Apprehend Women’s Natural Adversities

Rajen Bajracharya

Apprehend Women’s Natural adversities

Feminine hygiene products such as tampons and menstrual pads are imposed with sales tax in forty states, as they are categorized as “luxury goods.” Is menstruation, the shedding of the uterine lining, ever a luxury? This perception and other misconceptions on menstruation may have provoked Lucille Clifton to compose the poem, “Wishes for Sons,” in which she expresses her desires to reverse gender roles, in order to enlighten the male mindset on the cycle of menstruation. Clifton seeks to attain a sense of awareness and consideration within men towards a woman's natural cycle in life by exhibiting the undesirable circumstances situated by menstruation, the adversities endured while undergoing menopause, and the emotions undermined by a male chauvinistic society.

        The experiences brought upon by the menstruation cycle is not limited to only physical strains, as it also places women in emotionally stressful predicaments. The experience of physical pain generated as women undergo menstruation is inevitable and undesirable in itself. Though the intensity of aching varies upon each individual women, it is a sense of physical agony that men will never endure. Therefore, Clifton,“wishes them cramps,” so that men would directly be aware of the physical suffering induced by the shedding of their hypothetical uterine tissues (Clifton 1). The feeling of physical discomfort is just one measure in which menstruation places women in undesirable circumstances. Clifton express her yearning for men to experience the several burdens brought upon by menstruation:

i wish them a strange town

and the last tampon.

i wish them no 7-11.

i wish them one week early

and wearing a white skirt.

i wish them one week late. (Clifton 2-7)

The anxiety generated by exhausting the last product that absorbs menstrual discharge or the feeling of vulnerability and misfortune stemmed by not having the convenience to attain a replacement for a menstrual pad or tampon are instances that men won’t ever encounter. Comparatively, men don’t have to undergo the anxiety generated from the inconsistent nature of menstruation. Neither do they acquire fear from a inconsistent cycle or any biological symptom that indicates the possibility of parenthood. Clifton wishes the circumstances situated by menstruation upon men in order for them to be enlightened on the adversities women naturally endure.

        The adversities embedded within the natural journey of womanhood follows even when menstruation is declining, in the process known as menopause. Clifton desires for men to gain an understanding on both the physical and emotional hindrances promoted by menopause.  She states that “later I wish them hot flashes / and clots like you / wouldn’t believe…” (Clifton 8-10). Clifton yearns for men to understand the discomfort sprouted as a woman’s body get extremely overheated or discharges unimaginable blood clots during menopause. Clifton also wants the male readers to understand how the physical discomfort from menopause can setback a woman's relationship with their significant other as she wishes the “flashes come when they / meet someone special” (Clifton 11-12). Clifton desires the male readers to put themselves in the perspective of a women as that are undergoing menopause and are suffering by not only lacking a pleasing physical health, but also lacking a pleasurable emotional relationship. Clifton also wants men to understand the unpredictable state of menopause as she verbalizes “let the clots come / when they want to” (Clifton 13-14). She desires for men to grasp the lack of physical stability women undergoing menopause bear.  Clifton yearns to stimulate the conscious sense of empathy within male readers as they place themselves in the perspective of menopausal women who lack contentment.