[Thomas the Rhymer]

(09-28-2015 08:59 AM)Geomann180 Wrote:  

Yes - Can one get infected or otherwise harmed when having sex with a woman on her period? I'm not talking about STDs, just in general. I remember reading old biblical texts that say one shouldn't be around a woman when she has her period or let her cook food.

Also, what do you think the advantages and disadvantages are of the menstrual cycle, do you think?

G

Regarding your first question: Blood is a natural bacterial culture medium. Women are far more likely to become ill with a uterine infection if they have sex during their period.

In the age of antibiotics, this may not be such a big deal, but pre-antibiotics, uterine infection would slowly destroy the health of the uterine lining, in effect making a woman infertile (assuming the infection was not severe enough to kill the woman off outright). The biblical texts are more for the protection of the woman's fertility than for protecting the man.

If a woman already has an STD, a period will probably make her more infectious to you as a man. But overall, the risks are heavily on the woman's side, they have more to lose from having unprotected sex while on a period. Note that you do not even have to have a classical STD to give a woman a uterine infection - some otherwise normal bacteria from your skin can piggyback on your semen and cause an infection once they discover all that blood they can feed on.

As to your second question regarding the advantages of the menstrual cycles, this is still a matter of scientific debate. However, here is a bit of a discussion of why maybe menstruation exists:

One common feature of all menstruating animals is that they have invasive embryos.

In most animals, fertilised eggs hang out in the uterine cavity, and let the endometrium come to them.

In menstruating animals, the fertilised eggs are invasive - they eat their way into the uterine wall, and the pregnancy develops, in the initial stages, not in the uterus cavity but in the wall:


This is unusual in the mammalian kingdom, and puts the mother at risk. The little bastards may end up eating their way through the uterus wall and basically make a hole in the uterus, which is not good of the mother or the pregnancy.

It is thought that, as a defensive mechanism against this invasive little parasite, that women developed a thickened endometrial wall. This explains the sheer volume of endometrial tissue and blood that is released in a period.

Which still leaves the question - why should the endometrial wall die off? Why not just keep the wall around for a while?

It is possible that if the wall did not shed, that numerous invasions of multiple failed pregnancies may build up in the uterine wall, creating a hostile environment for freshly fertilised eggs. By having a menstruation, any eggs that fail to implant will be washed out and this will prevent interference with the next egg in the cycle. It will also ensure that defective fertilised eggs, that are a bit slower and less evolutionarily fit, will be killed off if they do not eat their way into the uterine wall in the given time limit.

But as I said, this is scientific speculation. No one knows exactly why menstruation exists and there are other theories, but the above is currently the most accepted, generally.

As far as disadvantages go, menstruation causes a loss of hemoglobin, blood fluid, and iron; amongst other nutrients. In times of starvation/deprivation, menstruation may actually push a woman into malnourishment. Even well nourished women tend to develop iron deficiency because of menstruation.

At times, menstrual bleeding can be so severe as to be life-threatening.

Furthermore, for most women, menstruation is painful and can be disruptive for normal day-to-day activities, effectively lowering quality of life for women.