Pliny the Elder had some fascinating thoughts about women on their periods. His book, Naturalist Historia, details the havoc a woman could wreak during her monthly cycle. I’ve heard of cramps, but some of these other things that periods are said to cause are shocking news to me.
1. Periods make steel blades dull.
This isn’t the time to ask how a woman might get her dirty menses blood on a male’s blade. It’s the time to warn the reader that our highly acidic period blood would cause it to dull and become a useless weapon. We’re basically the Xenomorphs from Alien. So, a man should avoid women before a battle unless he can be sure she won’t go near that life-saving steel while menstruating.