Only one of those occurs in the workplace and I'm pretty sure we already can discuss pooping or I'd never know about a co-workers Chrohn's.

Imagine if women didn't hide menstruation?

If you chip a nail at work do you fix it? Hmm?

@RavenCT Am unsure why you specify workplace in your argument. We can at any time discuss menstruation and occasionally it does come into conversations .. personally I see no real reason for it being hidden. I remember as a teenager we would have some fairly wild weekends fuelled by alcohol drugs music and sex; the string of a tampon was a moderately regular sight and no-one seemed bothered by it. It is only the loss of a small amount of blood and a tangle of hormones - I know there is a lot of stigma and prejudice, but that only applies if you allow sociological norms to impinge on your personal views and actions. (as with so many areas of social interaction)

it seems that how we handle
the new means of communicating is
a hallmark of the society;loss of maps ;
some kids cannot cook;write-i think we need more empathy

I thought the same - I imagine it's probably going to be quite common for any woman who dares show anger or irritation on social media to be bombarded with messages showing only this emoji.

@Jnei You know it!

I'm all for the empowerment part. It's rather crazy the amount of cash women shell out for cotton batting during childbearing years? They don't need harassment and embarrassment over biological functions they have zero physical control over.

@RavenCT Menstruation should be considered no different to sweating, sneezing or any other bodily function; it really is about time we left that whole "curse/unclean" thing in the past where it belongs, and if any men have an issue with that they need to get over their fear of women's bodies.

Here in the UK, sanitary towels and tampons are classified as non-essential products and, as a result, value-added tax is charged on top of the price - proof, as if it was needed, that there still aren't enough women in government! A couple of the big nationwide retailers have really shone by refusing to add VAT to the price, saying that it's unfair to charge women extra for something that clearly is an essential - instead, those retailers pay the VAT from their own profits.

Eva Wiseman is always great, incidentally - it's well worth bookmarking The Observer and taking a look to see what she has to say every Sunday. "Coming on" is a worry for many female athletes too; here's a superb article by Kiran Gandhi who ran the London Marathon in 2015 while menstruating and didn't wear a tampon or towel - [independent.co.uk]

@Jnei That was wonderful! Thank you.