How Menstrual Cycles are Important & Why They're Not Gross:

A Short Introduction to Something That They Should Have Taught You in School1
Thoughtfully impressed upon an empty document file on Dec. 1st, 2015
by John Laurits

I am inspired to write this essay by a sense of confused indignation left in

the wake of overhearing a man in this coffee-shop assert, with a pedestrian sort of
matter-of-factness, that menstruation is not an appropriate topic of conversation
and that, apparently, even its mention is an obviously rude and uncivilized gesture.
It is my far-fetched hope that, after I have finished with this explanation of the
menstrual cycle, the aforementioned man might find this paper laying somewhere
on the floor of the internet which will, of course, immediately transform his
infantile attitude toward this elegant and fascinating topic. With this noble and
improbable goal in mind, let us proceed with our walk through the forest of
learning by taking the first step, which is to ask...
1. What is the Menstrual Cycle & Why is it Important?
The menstrual cycle is an important process that is driven by cyclically
fluctuating hormones in the female body, usually beginning between the ages of 8
and 15 and continuing until the onset of menopause which typically occurs between
the ages of 45 and 55. The menstrual cycle is what makes pregnancy possible for
1. I want to make sure that it is understood that I wrote this paper mostly with males in mind. The
reason for this is that I do not feel that there is a need, nor would it my place, to explain the
reproductive cycles of women to women. I write this as a guy concerned about the negative
attitudes of guys toward menstruation and with the hope that I might, in some small way at least,
be able to inspire curiosity, respect, and honesty where there once was fear, shame, and ignorance.
Now, with that being said, of course I'd totally love for any interested person to read the paper!
And if you find any mistakes in it, please let me know so that I can correct them immediately.
Thanks!

humans and for that reason it is pretty important to us as a species and to me

personally because I wouldn't be typing these words if it weren't for the successful
fertility cycles of my mother and of every female ancestor of mine stretching all the
way back to whenever our species took a sharp right from whatever part of the
evolutionary tree. The rhythms of this ancient cycle are punctuated by two major
events called ovulation and menstruation.
a. Ovulation & Menstruation: the Antipodes of Fertility's Dance
The menstrual cycle has an average length of 28 days, counted from the first
day of menstruation in one cycle to the first day of menstruation in the next cycle
and so forth. Menstruation, also known as menstrual bleeding, menses, or a period,
occurs when a woman has not become pregnant and as such it has often served as
the harbinger of either elation or terror, depending on what you were going for.
Menstruation occurs because the body is shedding the lining of the uterus that

would have received and provided nutrients for the fertilized egg if pregnancy had
occurred. The resulting flow of menses is made up of blood and mucosal tissue and
generally continues for anywhere from 2 to 7 days.
Ovulation is on the other "side" of the cycle or roughly around day 14 of a
28 day cycle (remember menstruation begins on day 1) and this is when fertilization
will occur if everything goes according to plan or if everything goes wrong, again
depending on what you were going for. Ovulation is when the egg or ovum is
released by an ovary (or sometimes two) to begin its journey down the fallopian
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tube where it may be fertilized by a sperm. If this occurs and the fertilized egg is
fortunate enough to embed itself in the lining of the uterus (which doesn't always
happen), then pregnancy will occur. If this doesn't happen, the ovum will perish
and menstruation will begin anew as the uterus sheds its lining in preparation for
the next fertility cycle.
b. Cyclic Destruction & Regeneration of the Endometrial Lining
Underlying the two major events of ovulation and menstruation, is the
hormone-driven growth, shedding, and regeneration of the endometrial lining
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(aka the lining of the uterus) which serves the purpose of preparing the uterus for

pregnancy. It's all a bit complicated really but I think it's accurate to say that the
endometrial lining serves to create the optimum conditions for a fertilized egg to
embed itself successfully and to provide the needed nutrients for it to begin its
roughly nine-month journey to becoming a a baby. This lining is created and
destroyed during the course of every cycle.
c. The Hormones Behind-the-Scenes
But what drives the fertile oscillation between the creation and destruction
of the endometrial lining? In order to answer this question, we must examine the
cyclic fluctuation of the hormones estrogen, progesterone, luteinizing hormone (or
LH), and follicle-stimulating hormone (or FSH)3. Now, prepare your brain for an

2. In traditional Chinese medicine, the endometrial lining is poetically referred to as the "Blood
Palace," which is pretty metal.
3. Incidentally, the disruption of this cycle is the basis for most birth-control drugs.

