Woman smears menstrual blood on her face to show that periods can be beautiful

An Instagram blogger has provoked controversy on social media by sharing a photo of her face and legs smeared in period blood. Instagram blogger Demetra Nyx has gone through some extremely heavy periods over years, and is often left bed-ridden as a result. Because of this, the Californian native has decided to post images of herself covered in her menstrual blood, in a bid to get closer to her body's biological processes. Despite the fact that her posts have been met with some amount of backlash, Nyx is adamant that this has lessened her pains and brought her closer to herself. 

Commenting on her pictures in a recent interview, Nyx stated: "Our society teaches us that periods are dirty and inconvenient. Ads about menstrual products talk about smelling 'fresh' or making us cleaner, implying that our bodies' natural functions are gross. My work as a sex coach largely focuses on where we hold our stories in our bodies. What society taught us about ourselves, what we learned about being women, assaults we may have experienced, what we learned our bodies are capable of during sex."

She added: "I am endlessly fascinated by my body and its patterns. Many people talk about the parts of the cycle being like the seasons, with the energy of ovulation being like summer, and the energy of menstruation being like winter. I think that's generally true, but I've also found it's very individual."

"Sharing pictures of blood on my face and body was just an impulse - I was creating a series to help women connect with their menstrual cycle, and I thought it would be fun. We can also do things like paint with it or pour it into the earth. I believe it's a beautiful thing to get comfortable with touching your own blood."

"My blood to me has become fun, beautiful, and powerful, and playing with it brings me closer to myself. A really common comment I get is, 'oh, you should just wipe poop all over your face then, it's the same thing'. I also heard from friends and family that it was 'weird' and 'disgusting', and some people didn't talk to me because of it. That encourages me to keep posting them - if it wasn't having a necessary impact, people wouldn't be so bothered by it ... No one has to put their blood on their face, though it's seemed pretty liberating for women who have."

While you might think this is a first, strangely enough, Nyx isn't the first blogger to do this. Back in October, we wrote about the Swedish naturist blogger who posted images of herself smeared in menstrual blood to Instagram.