The sound of moths repeatedly diving kamikaze-style into porch lightbulbs is unanimously agreed to be one of the most irritating sounds in nature. But that’s not nature. In fact, that’s about as far from nature as office buildings, shampoo, and the contraception industry. The relationship of moths and lightbulbs is actually shockingly similar to the relationship that women have with these artificial light sources.
Although it remains unknown why some moths are attracted to artificial light sources, some theorists postulate that the moths mistake the lightbulbs for the moon. Before the advent of human-created light, moths used the moon not only as a source of light to hunt for food, but also as a navigational tool. As they traveled through the night sky, the moon served as a point of reference. The small size of a lightbulb, however, allows the moth to fly around and around (and around and around and around) it, unlike the moon, whose spatial relationship to the moth barely changes even when the moth flies a great distance. The poor little moth’s relationship to the moon is disrupted by the intrusion of the artificial replacement, which confuses and disorients the creature (“Well, I remember I just have to fly a bit West – wow that was fast! *thunk* Maybe I will try to go East….It’s got to be around here somewhere…*thunk*).
The terms “menstruation” and “menses” come from the Latin word meaning month, which is related to the Greek word for moon. As reflected in many religious rites, a woman’s menstrual cycle has much in common with the waxing and waning of the moon; a woman’s cycle and the revolution of the moon around the earth both take approximately 28 days. In 1975, Louise Lacey wrote a book that conveyed the experience of herself and 27 friends when they removed all artificial lights during the night. They all found that their menstrual cycles began to match the lunar cycle. Other studies completed later showed that the presence of artificial light at night certainly has an impact upon the menstrual cycle.
Nowadays, if a girl complains that she has an irregular menstrual cycle, she is often handed a prescription for contraceptive pills - regardless of her sexual activities - which regulate the hormonal cycle and allow her to have more control. This certainly has its benefits, but it kind of makes you wonder...is nature obsolete if we can achieve the same effects with artificial substitutes? Or is there something we’re missing?
Artificial light and contraceptives have obviously not always existed. But as long as they have, we have been consumed with controlling nature and inventing ways to control the cycles of our bodies. Perhaps, however, in the process, we have become deaf to the sound of our own heads bashing against our accomplishments (*thunk*).
