Woman freely bleeds running London Marathon without tampon
I know, I know, this sounds like a Lounge post 
, but read on.
http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2015/08/10/woman-freely-bleeds-running-london-marathon-without-tampon/
“Running 26.2 miles with a wad of cotton material wedged between my legs just seemed so absurd,” Gandhi wrote on Medium. “Plus they say chaffing is a real thing.”
On August 7, she ran with blood freely flowing down her legs and used her story to raise awareness about women who don’t have access to feminine products and to encourage women to not be ashamed of their periods.
“If there’s one person society can’t eff with, it’s a marathon runner,” Gandhi shared on Medium. “You can’t tell a marathoner to clean themselves up, or to prioritize the comfort of others. On the marathon course, I could choose whether or not I wanted to participate in this norm of shaming.
= new reply since forum marked as read
-K-A, Yale '85 
To quote Gloria Steinem:
"So what would happen if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not?
Clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, worthy, masculine event:
Men would brag about how long and how much.
Young boys would talk about it as the envied beginning of manhood. Gifts, religious ceremonies, family dinners, and stag parties would mark the day.
To prevent monthly work loss among the powerful, Congress would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea. Doctors would research little about heart attacks, from which men would be hormonally protected, but everything about cramps.
Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of such commercial brands as Paul Newman Tampons, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-Dope Pads, John Wayne Maxi Pads, and Joe Namath Jock Shields- "For Those Light Bachelor Days."
Statistical surveys would show that men did better in sports and won more Olympic medals during their periods.
Generals, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation ("men-struation"
as proof that only men could serve God and country in combat ("You have to give blood to take blood" , occupy high political office ("Can women be properly fierce without a monthly cycle governed by the planet Mars?" , be priests, ministers, God Himself ("He gave this blood for our sins" , or rabbis ("Without a monthly purge of impurities, women are unclean" .
Male liberals and radicals, however, would insist that women are equal, just different; and that any woman could join their ranks if only she were willing to recognize the primacy of menstrual rights ("Everything else is a single issue" or self-inflict a major wound every month ("You must give blood for the revolution" .
Street guys would invent slang ("He's a three-pad man" and "give fives" on the corner with some exchenge like, "Man you lookin' good!"
"Yeah, man, I'm on the rag!"
TV shows would treat the subject openly. (Happy Days: Richie and Potsie try to convince Fonzie that he is still "The Fonz," though he has missed two periods in a row. Hill Street Blues: The whole precinct hits the same cycle.) So would newspapers. (Summer Shark Scare Threatens Menstruating Men. Judge Cites Monthlies In Pardoning Rapist.) And so would movies. (Newman and Redford in Blood Brothers!)
Men would convince women that sex was more pleasurable at "that time of the month." Lesbians would be said to fear blood and therefore life itself, though all they needed was a good menstruating man.
Medical schools would limit women's entry ("they might faint at the sight of blood" .
Of course, intellectuals would offer the most moral and logical arguements. Without the biological gift for measuring the cycles of the moon and planets, how could a woman master any discipline that demanded a sense of time, space, mathematics-- or the ability to measure anything at all? In philosophy and religion, how could women compensate for being disconnected from the rhythm of the universe? Or for their lack of symbolic death and resurrection every month?
Menopause would be celebrated as a positive event, the symbol that men had accumulated enough years of cyclical wisdom to need no more.
Liberal males in every field would try to be kind. The fact that "these people" have no gift for measuring life, the liberals would explain, should be punishment enough.
And how would women be trained to react? One can imagine right-wing women agreeing to all these arguements with a staunch and smiling masochism. ("The ERA would force housewives to wound themselves every month": Phyllis Schlafly)
In short, we would discover, as we should already, that logic is in the eye of the logician. (For instance, here's an idea for theorists and logicians: if women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long? I leave further improvisation up to you.)
The truth is that, if men could menstruate, the power justifications would go on and on.
If we let them." 
