Body Blog Post #4

This is my third (supposedly fourth) week of doing this body practice exercise. Over this period of time, although this habit of wearing dresses/ skirt gradually grew natural on me, my menstrual cycle came just when I got accustomed to it. And of course it felt inconvenient again. 

Wearing a dress during my period cycle feels awkward and stressful, as I usually go for thick, dark pants like denim jeans. This is because I won't ruin my pants even if my menstrual blood leaked whereas light colored thin fabrics would expose this and put me into an awkward position. During this period, I intentionally walked more slowly and carefully and often adjusted my menstrual pad so that blood won't trickle down my thighs as there are no pant trunks to protect me. It triggered me to think, when it comes to wearing pants, am I weaponizing this piece of garment? I have never thought about the psychology of wearing pants being my armor. I know that Hong Kong is such a safe place to me that I have never felt sexually threatened (and so safe that this idea never even crossed my head until now). But still, why do I have the tendency to automatically choose pants over dresses/ skirts? Perhaps it is the cultural stigma towards private parts, particularly to do with the misconception that menstrual blood is dirty. Now, it does remind me of Emily Martin's article that these misconceptions are perpetuated through both science and media.

In addition, when commuting on public transport, I have observed that almost all women who wore dresses/ skirts are seated elegantly, with their thighs tight against each other. Although there weren't any men or women manspreading in the train carriages, it does trigger me to consider whether our physical behavior is subconsciously affected by the clothes we wear and the gender we are assigned to. Some allude manspreading to masculinity because the male sex has the tendency to signal dominance through outlining the territory and space he managed to occupy. But masculinity seem trivial if it comes at the cost of other passengers' spatial convenience, in my opinion. I would have never manspread on a train, whether I am wearing a dress, a skirt or pants, and while part of it is because it is unladylike, the bigger reason is it is inappropriate to take up more space you need. (399 words)