The connected vagina
May 18, 2016 3:05 AM Subscribe
The first rule of menstruation etiquette is you don’t talk about menstruation, particularly to men. If you must discuss your period you do so quietly and euphemistically. When you’re surfing the crimson wave and have to go to the bathroom, you make sure your period paraphernalia is carefully concealed so people remain clueless about your condition.
The biggest breach of menstrual etiquette, however, is leaking in public.
Luckily technology has stepped in to save women from their unpredictable uteri. A new startup called my.Flow promises a “solution to menstruation mortification” and “a girl’s worst nightmare of having blood leak through her new white pants”.
Luckily technology has stepped in to save women from their unpredictable uteri. A new startup called my.Flow promises a “solution to menstruation mortification” and “a girl’s worst nightmare of having blood leak through her new white pants”.
I think 'girls' is, for once, relevant here - teenage girls worry about this stuff all the damn time. Not sure I want my sanpro to be part of the Internet of Things, but if you have a very heavy flow (I see you, copper IUD) this could be useful.
posted by mippy at 3:25 AM on May 18, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by mippy at 3:25 AM on May 18, 2016 [11 favorites]
I know girls worry about this - I was just thinking the other day of a Lil-lets advert when I was a teenager which showed two photos of a girl raising her hand in class with the caption "Sir can I go to the toilet?", and in one hand was an obvious tampon and in the other you couldn't see anything because Lil-Lets. Obviously Sir knowing you had your period was teh worst. (They never suggested you just not raise the hand holding the tampon but anyway). We shouldn't be encouraging girls to worry about this shit by suggesting they buy hardware to deal with it.
posted by billiebee at 3:31 AM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 3:31 AM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
But..but..no teenage girl in the history of ever would do that! Just put it in your blazer pocket like a normal person.
posted by mippy at 3:39 AM on May 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by mippy at 3:39 AM on May 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
This is not a real problem
posted by cotton dress sock at 3:41 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by cotton dress sock at 3:41 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
"my.Flow"?
Yeah I guess it's technically mine, but I don't really have a relationship with it as such. (Is that maybe a problem? I still don't think so).
posted by cotton dress sock at 3:43 AM on May 18, 2016
Yeah I guess it's technically mine, but I don't really have a relationship with it as such. (Is that maybe a problem? I still don't think so).
posted by cotton dress sock at 3:43 AM on May 18, 2016
There was a Kickstarter for something similar a while ago. Although I think they took the money and ran.
posted by mippy at 3:44 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by mippy at 3:44 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Gee, I miss the simple times when all I had to do was walk my unclean self down to the menstrual hut and hide for 2 to 7 days.
posted by nightrecordings at 3:47 AM on May 18, 2016 [57 favorites]
posted by nightrecordings at 3:47 AM on May 18, 2016 [57 favorites]
I feel like one of the things that did the most to make me feel like a woman (as opposed to a girl) was the day I realized that if you got your period unexpectedly, you could go up to another woman - just about any woman*, even strangers - and ask "do you have a tampon?" and even if they didn't have one to give, there was never judgment. I think it's more based in teenage embarrassment than the way we were taught, but the shame was definitely there. There was a real sense that absolutely no one was supposed to know.
* So much so that when I got my first period - as luck would have it on a weekend my parents were away and we were staying at my grandparents' house - I ransacked under every sink and all the closets looking for a pad because I was on this, I knew what I needed, no need to involve any grownups, nope. When I couldn't find any pads and had to ask my grandmother where she kept them, the look on her face as she cracked up was (in retrospect, not so much at the time) priceless. Because of course nobody told us anything about menopause.
posted by Mchelly at 3:55 AM on May 18, 2016 [51 favorites]
* So much so that when I got my first period - as luck would have it on a weekend my parents were away and we were staying at my grandparents' house - I ransacked under every sink and all the closets looking for a pad because I was on this, I knew what I needed, no need to involve any grownups, nope. When I couldn't find any pads and had to ask my grandmother where she kept them, the look on her face as she cracked up was (in retrospect, not so much at the time) priceless. Because of course nobody told us anything about menopause.
posted by Mchelly at 3:55 AM on May 18, 2016 [51 favorites]
Tangentially related, I saw this IndieGogo the other day - I'd love to know if it actually works.