Pacific Daylight Time.
LOVE IT! Out loud laughter here.
And this IS what would happen.
In bike racing, this is normal:
Cyclists get severe bloody injuries and keep going.
Get a clue.
gotta be one in every thread. intentional bleeding!!!
We do it *just* to make you squeamish. 
We bleed in public all the time. You just don't always know when we are doing it. Most of the time, we deal with the leaks and other issues once we get home, and yes, leaks do happen, to most women.
Also...
You would have to have sex with her on the marathon course, or at minimum grab at her bloody clothes with your hands while you had an open wound.
And even if you did that
and if she had a bloodborne virus
and if she were untreated,
it's still a real long shot.
Still: don't do that! Are you nuts?
I don't recall anyone on or off the course worrying about that health hazard. Clearly, menstrual blood flowing into full length running tights is much more dangerous.
Just look up bleeding nipples.
Fecal matter is far from uncommon on San Francisco streets.
The esteemed Gormy Cuss and champion marathoner Grete Waitz put the fork to that line of attack.
These were white guys
I'm just kidding....well they were white.
Leaving a trail of blood?! 
A woman's uterus during menses is not like an open wound.
The average blood loss is really not all that much.
P.S. Good on her!
Edit: maybe some women, too!
pick up an egg, then shoot the field with a slick, bloody stream of back-the-fuck off!
Almost blew corn salsa out my nose!
your post made me laugh even harder.
This one almost made me pee my pants!LOL
No doubt, you are as concerned with sweating runners too, yes (as sweat may also pass along many diseases, e.g., Hep B)? Or (and I find this somewhat more likely) you're practicing the same hyperbole you indict others for... 
You then are not concerned with sweat born illnesses or diseases transmitted by saliva after people spit?
(I'm going with the "your own hyperbole matches that with which you indict others for"
Geez.
That's why they're called "bloodborne disease".
It begs the question: How many people have fallen ill after following a menstruating jogger lacking sanitary pads-- that being the premise of your concern?
Geez, part II
You're killing me!
Or something.
Much as pro football players in America are... every weekend.
Though no doubt, calling her a warrior was not hyperbole on your part, merely a well-rationalized adjective.
You're moving the goalposts, and I certainly understand your desire to so so. However, either it's concern across the board or it's not at all.
And, as NFL players willingly stay on the field while bleeding-- "putting others in potential risk", you may wish to take your alleged concern up with those that offend it the most-- that being the NFL.
As a matter of fact, we have a sports and and NFL board on DU. You should really take your alleged concern theere also and get their take on it... unless of course, the concern for sport safety is in fact, simply an allegation to better mask a somewhat less noble sentiment which applies only to women.
NFL players purposefully stay on the field during play. Willfully placing others, as you allege, at risk. There is no relevant and precise difference between the runner or the fullback who both play while bleeding at this point.
Consistency is not a logical fallacy. Pretending it is though, is rather irrational.
You keep moving those goalposts though...
It's obviously Trump. He's not obsessed about menstrual blood only on Twitter, you know. 
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If you ask me, that was the beginning of the end
Yes, that was over the top. But number one, who is advocating for "free bleeding"? The point is menstrual blood is no different than any other blood. The only reason people thing this is disgusting is the notion that women are unclean. It's about time that idea were relegated to the past, the same past that didn't like women in pants. And it starts when we stop seeing something like this as sooooo outrageous!! She had a blood stain on her pants. Big deal.
do you know the year women were allowed to run in the Boston Marathon ? As a man I gotta admit men are fucking morons .
Can you believe it? NINETEEN SIXTY EIGHT. 
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/04/02/149876890/photo-the-first-woman-to-enter-the-boston-marathon
not said anything no one would have noticed.
To me this is a non issue.
to judge?! My gosh.
I have never really taken much of an interest in the details of menstruation, as several DUers pointed out. But I consider myself now better educated and have self-deleted the post in question. Sorry folks.