information bomb: shortly after menses flow begins, the pituitary gland begins
producing more FSH, which stimulates the development of follicles in the ovaries
(each of which contains an egg), and as one of the follicles becomes developed
enough it produces increasing amounts of estrogen which tells the uterus to prepare
a new endometrial lining to receive the egg that is developing presently. Around
the time that estrogen levels peak (right before ovulation or the middle-ish of the
cycle), both FSH and LH levels spike which stimulates the release of the egg (or
ovulation, in other words) which in turn, because the follicle transformed into
something called a corpus luteum, triggers rising progesterone levels that further
develop and thicken the endometrial lining in preparation for a possible pregnancy
- at which point, so long as a pregnancy has not occurred, the corpus luteum breaks
down, ceasing to produce progesterone. This decrease in progesterone and
estrogen informs the body that pregnancy did not occur and triggers the shedding
of the endometrial lining, resulting in menstruation and the beginning of the next
cycle. Overwhelmed? That's okay - I didn't get it on my first try, either.
d. A Silly-er Way to Consider Hormones
Maybe start by thinking of it this way: impending ovulation triggered by
FSH wakes up estrogen, which goes and says to the uterus: "Build! Build! Build!"
Then, LH comes along to help FSH get the egg ready. As this happens, the uterus is
starting to look like a pretty hospitable place and estrogen is patting itself on the
back for a job well done when progesterone drops by to help put the finishing
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touches on everything so that it's just perfect for their friend, Fertile-Egg, who is
supposed to be coming over later. When Fertile-Egg totally stands them up,
estrogen and progesterone decide to tear down the endometrial lining on their way
out to blow off some steam and avenge their hurt feelings - but as soon as estrogen
gets back home and lays down, FSH calls up to tell estrogen that Fertile-Egg is very
sorry that it couldn't make it to the party but promises to (maybe) visit in two
weeks. Estrogen sighs and it all begins again - make sense, yet?
2. Why the Menstrual Cycle is Not Only Important but Awesome
It is my hope that you now have a somewhat passable understanding of
what is happening during a menstrual cycle and, if that hope proves to be wellfounded, it is my further hope that you may be able to use this passable
understanding as a springboard into thinking about how cool this actually is. In the
event that some of you may not be feeling imaginative today, I'd like to offer some
examples that clearly demonstrate how much fun it can be to contemplate, honor,
and trip-out about the beauty of menstrual cycles instead of being grossed-out for
literally no reason except that your vagina-phobic society tells you to be.
a. Some Informal, Totally Non-Scientific Musings
As a religious studies/philosophy nerd, my study of religious mythology
have been enriched after my taking an interest in fertility cycles as I've discovered
what I believe are parallels between these cycles and many ancient beliefs about
cosmogenesis and the Divine Feminine.
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i. Wrathful/Benevolent Goddesses as Embodiment of the Fertility Cycle

For instance, earth-deities and deities of nature, particularly in Sumerian,
Indian, & Persian mythologies, are almost always depicted as women and there is
often an emphasis on cyclic processes like the seasons, fertility, and the cosmic
creation-and-destruction cycle itself. Goddesses like Kali in India or Innana and
Ereshkigel of Sumer are most often depicted as having a dual nature that is both
wrathful and nurturing just as the human fertility cycle has an antipodal rhythm
with both a nourishing phase of creation and a "wrathful" phase of destruction as
that creation is seemingly dissolved in a flow of blood. I've wondered if these
ancient beliefs are reflective of cultures that had a much more sophisticated
understanding of reproductive health than we give them credit for, and whether
that understanding was an integral part of a more sex-positive, pro-feminine
worldview.
ii. Qur'anic Use of Uterus-Derived Names for God
Another interesting parallel that I've noticed comes from the Qur'an, the
central scripture of Islam. Each of the 114 chapters (except one), called surah's, of
the Qur'an opens with the phrase Bismillahir-Rahman-ir-Rahim, which translates
roughly as "(beginning) with the name of Allah, the Most Nourishing, the Most
Compassionate." The names, Rahman and Rahim, "Most Compassionate," and
"Most Nourishing," are both feminine and are both derived from the same Arabic
word for "womb" or "uterus." To me, this seems to point to a strong association
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between the creator-god and the female reproductive system. That their concept of
god-the-creator is so closely bound with their understanding of the uterus suggests
that the Arabs had both an understanding of and a great respect for the creative role
of the menstrual cycle and the female reproductive organs, even to the extent that
the name for uterus is nearly synonymous with both the concept of nourishment
and the Divine's generative role in nature. My intention, in sharing these few
thoughts with you, is to show that knowledge of menstrual cycles can be valuable
in many surprising ways, including the contemplation of ancient mythology and I
believe that a good understanding of reproductive health can do a lot to inform
many different human pursuits, even if that pursuit is simply to understand the
experiences of people around you.
3. Conclusion
I hope that through the combination of those weird musings on ancient
religion, the discussion of menstruation and ovulation, and the silly story about
hormones, I have been successful in convincing some of you that periods are not
only not gross, but that the menstrual cycle is actually a fascinating and important
part of being human which we should understand and talk about. I also feel that it's
important to say that I am a guy and as a guy I can only explain what I've learned
about, thought about, how that has impacted me, and why I believe that others will
benefit from this understanding, as well. I do not, however, consider myself to be
an authority on the reproductive systems of women - I'm just a big fan. In closing, I
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would like to encourage other guys in particular to seek out an understanding of all
of this by talking about it with the important women in your life (if that's
appropriate) - be curious, ask questions! Or, at the very least, don't make them feel
like they're somehow being inappropriate whenever the topic gets brought up -

menstrual cycles aren't inappropriate, it's only some peoples attitudes toward
menstrual cycles that are inappropriate. Shut up and listen to experiences that are
different than yours - you will learn cool things, I promise.