation Obsolete?, the title of Coutinho’s new work, suggests that the most medically advanced “treatment” for menstruation would be its total cessation in all women of reproductive age.
Coutinho’s study has been hailed a scientific success by a variety of intellectual broadsheets and magazines (see The Guardian, Canada’s Globe and Mail and The New Yorker, for a good sample) who have reported his research as a breakthrough for the improvement of women’s lives. But even those that agree – and this is a controversial assessment in itself – that menstruation constitutes women’s “curse” and not her “blessing”, should not cheer too soon. What Coutinho suggests is not the eradication of what, for some, is a monthly nuisance, but a much more radical transformation of female physicality.
Coutinho has the qualifications to make his study heard widely in scientific circles. He is the pioneer of Depo-Provera, the popular injectible contraceptive method that is typically taken 4 times annually. He is a Professor of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Human Reproduction in Brazil and has published scholarly articles in the field for more than 30 years.
While Coutinho denounces blood-letting as a modern medical treatment. Coutinho claims the contrary (as Segal’s preface states): “from a medical point of view, menstruation has no beneficial effects for anyone, and for many women it is harmful to their health”.
According to Coutinho’s definition, menstruation is simply the sign of a failed process: “When menstruation occurs, it means that the [reproductive] system failed and, for the sake of reproductive efficiency, would have to be repeated the next month, the month after that, and so on, until a successfully nested fertilized egg starts to develop”. This is not far from the standard definition of menstruation provided in health education classes: menstruation takes place when pregnancy does not.
Coutinho’s definition of menstruation is important since it underpins his major claim in this new work – that regular menstruation is not “natural”. According to Coutinho, a monthly menses would have been unusual for early women who were regularly pregnant or breast-feeding (and therefore without periods), “young women were either pregnant or lactating almost continuously”. It is only the modern woman, he argues, who experiences menstruation as a regular, monthly occurrence. While repeated menstruation made biological sense for Stone Age humans whose survival was by no means assured, Coutinho hypothesizes, regular menstruation is no longer necessary in the modern world where human survival is not contingent upon prolific childbirth.
Coutinho concludes with a syllogistic logic: since menstruation exists for the purpose of prolific childbearing, and repeated childbirth is no longer necessary, then menstruation is now “obsolete”. Without the promise of 10 or 12 children to bear, menstruation, according to Coutinho, is a waste of a woman’s resources. It takes away her energy, lowers her iron levels and induces an array of minor health troubles – headaches, nausea, cramps, moodiness – and major health symptoms for those with chronic menstrual ailments, such as endometriosis. Regular menstruation, Coutinho concludes, is an outmoded function of our evolutionary ancestors and should now be suppressed in all reproductive aged women.
In the end it may not be so surprising to find that the means through which Coutinho suggests that menstrual suppression can be achieved is via regular Depo-Provera injections, the birth control method that he, himself, pioneered.
Adapted from article originally written by Kathleen O’Grady, the co-author of Sweet Secrets: Stories of Menstruation (Second Story Press, 1997).
If she is already mature and liberated, happily exploring her sensuality, she will appreciate having a partner that is equally open-minded and sophisticated. If she is not quite there yet I can be the person that she can feel comfortable with and trust deeply enough to experiment and not feel judged or inadequate.
Sensual awakening releases the most intense energy and source of physical comfort and happiness there is. Nothing (even drugs?) can release tension and stress and improve your well being like sexual satisfaction.
I appreciate a deeper level of sensual connection. An intense sensual awakening that only happens when lovers trust each other and are engaged in discovering what pleasures them the most, and what pleasures their lover.
To have a great time with me here is what you need, in order of importance: