Why didn't I post this before?

Here is the link to a story, first published May 22 and titled "More women say no to menstruation. Period," that I found a couple of days ago in the Chicago Tribune. It's a horribly uncritical Associated Press-penned article about the rising trend of women using birth control to stall and even eliminate their menstrual periods. Apparently, this practice is receiving enthusiastic support from a growing number of gynecologists and obstericians out there, and given the money-first health care system that we have in this country, I can only wonder why. There is one quote from the article that I find absolutely appalling, coming from a so-called OB-GYN named Mindy Wiser-Estin in New Jersey:

"I have a ton of young girls in college who are doing this," said Dr. Mindy Wiser-Estin, a gynecologist in Little Silver. "There's no reason you need a period."

What the hell? I'm no doctor, but from what I've been told by gynecologists on the few occasions in my life I could afford to visit the doctor, the menstrual cycle---complete with monthly bleeding---is ABSOLUTELY necessary. It may not be necessary while you are on birth control, but if you ever plan on having children, you will NEED that annoying bleeding and cramping. The regularity of one's cycle is an indicator of normal ovulation, and irregularites in the cycle are a sign that you need medical attention.

Plus, this doctor-approved trend speaks to deeper contradictions in our highly misogynistic culture. Why is a natural physiological process seen by DOCTORS as a problem, especially a process that's such a barometer of overall patient health? In what world does that make sense? You know what else about this shit kills me? Nature is consistently trotted out by patriarchy apologists as an excuse for maintaining double standards between men and women, but if natural processes ever become inconvenient to the system, Nature be damned.

As Stan Goff makes clear in this excellent May 12 post from his blog, the problem with gender is not sexual difference, but the meaning imposed upon this difference by human beings (usually men). Only in a woman-hating, vagina-phobic society could the menstrual cycle ever be a problem.