Earlier this month a story broke about Kiran Gandhi running the London Marathon during her menstrual cycle without any sanitary pads or tampons. You can read the article here. In a nutshell Kiran, who is a drummer for the singer M.I.A., was free bleeding to draw awareness to women in third world countries who don't have access to feminine products during their cycle and to remove the shame from period shaming.
In typical internet fashion comments exploded everywhere. Many of the people that had a lot to say were other females and they weren't standing in solidarity with Kiran and her views. Women were dragging her name through the blood, so to speak, and expressing their frustration and overall disgust with her way of highlighting these issues. But the only comment that I was remotely interested in reading was from Tigist Tufa, the winner of the London Marathon that Kiran ran in.
She made her thoughts and opinions known to the world in this article and I think it's safe to say that she wasn't happy with Kiran's form of expression either. Tigist could have used her platform of wining a prestigious race in a mind blowing time of 2 hours and 23 minutes to address issues plaguing females around the world, but no one was interested. She called People magazine to talk about the race and her preparations but they were only interested in the "tampon girl" and quickly hung up on her.
When I first came across this article I quickly scanned it and then forgot about it. But as I kept seeing more and more comments pop up on my Facebook and Twitter feeds I decided to take another look at what was really going on and determine if it was worth forming an opinion. Though it is likely to change, as it stands my opinion is this. I think Kiran is brave for making such a bold move and I think Tigist is correct in her observations and opinion.
I can't say that I've felt any sort of period shaming in my lifetime and I doubt that there will be any in the future. In general, women are made to feel inadequate in various aspects of our lives and unless you are able to be confident in yourself and your opinions it's very easy to be swayed with the changing winds. Of course I'm saying this as an American woman in her mid-thirties. I'm unaware of all the atrocities that women endure in other countries around the world and to an extent I'm able to freely voice my frustrations. So if a woman is in the position to bring attention to an issue that is plaguing other women, maybe we should take a look at what she is saying rather than completely dismissing her voice.
On the flip side of that, amazing athletic feats should not go unrecognized. Tigist's performance places her in the top twenty elite female winners of the London Marathon. That deserves praise! Tigist had an amazing performance, pacing herself with the front of the pack for the majority of the race and then kicking it into high gear and blowing past everyone in the last three miles. The last three miles! I have no comprehension of running a 5:41 pace for 23 miles and then saying okay now I'm going to run faster. WHAT!? How did she train? What was her diet? If I wear her shoes will they help me get to the finish line faster? All of these are questions that should have been asked but weren't. Runner's World did a great article about TIgist and you can watch a short video highlighting her finish here.
But this whole situation did one main thing... it got everyone talking. Whether you wanted to see Kiran with her blood-stained pants or watch Tigist cross the finish line you were drawn in. The other benefactor of this story is running in itself. Someone reading these stories and commenting on either end just might take a moment, go to their local running store, buy a pair of shoes, lace up and hit the pavement. In the midst of all this chaos a new runner will have been initiated, and in the end isn't that what really matters?
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