menstruation

My Mom blamed every single one of her emotional outbursts on PMS and now on menopause. I mean come on, she couldn’t have been PMS-ing ALL the time. I’ve always felt slightly annoyed by people who use alcohol as an excuse for their behavior and similarly felt the same way about women who say “sorry, I’m PMS-ing”.

Wait, don’t get me wrong. Premenstrual syndrome is a really thing and it’s not exactly easy to contend with. It’s much harder on some women than on others, and thankfully I can count myself as belonging to the latter category of women. I barely felt a cramp the first few times I had my period, and for most of my life my symptoms have been limited to heavier and more sensitive breast, impatience and the occasional slight lower back pain. Usually when my breast get sore I know I’ll be bleeding in a few days. Once the bleeding starts most symptoms are alleviated, except for perhaps a slight bloating. All in all everything else is quite good and since I started using the Diva cup, I can barely tell I’m having my period. Oh and now that I think of it, I’ve been known to start crying for no apparent reason while standing alone in my kitchen.

There are over 200 physical, psychological and emotional symptoms associated with premenstrual symptoms. Let’s say that again, PREmenstrual syndrome. Pre as in before. It’s not called PMS once you’re actually bleeding. Sure, it’s kinda of semantic and perhaps petty of me, but it annoys the hell out of me when people use PMS as a blanket word for whatever they are feeling while they are actually bleeding. It’s PRE goddamnit, PRE! Ok, little rant aside, it’s a major crazy thing that women experience every month and like I said it’s a lot harder on some women than others. I’ve known people who have had to take some serious medication to deal with their cramps.

h/t re:Cycling

I have to say that I like it when we embrace our bodies with humor and familiarity.  I much prefer that over the shame, vilification and objectification that patriarchal domination models are known for.  That may be my justifying why my daughter and I still laugh at fart jokes. 

Be that as it may, this video came out a while back and played around with several common experiences. 

Not content to be a viral video, the creators have taken the idea into the blogosphere.  You can find them at The Period Fairy Blog or here on our blogroll.  I am looking forward to more from them.  What's not to love about a character flitting around with a tub of ice cream and laying into our self estem?

While you're at it, you should probably check out an older favorite of mine - The Self-Doubt Fairy by Rachel Nabors.

-arvan

Ever hear of Vinnie Angel from NYC? Well, this dude is famous for designing and making his own brand of tampon cases. Directly from the horses mouth:

Vinnie’s Tampon Cases are the world renowned invention of artist, designer Vinnie Angel.  Vinnie created his VTC project to provide period havers with a functional and enjoyable case to protect their period products from breaking in the bottom of their bags –and, by putting his cartoon face on every case, to entice men and boys to take an interest in the basics of women’s health.

Initially Vinnie sewed his canvas cases himself and gave them out for free to whomever wanted one. He has given out over 10,000 free Vinnie’s Tampon Cases.  Eventually Vinnie allowed retail stores to offer his cases knowing that the conversations his cases create would multiply if they were available beyond his handing them out on the subways and streets of NYC. 

The os is the little opening in the middle of your cervix (side note: the cervix is made of cartilage like the tip of your nose). Depending on whether you have had kids or not the os may slightly change in appearance: appearing more like a slit once you’ve had kids.

The os allows menstrual blood to flow out of your uterus and into your vagina. The os will open a little more during menstruation and close a little afterwards, until it opens up again during ovulation. Yup, it also allows sperm to pass through. During pregnancy, the os will close upon itself to help protect the fetus and at the time of birth it is the os that will dilate to ten centimeters to create enough space for a baby to pass through.

It has some to my attention that a lot of people will search the Internet for information on inserting penises or other stick like objects into the cervix. DO NOT under any circumstance try to insert anything into the os. I mean it, don’t do it. I’m not just saying this because it will be painful, it will be, but I know that’s not exactly a deterrent for everyone. I say this, because it is extremely bad for your health. To quote Scarleteen “There’s a lot of reasons women who have had to have backalley abortions have died, gotten very ill or become infertile, and some of the any is because of inserting things into the cervix without medically sanitary conditions.”

I have one towel. It’s tattered but beautiful. It’s almost as heavy as a thick slab or rubber; but I need it to be that way. It wears a shade of orange so perfect that it magically exudes a comfort and sexual energy I cannot ignore. I lie it down on my bed. I take off my panties. I pull out my soiled tampon (or, ideally, menstrual cup) and toss it in a small trash can. Then, I go to bed.

By Joshua Kyalimpa

KAMPALA, Oct 22 (IPS) - More than half of Ugandan girls who enrol in grade one drop out before sitting for their primary school-leaving examinations.

The fact that girls are dropping out between age 11 and 13 is being linked to the beginning of the menstruation cycle and its associated challenges.

Research conducted by a non-government organisation, the Forum of African Women Educationalists (FAWE), reveals that the lack of sanitary pads, coupled with other factors like the absence of water or separate toilet facilities for girls in many schools, is responsible for the drop-out rate.

Despite tax waivers introduced to reduce the cost of sanitary pads, finding money to buy them each month is a challenge for many grown women, never mind pre-teen girls.