‘I’m just bleeding’: how Swedes try to end menstruation stigma

Five years ago, simple images in black ink and a little red watercolor on white paper stunned commuters on the Stockholm, Sweden, metro.

The “tunnelbana” – the name of the Swedish capital’s subway – is often described as the world’s longest art gallery, with exhibitions at 90 of its 100 stations along its 109 km tunnel system. The permanent works that have been there for decades address issues ranging from women’s rights to inclusion and deforestation.

But the exhibition that appeared in October 2017 at the Slussen station in central Stockholm left users awestruck and caused controversy. Selected by municipal officials, the works of Swedish comic artist Liv Strömquist ended up becoming a milestone in the history of feminism.

“The three different images of ice skaters with menstruation spots in the region between their legs generated a great debate”, recalls the artist. The images had already appeared in one of Strömquist’s bestselling books.

“For me personally, menstruation had always been very painful and shameful. I couldn’t talk to anyone about it,” according to the artist. “I thought it would be interesting to explore menstruation as something that is everywhere in society: as a feeling of shame for such a natural experience lived by half of humanity, rather than interpreting it in some personal psychological way.”

The idea was that Strömquist’s skaters would emphasize the idea of ​​a society in which menstruation was not a reason for stigma.

Or impact

The images caused a strong debate in the local and global press, as well as on social media.

“It’s a bit shocking to have these images in a public space like the subway. I think it’s in bad taste,” a woman in “tunnelbana” told the BBC at the time. One man said, “you may call me conservative or intolerant, but to me it’s an aberration.”

There were those who manifested themselves by throwing paint over the works. Right-wing opposition politicians argued that exhibiting these works in public would be an inappropriate use of public money.

Other people were delighted. “I think it’s great. It’s also kind of fun,” said another man on the subway. “For me, they’re intriguing. It’s a very natural thing. It’s great, there should be more works like that!”, declared one woman.

Why hide the tampon?

Sweden is generally considered to be one of the most feminist countries in the world, with generous maternity leave, affordable child care and a track record of women in politics. The controversies over art on the subway were a sign that, even in Sweden, age-old taboos on menstruation are still present. But it was also a sign that things are changing.

“The act of displaying these works of art meant that there were initiatives from above indicating that it was okay to display menstruation in a public place so that people could see it every day,” points out Louise Klinter of Lund University in Sweden, who investigated the stigma created about menstruation.

The subway exposure drew international media attention. Strömquist had already tackled the topic two years earlier in a radio show, which was also an important catalyst. She commented on how strange she found it strange not to be able to talk openly about menstruation and things as common in women’s daily lives as the habit of changing pads.

“It was a very popular podcast, also listened to by older people, who don’t necessarily get this kind of message about destigmatizing menstruation,” she recalls.

In the second half of the 2010s, the topic was “hot” in the country, being discussed in artistic exhibitions and even in musicals at the National Theater.

“[A menstruação] started to appear everywhere, there was a strong change in the way products were advertised and the language was completely renewed, visually and verbally,” says Strömquist.

from blue to red

In 2017, a bold ad campaign for sanitary napkins used red liquid to portray menstrual blood — instead of the blue liquid that had been used until then.

The campaign was created by the advertising agency AMV BBDO for the Swedish multinational Essity. The agency indicated that a survey had found that 74% of people wanted to see more honest representation in ads.

The commercial also featured a woman in the shower with blood running down her legs and a man buying sanitary napkins.

In Sweden, talking about menstrual periods was increasingly common, even in male-dominated environments.

The first Swedish company certified as a “menstrual-friendly workplace” was a sports app startup from Gothenburg called Forza Football. To obtain the certificate, the company was evaluated by the non-profit organization Mensen, created during the wave of activism against the stigmatization of menstruation.

Among the measures introduced by the startup were providing free sanitary napkins and sanitary napkins and training employees on how menstruation can affect some people more than others.

“One of our company’s working groups adjusted its work according to the menstrual cycle of one of the participants, realizing that, in this way, they would be more effective”, according to Patrik Arnesson, CEO (CEO) of Forza Football. “I believe this is a perfect example of how knowing a person’s cycles can make the workplace more productive.”

Like Strömquist’s drawings, the project divided the Swedes. “I honestly don’t believe my period is my boss’s business,” Linda Nordlund, a political commentator for the Swedish newspaper Expressen, told the BBC.