posted by Mchelly at 3:59 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Mchelly at 3:59 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Mchelly while that looks like it could be brilliant for people with painful periods, the language again is so aggravating - "Livia...is here to save you from your uterus", "Getting your period sucks"... I mean I know a lot of women suffer terribly with them, but the constant referring to periods as a negative burden to bear really annoys me. They are most definitely a burden to a lot of people but not to all of us and they are not negative by default. They might not be as burdensome if medical procedures to help were freely available instead of blocked by judgements and misogyny, so maybe we should be putting the effort into changing that instead of capitalising on women's misery - literally - by selling them ever-increasing amounts of nonsense.
posted by billiebee at 4:11 AM on May 18, 2016 [12 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 4:11 AM on May 18, 2016 [12 favorites]
Word! re being able to ask other women, Mchelly. I don't bleed because I'm on the pill that makes it so (best thing ever), but I still carry a single tampon in my purse for when other women need one. Yep. Because every time I've ever sort of desperately needed one, someone has been there to hand me one and smile that been-there smile.
posted by heyho at 4:11 AM on May 18, 2016 [15 favorites]
posted by heyho at 4:11 AM on May 18, 2016 [15 favorites]
I do think teenage girls worry tremendously about this. I have a very distinct memory of reading a "true" "embarrassing story" in one of those teenage girls' magazines. The story consisted of a girl playing in front of the school on her high school basketball team, and just as she went for a layup, her very bloody tampon fell out and lay there on the gym floor for all to see.
Now, I am in general a pretty hard to embarrass person. But I just cringed every time I imagined myself in that situation. The fact that I still remember it so distinctly umpty-billion years later says something about how viscerally I felt the (fictional!) humiliation.
To be clear: I think it's awful that a natural process of women's bodies is coded as so shameful and gross, and I think products like this feed into and exploit that cultural encoding. But I think there absolutely is a market for it.
posted by forza at 4:25 AM on May 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
Now, I am in general a pretty hard to embarrass person. But I just cringed every time I imagined myself in that situation. The fact that I still remember it so distinctly umpty-billion years later says something about how viscerally I felt the (fictional!) humiliation.
To be clear: I think it's awful that a natural process of women's bodies is coded as so shameful and gross, and I think products like this feed into and exploit that cultural encoding. But I think there absolutely is a market for it.
posted by forza at 4:25 AM on May 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
Menstruel cups are much less prone to leaking - and are reusable.
posted by jb at 4:33 AM on May 18, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by jb at 4:33 AM on May 18, 2016 [7 favorites]
At least this thing was the idea of a woman, no matter how problematic, as opposed to this Microsoft bra which seems to be an entirely male train wreck.
posted by moody cow at 4:38 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by moody cow at 4:38 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
* So much so that when I got my first period - as luck would have it on a weekend my parents were away and we were staying at my grandparents' house - I ransacked under every sink and all the closets looking for a pad because I was on this, I knew what I needed, no need to involve any grownups, nope.
I am forever grateful to my sister-in-law for the one time that we were all on a family outing with my parents and my brother's family; I took her aside and quietly said that "Okay, Mom is 65 and your daughter is 6 - that makes you the only other menstruating woman in the house, so..." She just laughed and handed me something from her purse.
You've also reminded me of a moment from my senior prom, when I was in the restroom and discovered my period had just started, but the only vending machine they had in the restroom where we were sold - condoms. And fortunately, someone's prom date walked in just as I was discovering that, and she saw me standing there staring at it and whimpering and said, "ohhhh, you need a tampon? Here." I don't know who she was - I'd never seen her before and she didn't go to our school. It's possible she was an angel who had become someone's prom date expressly so she could be there to come to my rescue.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:46 AM on May 18, 2016 [58 favorites]
I am forever grateful to my sister-in-law for the one time that we were all on a family outing with my parents and my brother's family; I took her aside and quietly said that "Okay, Mom is 65 and your daughter is 6 - that makes you the only other menstruating woman in the house, so..." She just laughed and handed me something from her purse.
