Back during the day, menstrual blood was difficult to contain. When women ran around in pelts and had no panties or tampons or pads, things could get messy. In some cultures, the women found ways to contain the flow. They used moss or other natural things. It was still messy though. And for people who didn't have much in the way of cleaning product of replaceable items, it made sense for the women to seclude themselves during their bleeding. It was a matter of hygiene and practicality.
Sadly, like many other things that started out as practical measures, women's periods became the subject of ritual and often taboo. Some religions went so far as to take the "I'm not the picture of tidiness right now" to "women who bleed are unclean."
Unclean.
Let's keep in mind, by the time this becomes normalized in religions, we're not just talking about physically unclean (though we are talking about that as well). We're are speaking of spiritually unclean. Spiritually tainted just because you're bleeding from your twat.
The thing is, while period blood is messy and can be frightful to look upon, it's not really an unclean thing. After all, what the body is doing is shedding nourishment that gathered in the uterus for any potential baby that might show up there. If it was food for the baby, it certainly wasn't unclean.
In fact, when the body purges this stuff, it's actually doing you a favor. As someone who suffers from PCOS, believe me, not having your period to flush you out is far scarier of a situation than having one.
When it gets right down to it, a woman's period is the most natural and healthy thing in the world. It shows her body is in balance, her temperature is staying even. It reconnects her with the motion of the planet. It is a basic and needful cycle of human existence.
And yet, to this day, there are people who believe that menstrual blood is unclean. And if you are on the time of the month when you're bleeding, YOU are unclean. Unclean, in a physical and spiritual sense. The people who believe this will want you away from them. In some cultures, you won't be allowed to prepare food or sit with others. In some religions, you can not participate while on your period.
And while this may have started out just as "well, we don't want you bleeding all over the benches," in many cases, it became "we don't want you in here because your soul is immure during this time. Not because you did anything, but just because you're a woman of childbearing age who had the audacity to not be pregnant and instead decided to brazenly expel the nourishment that was meant for your baby . . . that we happen to believe is somehow evil."
If you are part of a religion that teaches this, leave it. This religion doesn't value you as a person. It sees you as some childbearing bleed monster. You will always be the second class spiritual participator and trust me there are better ways to experience the divine.
If you are around someone who is treating your period like it and you are unclean, leave them. They don't see you as an equal. They see you as a tainted creature that somehow they have to corral, command, and redeem. They see you as less than they are. Again, not just physically, but spiritually. Just because you are a woman, they do not believe you are as worthy as they are, as clean as they are, or as human as they are.
If you personally happen to believe that your period makes you spiritually unclean, STOP IT. And I don't care if I'm disrespecting your beliefs here. In this case, your beliefs are not only wrong, they're potentially damaging to you. They can lead to you having a warped outlook on your own body and its functions. They can also lead to you finding yourself justifying the abusive behavior of others.
The menstrual cycle, and all of its various moments, are just a part of life. They are a messy part of life, but a lot of parts of life are messy. Periods are a sign of health, not a sign of disease or sin. The fact that people still believe otherwise is disgusting and stupid. Oh, and if I offended you on a religious level, I'm not sorry. If you believe period blood is unholy or spiritually unclean, your religion is stupid.
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