In the October, 1978 issue of Ms Magazine, Gloria Steinem wrote an often quoted short piece titled, If Men Could Menstruate (please take a moment to read it if you’re unfamiliar with it).

Twenty-nine years later ….

Käthe Ivansich, a German design student, created for a thesis project a fictional brand,

On her website she states that she always saw the discontinuity between the women models in skateboard ads and women who skateboard and wished that the pink butterflies and floral patterns on women’s skateboards would “go to hell.” [That’s the best I can do at translated the German.]

So for her project/show she created the logo, t-shirts, board designs and print ads.

Menstruation Skateboards is not a real brand but an idea.  The reality of it is that this idea was created and expressed by a woman.  But is this a step forward for women or a step back?  I feel that Steinem was using her essay to point out the dangers of allowing the powerful to normalize their behaviors and stigmatize the behaviors of the weak.  Is this a case of women falling into the same trap as men or women becoming as empowered as men?