Kenneth Ames deemed that ¡§the commonplace artifacts of everyday life
mirror a society¡¦s values as accurately as its great monuments.¡¨<23>
Likewise, menstrual products reflect the modern taboo. Mary J. Lupton
noted that ¡§menstrual taboo has been called ¡¥the most virulent of
all the taboos.¡¦¡¨<24>
By examining the material culture of twentieth century menstrual products,
we can assume that it also can be the one of the most endurable of
all taboos. Actually from ancient philosophers to modern thinkers,
from the classic Bible to today¡¦s advertisement and manufactured goods,
the taboo always stands there; therefore, Houppert called it ¡§the
last taboo.¡¨
Why does this taboo exist and last so long? Blood is one of the reasons,
but now we know the menstrual blood is bacteriologically clean. Concerning
the nature of taboo, Edward Norbeck thought taboo is one kind of etiquettes
and it is important in modern society because it can ¡§reflect and
support formal and informal relations of authority.¡¨<25>
Louise Lander also deliberated that if a person is valued, his/her
physiological problems would be inconsequential. For example, President
Jefferson suffered from migraines and J. F. Kennedy had a serious
hormonal disorder, Addison¡¦s disease, but no one would ever question
their capability as people doubt a woman¡¦s just because she menstruates
and might have menstrual discomfort from time to time.<26>
In Gloria Steinem¡¦s interesting essay, ¡§if men could menstruate,¡¨
she believed that society would enjoy a different menstrual material
culture from ours and definitely nothing to do with taboos.<27>
They would manufacture ¡§John Wayne tampons¡¨ and ¡§For those Light Bachelor
Days¡¨ pantiliners. And, the reason of women who could not be rabbis
that would be because women are unclean¡Xthey do not discharge impurities
every month as men do. This fictitious supposition explained the social
authority in our society that man is in charge, and woman is devalued
no matter what she has or not.
On the other hand, this taboo is contrary to the notion of postmodernism,
especially postmodern feminism. Postmodern tend to de-embodied bodies
and is working on liberation. Ruth Oldenziel predicted that in postmodern
cyberspace, ¡§the body, long thought to be the basis for gender identity
and women¡¦s roadblock to liberation, may vanish.¡¨<28>
However, how could a woman literally get rid of her body and make
her biological bodily function vanish? Modern women perhaps should
escape from this taboo first and then pursuit the postmodern liberation.
Otherwise, for this moment, while a woman sticks out her fist vigorously,
she always hides a petite tampon inside it. (Figure22, below) This
is the ironic portrait of modern woman and the menstrual taboo.