You've also reminded me of a moment from my senior prom, when I was in the restroom and discovered my period had just started, but the only vending machine they had in the restroom where we were sold - condoms. And fortunately, someone's prom date walked in just as I was discovering that, and she saw me standing there staring at it and whimpering and said, "ohhhh, you need a tampon? Here." I don't know who she was - I'd never seen her before and she didn't go to our school. It's possible she was an angel who had become someone's prom date expressly so she could be there to come to my rescue.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:46 AM on May 18, 2016 [58 favorites]
Hi. My name is Rock Steady. Something you might not know about me is that I have a good attitude towards menstruation.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:54 AM on May 18, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 4:54 AM on May 18, 2016 [11 favorites]
"At least this thing was the idea of a woman, no matter how problematic, as opposed to this Microsoft bra which seems to be an entirely male train wreck."
Eh, I wouldn't assume gender by the content and quality of an idea especially since the Microsoft bra was developed by Mary Czerwinski, who is "a cognitive psychologist and senior researcher in visualization and interaction at Microsoft" (as per this article.)
posted by I-baLL at 5:02 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Eh, I wouldn't assume gender by the content and quality of an idea especially since the Microsoft bra was developed by Mary Czerwinski, who is "a cognitive psychologist and senior researcher in visualization and interaction at Microsoft" (as per this article.)
posted by I-baLL at 5:02 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
At least this thing was the idea of a woman, no matter how problematic, as opposed to this Microsoft bra which seems to be an entirely male train wreck.
Holy crap, that is ridiculous. They developed a device for women to have a minimally intrusive EKG, and the best application for it they could think of was stress overeating?
Though it doesn't seem to be correct that it's "an entirely male train wreck," since the lead researcher on the project seems to be a woman. (On preview, as I-baLL said.)
posted by biogeo at 5:04 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
Holy crap, that is ridiculous. They developed a device for women to have a minimally intrusive EKG, and the best application for it they could think of was stress overeating?
Though it doesn't seem to be correct that it's "an entirely male train wreck," since the lead researcher on the project seems to be a woman. (On preview, as I-baLL said.)
posted by biogeo at 5:04 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
If men got periods, it would be a badge of honor to walk around with a big stain on our pants.
The teenage girls and boys I work with seem pretty OK with this today, which is progress. When I was a teen 30 something years ago, I remember the mortification of the girl(s) who leaked onto a classroom chair. They would have to go home for the day because the embarrassment was too much. And the follow up taunting was relentless.
The boys in my school are actually pretty sensitive and understanding when the girls need help. Unfortunately no one is teaching them about their bodies and how to monitor and manage this normally occurring process, and so many of them are frequently unprepared and "surprised."
posted by archimago at 5:17 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
The teenage girls and boys I work with seem pretty OK with this today, which is progress. When I was a teen 30 something years ago, I remember the mortification of the girl(s) who leaked onto a classroom chair. They would have to go home for the day because the embarrassment was too much. And the follow up taunting was relentless.
The boys in my school are actually pretty sensitive and understanding when the girls need help. Unfortunately no one is teaching them about their bodies and how to monitor and manage this normally occurring process, and so many of them are frequently unprepared and "surprised."
posted by archimago at 5:17 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
> Menstruel cups are much less prone to leaking - and are reusable.
Word. And some/many of us, especially after using them for a while, can feel when our cups are full and need to be emptied. Which means that we don't need this product at all: bodies can just be awesome like that, and do awesome stuff. Yay for bodies, menstruating or not!
>There was a Kickstarter for something similar a while ago.
The Looncup! Thanks for linking to that; I was wondering what became of it. As per the latest update, apparently the makers have now decided to make the BlueTooth antenna a part of the body of the cup instead of the stem; in a way, that makes sense, because plenty of cup users are bothered by the stems and need to cut them off. Unfortunately, at the same time, the realtime update feature disappeared as well (quelle surprise!), which was the main selling point for the whole contraption in the first place and now many backers are asking for a refund. Excuse me while I snicker.
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:25 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Word. And some/many of us, especially after using them for a while, can feel when our cups are full and need to be emptied. Which means that we don't need this product at all: bodies can just be awesome like that, and do awesome stuff. Yay for bodies, menstruating or not!
>There was a Kickstarter for something similar a while ago.
The Looncup! Thanks for linking to that; I was wondering what became of it. As per the latest update, apparently the makers have now decided to make the BlueTooth antenna a part of the body of the cup instead of the stem; in a way, that makes sense, because plenty of cup users are bothered by the stems and need to cut them off. Unfortunately, at the same time, the realtime update feature disappeared as well (quelle surprise!), which was the main selling point for the whole contraption in the first place and now many backers are asking for a refund. Excuse me while I snicker.
