Wo•Men•Strain•Tion

Curated by Yuan Shi

Artists: Yuxuan An, Kejun Zhou, Moyi Huang, Anya Dai, CiannaCao;Yucheng(SA:D) Ziyan Jiang

December 2020

We say Aunt Flo, shark week, strawberry week, crimson wave and monthly friend. We are afraid of talking about menstruation directly, because it’s dirty, ugly, embarrassing, and considered shameful, though it is just a common physiological phenomenon. In recent times, with rapid socioeconomic development, the stigma brought by menstruation still exists. It is causing menstruation dilemmas in both cultural and economic aspects, which every woman is forced to face.

Feminine hygiene products are still subjected to value-added tax or sales tax in many countries and regions, because not every human needs them and they cannot be taken as non-luxury necessities. At the same time, manufacturers package menstruation as a fantastic experience in their advertisements. The commercials and the tampon tax are causing a neglected but severe poverty. However, menstruation is part of women’s nature, which should not be distorted as a horrible disaster nor depicted as an enjoyable experience. The phenomenon of period poverty also deserves more attention from the public. The exhibition Wo•Men•Strain•Tion explores how menstruation has been perceived and represented in the male-dominated world in both

the cultural and economic realms. It tries to reveal the realistic appearance of menstruation from female perspectives. In the exhibition title, Wo•Men means we/us in Chinese phonetic alphabets. Menstrual poverty and shaming are not only the strain for women, but the strain for all of us in society. Wo•Men•Strain•Tion is meant to unfold the realistic problems around menstruation and call for attention and care for women who are struggling against this strain.