Bat Mitzvah
Kim Rubin, 15
New York
Artwork by April Whitlow, 18
Missouri
The tropical flowers are all on display.
The games are prepared, and the food on buffet.
With lovely décor, the room is all ready.
The food: cocktail weenies, sushi, and spaghetti.
The buzz builds up louder.
Adults chat; kids clamor.
The atmosphere builds; we're all getting tense.
We wait for the party and dance to commence.
Colored lights blink and shoot in every direction.
Tiny details of the room make perfection.
The double doors open; the beat starts to play.
For one lucky girl, it is her special day.
Love Your Blood
Lauren Druss, 18
Washington
Many societies initiate girls into womanhood by celebrating menarche, a girl's first menstruation. American culture, on the other hand, brainwashes adolescent girls to feel fear and shame about menstruation instead of feeling proud of their new, ever-cycling bodies. As a girl approaches puberty, she is introduced to the idea of menstruation at home or in school. Although mothers in many cultures are the main source of information about women's bodies, American mothers are often reluctant to prepare their daughters for menarche. Some wait until their daughter's first period to explain menstruation and, even then, provide too little information so many girls experience uncertainty or trauma when they first find blood in their underwear.
Schools and so-called "sex ed" classes rarely counteract this trauma. Companies that sell feminine hygiene products often send out "introduction to puberty" booklets to parents and schools, warning girls about bleeding through their clothes (leaking) or telling them not to wear certain colors or outfits in order to remain inconspicuous. Women are taught to wrap or flush their menstrual items so no one will see them. As a result, menstruation is connected with messiness, and a menstruating woman's primary goal during this week is to stay clean.
This lack of information creates girls who are reluctant to speak about menstruation. They feel embarrassed, offended, and even frightened if they are "found out" by a man because it is taboo* for men to know. Menstruation is seen as a woman's issue, with men exempt from having to see, hear, or deal with it. Girls are not just afraid of talking about their period but of menstruation itself. Advertisements teach girls to mistrust their bodies. Sanitary pad and tampon ads use themes such as "peace-of-mind" and "freedom" to sell their products–both based on the secrecy the product allows the consumer to have as she hides the fact that she is menstruating.
Because of this secrecy, girls feel disconnected from their bodies, demonstrated by the language used to talk about menstruation. The period is referred to as "it." One gets it, has it, or is on it. It is something that happens to them, rather than being a part of them. It is something to fear and dislike, rather than accept and enjoy.
A woman's period should be positive. Ideally, every woman should love her body, especially when she menstruates. Society should celebrate menstruation and families should throw menarche parties for their daughters with lots of red cake. Younger girls should revere the lucky pubescent* girls. A girl should just love her blood.
*Taboo: forbidden
*Pubescent: having reached puberty
Here I Enter the Adult World
Ruby Ezekiel, 15
India
A sudden change,
and the innocent world,
complete in itself,
has vanished!
Nascent* knowledge of society
has crept in from nowhere.
Smartness which was a privilege earlier
has now become a necessity.
Money that meant to be spent earlier
now means to be earned.
The sky which was the abode of the fairies
now holds high goals to achieve.
As I stand on the threshold
of this adult world,
I can see lots of duties
and responsibilities waiting for me.
Oh, God, I need your help
so that I can safely go through
this important stage in my life
and leave behind proper footprints
on the sand of my life.
*Nascent: beginning, being born.
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Have you gone through a coming-of-age ritual? How did it make you feel?
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