Last month, Instagram removed an image of a fully clothed woman who just so happened to be on her period. It's since been put back up (and Instagram apologized), but it seems like the Internet in general still isn't ready to deal with the fact that women bleed.
Instagram user @louelle_louelle_ (Louelle Denor) recently posted a photo of herself holding up her menstrual cup. "It's come to my attention that women are having their accounts banned for showing menstrual blood (and no nudity). This is very seriously fucked up," she wrote underneath the photo. "If this was a picture of blood from a finger laceration, there'd be no issue. Yes, this blood is from my #vagina. It happens every month. The thing I'm holding in my hand is a #softcup #menstrualcup and it's awesome but messy to remove."
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What started out as her statement to put an end to period shaming, however, ended up drawing abuse. Of course. "Kil yourself now plz," one user commented on Denor's photo, while others suggest she take a cyanide pill. "Am I wrong in hoping that I can post a picture of some bloody fingers and a weird disk without the threat of being sprayed with sperm and set on fire?" Denor wrote on Medium.
There are a number of supportive comments in the thread, but since Denor's post exploded on the internet, she has received a great deal of backlash. She posted screenshots of the threatening feedback on her Instagram. And while any image of blood could feasibly provoke disgust, Denor's is hardly offensive. "What we don’t tolerate is the sight of blood when associated with the vagina EVEN when the vagina is not shown," she wrote on Medium. "This is a problem."