Re: modern menstrual taboos

From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idgecko.idsoftware.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 96 09:13:26 -0500

It is very common in the modern world, at least in the U.S.A., to refrain from intercourse during menstruation. (This repulsion always puzzled me; especially earlier in our marriage, when we looked forward to my wife's period, as the best time for sex, since there was no chance of pregnancy.) But I've heard many a husband complain of frustration because his wife's "on the rag".

Example: in Tom Clancy's novel, "A Clear and Present Danger", the opening chapter depicts some pirates who rape and kill a woman, her husband, and their teen daughter. When the boat is inspected by the Coast Guard, Clancy clearly portrays the officers as viewing the crime as even _more_ heinous_ because the wife was raped despite the fact that she was menstruating at the time, as if this somehow made the crime much worse. Go figure.

Sandy P.

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