Abstract

Sue felt welling disgust as the first dark drops of menstrual blood struck the tile in dime-sized drops. “For God’s sake Carrie, you got your period!’ Sue cried. ‘Clean yourself up!”Within the walls of her educational institution, classmates bombard Carrie with feminine hygiene products, chanting “plug it up!” as their disgust for her rises.1 This fictional scene in Stephen King’s Carrie is cruel but is perhaps not inconceivable as something that might occur in reality. In this scene, Carrie is dehumanized, animalistic; she has been rejected for her unwilling transgression of accepted social behavior. Menstrual blood is running down her legs. What makes this scene different to what could conceivably occur in...