“I think the idea that women’s bodies are fragile and emotionally unstable is exactly the same argument put forward a hundred years ago by men who didn’t want to not give women the right to vote. Women should be seen as professionals in the workplace , without being reduced to a female body and its functioning,” says Nordlund.

Mensen insists that people should never feel obligated to talk about their menstrual cycles. The decision must be personal.

As the initial controversy faded, more and more companies began announcing similar initiatives. Several startups have introduced internal and external sanitary napkin signing systems for companies. In 2021, the Swedish Army itself began distributing sanitary pads among female soldiers. And, in that same year, Mensen was called to advise five important unions in Sweden.

“But there is still a lot to be done,” says Klinter. One area activists want to focus on is children’s education.

When to start?

Sweden has a long history of mandatory sex education. Since the 1950s, students have generally learned about menstruation by age 10 in mixed-gender classes.

But less than half of 16- to 21-year-old women surveyed in a recent Mensen survey responded that they had sufficient knowledge about menstruation before their first period.

Some people feel that lessons should start in preschool. One is the writer Anna Samuelsson, who has just written Sweden’s first book on menstruation for children ages 3-6. “Young children are very observant,” she says.

And, judging by what one of the mothers told the BBC after reading the book at a cultural center, Samuelsson is right. “My daughter is very interested in menstruation and has been asking a lot of questions that I really didn’t know how to answer.” His daughter Mila, 5, thought that “the book is very interesting because it talks about the body”.

The main character is named Liv after “livmoder”, the Swedish word for uterus. “In the book, we also meet all the friends of the uterus: the vagina, the brain and the hormone. They play inside the body. And suddenly one day the uterus feels that something is happening and it has its first period.”

The book has sold thousands of copies since it was published in 2019 and has just been re-released. Reaction from major media outlets was positive, unlike some online forums.

For the destigmatization scholar Louise Clint, it is never too early to start talking about the subject. “In many places around the world, girls start menstruating at the age of 9 years. Often they have no idea what is happening and think they are dying. It’s horrible! The more we can normalize menstruation, the more we can eliminate all of the other stigmas related (to her).”

echoes from the past

The cost of products is another priority for activists. Although Sweden is a rich country where most people can afford tampons and tampons, activists say making them cheaper ensures that society sees them as essential products.

But while other countries like France, India, Ireland and England are cutting or eliminating taxes and Scotland are offering them free of charge, Sweden has not followed suit: menstrual products are taxed with 25% tax.

And speaking of taxes, do you remember the debates about the use of public money for cultural projects due to Liv Strömquist’s subway works?

In 2019, a coalition led by Sweden’s Democratic nationalists, who govern the coastal city of Sölversborg, announced that it would no longer buy what it called “challenging contemporary art”.

The ceramist Linnea Håkansson had been invited to participate in a municipal exhibition. But when he told city officials that he planned to show menstrual flows, he heard the argument that the exhibition “couldn’t be that political.”

Organizers turned down the BBC’s request for an interview, but a spokesman for Sweden’s Democrats sent a note saying Håkansson’s works were an example of the kind of art they don’t believe has taxpayer support.

“I don’t understand why this blood is so difficult to accept in art,” says the artist. “There are many examples, like Jesus on the cross and bloody battles. But we can’t accept menstrual blood. For some reason, people think it’s repulsive.”

‘Menstrual art’

Like the images of Strömquist in the subway, the controversy in Sölversborg fueled debates about menstruation in Sweden.

Each year, a group of the country’s top linguists, called the Swedish Language Council, publishes a list of words that have become part of everyday conversation. In 2019, one of those words was “menskonst”, literally translated as “menstrual art” — although it began to be used to refer to what critics consider too feminist or radical.

Soon, it will be up to another municipality, Halmstad, to display Håkansson’s work in a public exhibition on the art of menstruation.

“Visualizing things is very important to destigmatize. When we can see ourselves in culture and other things, we normalize things and we can start to deal with this internalized stigma that we were raised with,” says Klinter.

Despite the progress already made, Sweden remains a long way from Liv Strömquist’s utopia. For many, it is still too uncomfortable to talk about menstruation.

_{*This BBC News Mundo report (the BBC’s Spanish service) is an adaptation of the BBC World Service documentary “Only bleeding: how Swedes opened up about periods”. , in free translation). Listen here to the documentary (in English) in podcast form on the BBC Sounds website.}