Goods of (f) luxury: emojis arrive on menstruation against taboos

They invited you to go to the pool, but for the Murphy's law have you menstruated and have to say no? Were you ready to go out to celebrate with your friends, but ovarian pain blocks you in bed with a hot water bottle? Soon there will be a quick and immediate way to communicate it: menstrual cycle themed emojis.

A drop of blood, a red-stained sanitary napkin, dirty panty, ovaries and a calendar with drops of blood. All strictly red, not blue as the advertisements teach us. These are the new emoticons arriving by the end of 2019 to talk more easily and without embarrassment about this condition that affects, once a month, almost every woman from adolescence to menopause.

A creative project to clear the false myths and normalize the menstrual cycle

The idea, put forward by Plan International UK and Plan Australia, two associations working alongside women, was launched on Facebook during the world menstruation day held on May 28th. The project was born following a survey conducted among a female audience aged between 18 and 34, reaching the support of 55,000 people.

Despite the apparent lightness, it is a proposal of impact if we think that in some countries of the world even today, almost 2020, women are considered impure when they have menstruation. "Do not go near the plants otherwise they will die" and a thousand thousand other legends and myths about the menstrual cycle with which we grew up and that the time has come to break down.

When it comes to menstruation, it is either not talked about or badly talked about. There is a ruthless reticence that hovers around the theme. Just think of all the nicknames we have given her over the years: "red baron", "relatives from America", "my things". As Dustin Hoffman said in Lenny: "It is the repression of a word that gives it violence, strength, evil" and for this reason it is urgent to talk about it openly without unnecessary inconvenience.

The emojis on menstruation are a fun and original alternative to spread greater awareness and clear the taboos that bigoted society has always assigned to one of the most natural events of our life. Every year, 800 million women bleed for 4/5 days a month and no one should be ashamed of it, indeed, given the importance and normality of the event, it has the right to finally be represented in this form as well.

Taking up Mother Teresa of Calcutta in a modern way, it will also be only a drop (red) in the ocean, but without this the ocean would have one drop less.