I wrote an article about PERIOD SEX that is now live on the Ferly App as an audio piece

I travel back through history to understand WHY period sex is so taboo today.

I go back to the 11^th century, to the beginning of a phenomenon called ‘The Civilising Process’… A culture of self-restraint, dirt-phobia and public refrain dominated and, SURPRISE SURPRISE, there was widespread angst that period blood was a source of shame and something to be concealed.

I then time travel to early modern Europe. This was a time where fear of the sexually active and menstruating female was firmly culturally entrenched. One of the most astonishing facts from that time is that it was believed that a child conceived during menstruation would be born with a disability or defect…

My piece for Ferly aims to track the roots of the stigma associated with period sex. There are loads of weird and wonderful nuggets from the past about women and their bodies that (mostly) disturb me and (sometimes) humour me. Sadly these misconceived ideas still hang over us today and so unsurprisingly, period sex is still largely positioned as gross and unhygienic.

Knowledge is POWER, so by listening to my piece I hope to help de-tangle the misconceptions and embarrassment that exist today about period sex…It is my small contribution to helping us move towards a more shame-free sexual culture.

Check out Ferly here and download their app because their mission is fabulous and then HAVE A LISTEN! Let me know your thoughts!

***

Bronwen Bender – G’s Spot illustrator (www.bronwenbender.com / @bronwen.bender)