To the phenotypical male, menstruation will always be a mystery that we will never experience. Or is it?
Growing up as a boy, the only information I received about menstruation was by eavesdropping on girls whispering to each other, or the odd incomprehensible schoolyard insults about PMS. Television provided images of pads (with wings!) that women were supposed to wear in order to catch an unnaturally blue liquid, but no indication of where those pads went, or what that odd liquid actually was. Sitcoms taught men to just stay out of the way during “that time of the month,” lest all hell break loose. It wasn’t until many years later, when I screwed up my courage and started to ask questions of my partner, that I was able to come to understand what happened. Sort of. I mean, I could be sympathetic, but how can one be empathetic of a bodily process you can never experience?
Performance artist Sputniko! (aka Hiromi Ozaki) seems to have developed a solution of sorts to this conundrum. The Menstruation Machine, a gleaming chrome device that straps to the abdomen, is meant to simulate menstruation for those who would not otherwise experience it. Prior to putting it on, a vial inside the machine is filled with the wearer’s own blood. Once on, the strap around the abdomen simulates cramps, and the vial inside slowly drips blood into the wearer’s underwear. Sputniko! created a music video of Takashi, a drag performer, wearing the machine out on the town and experiencing cramps and bleeding:
On the surface, this seems like a really interesting opportunity for someone who doesn’t menstruate (whatever their gender identity) to experience what goes on during this part of the menstrual cycle. But in the end, it is just a simulation, and like all simulations, it can be stopped. And it has limitations- it does not simulate the anxiety of a late period, or account for variations in severity over time.
Obviously, Sputniko! created this as an art piece to stimulate discussion. Can such a machine be used to bring about empathy in those who don’t menstruate? Or would it create a sort of false empathy because the experience of menstruation is a fully embodied, ongoing experience? I find myself sort of in-between these two stances. What do you think?
Unruly Bodies 
I think this post brought up several things I’ve never thought of before about/ experiencing menstruating.
To begin with, I never quite comprehended, as a person of female body, the level of education the opposite sex receives about menstruation.
Looking at the topic now I realize there’s a huge presence of menstruation in society, but it’s always approached from a sideways angle, never head on.
A few weeks ago I read a Cosmopolitan article that spotlighted the different “crazy” things women have experienced from male partners towards menstruation: Do you bleed out of your pee hole?” and “Do you lose weight from all of the blood you lose?”.
The lack of information given to male bodied people is so interesting, when tampon and sanitary pad commercials can be found on most networks.
I think the experience of menstruation is completely unique and even though this “Menstruation Machine” is a fascinating concept I don’t think it can ever have someone experience the full range of having a menstrual cycle. As you say, “menstrual cycles are fully embodied ongoing experiences”, there are cultural factors for different religions, there are physical factors; bodies can experience changes before or after the cycle, and some people even refuse to wear certain colors while on their period.
The Menstruation Machine offers a glimpse of what the physical experience of going through menstruation may be like for some women. However, I don’t think this machine can give male bodied persons the complete range of physical and emotional feelings and expressions of having a menstrual cycle.
Super cool concept/post!
I am always skeptical of anything that claims to simulate an experience. Experiences are as varied as the people who experience them.
In this case, menstruation is different for everyone. There are lots of women who do not menstruate, and there are men who do. Some people experience barely any pain, and some people can barely stand because of it. Some cannot leave their homes while menstruating, for different reasons. I have never met someone who has exactly the same experience as I do. Of course, it’s not usually a topic that is socially acceptable to discuss openly, and that’s part of the problem. It is difficult to recognize when something needs to be fixed if you don’t know what to expect. Alternatively, something completely normal can become quite scary.
The most obvious fault of this simulation, to me, is that people bleed at extremely different rates and feel extremely different amounts of pain, and teaching people that there is one experience that can be considered normal is problematic for all of the other menstruating people who differ from that norm.
It reminds me of the “pregnant bellies” that men strap on to feel the weight that their wives are experiencing (I use heteronormative signifiers here because that is often the case). Perhaps it helps for some, but I hope that most people don’t need to have the exact same experience or embodiment to have empathy.
THIS IS FASCINATING. What a great post. I am glad you found the courage to ask questions of your partner and I would love to get more questions from the men in my life! Menstruating is something I am very comfortable talking about, and I find the level of taboo around the subject bizarre. As the first comment said, the lack of information many men receive about menstruation is astounding, and it makes me sad when I hear men (and women) remark about how “gross” menstruation is.
Great point about the bizarre blue liquid. If I had that coming out of any orifice I might be worried…