This genre is photography. In 2015, Kaur posted this photo on Instagram of a fully clothed women laying in bed with a period stain. Rupi Kaur was taking a visual rhetoric course during college and wanted to capture images of menstruation to de-stigmatize periods and empower women. Instagram deleted this picture for not following community guidelines. Among other things, these community guidelines prohibit sexual acts, nudity, and violence. Periods and menstruation are neither of those things – and nowhere do the community guidelines mention periods. This sparked a lot of attention, and Kaur had a lot to say about it. After her post was deleted, she publicly announced: “I will not apologise for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in an underwear but not be ok with a small leak when your pages are filled with countless photos/accounts where women (so many who are underage) are objectified, pornified, and treated less than human”.

This photograph was the first time that I was exposed to Rupi Kaur four years ago. I immediately gained so much respect for her. The power behind this photograph speaks multitudes and it tells an important story about the way the feminine is devalued in our society. As a genre, photography is able to do what written words aren’t. Rather than having the story told to you, a photo allows you to imagine the story behind it. The first time I saw this photo, I was the least bit “grossed out”. I recognized it for its beautiful, divine, raw, and natural composure. Rupi Kaur created this photograph for the world to see. She created it to chip away at dismantling the patriarchy. Rupi Kaur gained a lot of attention from this photograph and her exquisite use of visual rhetoric. She has furthermore represented herself as a trailblazer for the empowerment of the feminine.

Citation:

Kaur, Rupi, and Prabh Kaur. “Period.” Rupikaur, 2017 Rupi Kaur, rupikaur.com/period/.