The Angels

On March 7, Guatemalan women living in a shelter called ‘Safe Home’ came out against their government (that ran their shelter) that the women living there were being mistreated, abused, raped, and starved. In addition to these already horrible conditions, there were 750 women living in a building that is only suitable for 500 people. After speaking out, the women ran away from the ‘safe home’ but were soon captured and brought back by their government.

The next day, 39 Guatemalan women were burned to death. The government claimed that the women were protesting because they did not want to return and as a result the women set the mattresses on fire and refused to leave the building, killing themselves. However, there is also much speculation that the setting of the mattresses on fire and locking the women in the building was a form of punishment from the Guatemalan government to punish the girls for speaking out and running away.
A few days after these events, my LOVE group and I were walking through Guatemala City where we approached a protest. This protest was outside where the leader of Guatemala lives and there was a huge mass of people. Although everything was in Spanish and I do not understand Spanish, there was so many nonverbal events taking place where I could feel the intensity of the protest. There were drums pounding and vibrating in your chest. There were women dressed as Lady Liberty with a blindfold to show that justice is blind. There was an angel to symbolize the 39 women that were killed that are now referred to as ’The Angels’. And both of these were looking down onto a girl sleeping peacefully on a mattress. At this moment, I truly realized the impact these events with the 39 women had on a country of people. All flags were half-mast to mourn the souls of the lives that were lost. The only flag that was not half-mast was the flag on top of the building in which their leader lives - another way showing that the government does not have much sympathy for the events taking place.

One moment of this protest that truly stuck out to me was when a mother of one of the women that was killed was on a podium talking about how the government is responsible for these 39 deaths. She even stated that there was gasoline poured by the government that initially started the fire and then locked the girls in from the outside. Although this was all translated to me, I could still hear the hurt and unbearable emotions in the mother’s voice as she stood in front of a crowd and talked about her daughter’s untimely death.

This protest opened by eyes to many issues that women face in other countries. When I first started taking Psychology of Women, I was mainly thinking of issues of abortion, cat calling, rape, unequal pay, and gender stereotypes. However, by sitting in this protest, I realized that women in other countries, particularly developing countries, face a whole other level of inequality. Particularly in Guatemala, women do no have rights in any way. Seeing this social injustice towards women in another country made me realize that women have more to fight for than I had originally noticed. No one deserves to be mistreated by their own government that is supposed to be helping and caring for them. No women should ever be used for the sexual pleasure of another individual. No women should ever be mistreated, starved, raped, beaten, etc. Standing with the Guatemalan people in this protest really touched my heart and made my passion for women’s equality all around the world much, much stronger.

I believe it is easy to overlook the issues another country faces while our own country has so many issues of their own, however, this experience has made me realize, as horrible as it sounds, that I would much rather live in New York and get cat called (as I have many times before) than live somewhere else and live in a constant state of fear because God made me a female (and God doesn’t make mistakes or create individuals unequal).

Period Projects

Women’s periods have been something society has kept so secret for so long. In the late 1800s it was seen as a medical condition that needed to be fixed and ever since that time men been trying to control women's bodies ever since. Periods were meant to be seen as a disease as if it was something wrong with the woman. Kotex has decided to start the Period Projects, which is their way to destigmatize woman's menstruation and end the stigma that a woman's menstrual cycle is something that needs to be silenced and never discussed. This project is led by women who share a passion and do not want a woman's menstrual cycle to stop her from living her life. This site by Kotex has videos of women speaking about the stigma around the menstrual cycle, and Instagram of uplifting pictures and messages for women to show them that their menstrual cycle is nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to be silenced it out. One of the photos on the main website says "It's not my PMS, you're just annoying”. Personally, I love the saying, men use this saying ‘oh do you have your period?’ all the time to get women to feel bad about the hormonal changes and being very agitated. However, a lot of men use it as a joke whenever a woman gets mad at them and try to play the victim and make a woman feel like her feelings are not valid because he's just pushing it off to being her PMS when, in reality, he may just be annoying. 

I believe that the menstrual cycle needs to be destigmatized. I believe that something that women needs in order to be able to conceive a child one day should never be silenced. Women did not choose this to happen to them and this is something that God made women get starting at around 10 to 12 years old and it's something that women have for the majority of their life. It's nothing to be ashamed of because it's normal to get and I believe that men need to stop thinking of a woman's menstrual cycle as something disgusting and gross that they don't want to talk about because it is necessary for a woman to get this in her lifetime.

As we read in class, if men were to get their period, we would not have any of these problems. Sanitary products would most likely be federally funded and free, first getting your menstrual cycle will be a celebration and there would not be this fear of germs and unsanitary this about a menstrual cycle.

I believe Kotex is doing a great thing to end the stigma around the menstrual cycle. It needs to become a norm about society people need to be able to talk about the menstrual cycle openly. Young girls need to know what their period is and they should not have to be silenced. Young girls need to be taught about sex and their cycle and how it works and why they're getting this, they can't just be blind to the reality for the entirety of their young teenage years. 

Link to Kotex's Period Project:

https://www.ubykotex.com/en-us/period-projects