Society’s views toward women have become more open and less prudish in many ways in the centuries leading up to the present. Where women were once expected to wear long skirts and uncomfortable undergarments, it doesn’t take a master’s degree in history to see that many now elect to go braless, to wear pants, and sometimes to choose menswear over more feminine attire. Career opportunities continue to become more egalitarian, and women’s rights are constantly evolving.

But our views toward certain aspects of femininity have taken a step backward in recent years. Menstruation was once looked at as a rite of passage, a sacred time that represented fertility and a girl’s transition to womanhood.

Not all antiquated attitudes toward menstruation have been positive. Pliny the Elder and Isidore of Seville claimed that menstruating women were dangerous and that they polluted the Earth. Some early Christians believed that menstruating women and the men who slept with them were unclean. Ideas about the impurities of menstruation persisted throughout the Middle Ages, when women could not visit a church while on their period or after giving birth.

But even though menstrual blood was widely regarded as dangerous and magical for humans and the environment during the seventeenth century, it seems that negative attitudes toward the process of menstruation itself were often rejected—this is especially noteworthy because religion was a central part of life during this time period. Many societies viewed menstruation as a natural, beautiful part of being a woman.

Menstruation today is often considered one of women’s weaknesses, but this has not always been the case. In Elizabethan England, phlebotomy was an oft-performed remedy for a variety of ailments, since an excess of blood was seen as a detriment to the health of the body. Menstruation was viewed as a form of natural phlebotomy. Another belief during the Elizabethan period was that menstrual blood provided nutrition to the fetus and a heated environment for semen.

We think of menstruation as a monthly phenomenon, but periods are a more common occurrence for women now than they once were. Ovulation and menstruation make physical demands on a woman’s body. They require energy and health. In centuries past, many women suffered from malnutrition, exhaustion, and low body weight, none of which supported menstruation. And before a wide variety of contraceptives became available, women were either pregnant or breastfeeding for much of their reproductive life, which kept their periods at bay. Menstruation is much more commonplace now. It is less special and more of a hassle. Today’s woman simply looks for tools to live around her period instead of appreciating the significance of this physical process.

Perhaps the newfound control that women have taken over their bodies and their lives has caused society to lose appreciation for life’s natural processes. But even as technological offerings increase as we move into the second decade of the twenty-first century, many are beginning to favor more natural approaches to everyday life. Perhaps our attitudes toward menstruation will become more positive as well, just as they were for centuries.

Emily Matthews is currently applying to masters degree programs across the U.S., and loves to read about new research into health care, gender issues, and literature. She lives and writes in Seattle, Washington.