On Steinem, "Men"struation

I didn't expect to enjoy Gloria Steinem's article If Men Could Menstruate. Steinem, one of the most revered feminists of the 20th century, often comes off as a femi-zealot in my opinion. Most of what I have read about her has depicted her as an important figure in the women's rights movement, but a woman who's positions on social issues have become more and more extreme over the years. So, surprised I was to find that this woman, who supposedly stands for the advancement of women's rights, yet referred to Sarah Palin as a candidate who "opposes everything most women want and need", actually has a sense of humor. Although I disagree with just about everything Steinem is going to say, I have to give credit where credit is due, and say that her article, while funny, is also so true of our society.
Menstruation=yuck. Its a natural part of the human body, but so is using the bathroom, and I'd hate hearing a woman talk about that too. But what if it wasn't women that bled, but rather men? Would it be cool and manly if men menstruated? Steinem believes so, and she is correct.
She says that "whatever a 'superior' group has will be used to justify its superiority, and whatever an 'inferior' group has will justify its plight." As men, we have been the dominate sex, women not so much. If we were the ones to menstruate, believe me, and her, we wouldnt be embarrassed to talk about it. A guy among guys is welcome to say "man I just took a huge shit" or " i gotta piss like a racehorse." Thats considered normal among men to use "potty humor" in regular speech. Should a woman do it, (a cold chill is running up my spine) ...gross. How un-lady like! So when she asserts that men would purchase the Paul Newman Tampons and the Muhammed Ali Rope-a-Dope pads, she is right. As men we brag about our scars, muscles, fights, things that prove our masculinity. You'd better believe that as men we would brag about how much we bleed as much as some men joke about how "big" they are "down there". A guy who can't handle his alcohol is often referred to among young men as a "two beer queer". So I could see a guy who didn't bleed that much degraded as a "no rag fag".
Steinem begins to over-exaggerate her assumptions with references to Paul Newman and Robert Redford starring in Blood Brothers and newspaper headlines that read Summer Shark Scare Threatens Menstruating Men. But one cannot provide satire without a little bit of hyperbole. Either way, Steinmen's article, unlike Steinem, is surprisingly insightful, smart, and accurately portrays the disparity's between what is acceptable in male and female culture.