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:25 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
this Microsoft bra which seems to be an entirely male train wreck
My bra already lets me know when I'm stressed out and eating too much because I find remnants of chocolate in there.
posted by mippy at 5:29 AM on May 18, 2016 [63 favorites]
My bra already lets me know when I'm stressed out and eating too much because I find remnants of chocolate in there.
posted by mippy at 5:29 AM on May 18, 2016 [63 favorites]
I was tempted by the Looncup, but I could see that it would be no good for swimming (which is what I was researching cups for) and also, what happens if you pass through airport security?
posted by mippy at 5:30 AM on May 18, 2016
posted by mippy at 5:30 AM on May 18, 2016
Yesterday, I was pleased to listen as a pair of girls in the high school biology class I teach gave a few confused boys an accurate, matter-of-fact, and unashamed overview of female reproductive anatomy, and how menstruation works. It even included a demonstration of how tampons can absorb a large amount of water.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 5:31 AM on May 18, 2016 [14 favorites]
posted by Salvor Hardin at 5:31 AM on May 18, 2016 [14 favorites]
I went to a Catholic high school and took a great deal of pleasure advertising my period in order to embarrass my teachers so I could get out of class.
Me: (hand up)
Teacher: Yes, Dressed?
Me: "I need to go to Room 321 to ask Lisa C for a SANITARY NAPKIN, sir!"
Teacher: (flustered) Ah, ok...!
Me: (popping head into Room 321) "Ms so-and-so? I need to borrow a SANITARY NAPKIN from Lisa - can she get one from her locker?"
Teacher: (flustered) Ah! ok...!
(me and Lisa leave and fuck off for the afternoon)
posted by Dressed to Kill at 5:35 AM on May 18, 2016 [77 favorites]
Me: (hand up)
Teacher: Yes, Dressed?
Me: "I need to go to Room 321 to ask Lisa C for a SANITARY NAPKIN, sir!"
Teacher: (flustered) Ah, ok...!
Me: (popping head into Room 321) "Ms so-and-so? I need to borrow a SANITARY NAPKIN from Lisa - can she get one from her locker?"
Teacher: (flustered) Ah! ok...!
(me and Lisa leave and fuck off for the afternoon)
posted by Dressed to Kill at 5:35 AM on May 18, 2016 [77 favorites]
I think I'm on the other side of the fence on all of this. While I support destigmatizing and eliminating the shame from menstruation, I don't think the fact that it's a natural bodily process means that we should deny the fact that it's a natural bodily process that for many women is anywhere from minorly inconvenient to outright incapacitating. There are all kinds of natural bodily processes that men and women both share and that we nevertheless don't want permanent reminders of on our clothing, and at least one male-only effluent that is not widely celebrated to my knowledge) as an appropriate adornment for the crotch of one's pants.
I dunno. Maybe it's my ADHD but remembering all my period-related remembers--like when to expect it, having supplies with me when I need them, how long it's been since I changed my tampon, or even simply remembering to reinsert a fresh tampon during the bathroom routine!--has always been a huge struggle for me. Other than that menstruation was not a terrible burden for me, until what I can only assume to be perimenopause arrived and all of a sudden it's like the elevator scene in The Shining for a week at a time, at an increasingly unpredictable interval that only loosely approximates a month.
It's good to be able to talk about a problem without stigma, but that's not the same thing as reclassifying it as "not a problem." I'm not sure I would invest in this technology--I'm not an especially early adopter--but I can definitely see a role for technology of this nature.
posted by drlith at 6:05 AM on May 18, 2016 [13 favorites]
I dunno. Maybe it's my ADHD but remembering all my period-related remembers--like when to expect it, having supplies with me when I need them, how long it's been since I changed my tampon, or even simply remembering to reinsert a fresh tampon during the bathroom routine!--has always been a huge struggle for me. Other than that menstruation was not a terrible burden for me, until what I can only assume to be perimenopause arrived and all of a sudden it's like the elevator scene in The Shining for a week at a time, at an increasingly unpredictable interval that only loosely approximates a month.
It's good to be able to talk about a problem without stigma, but that's not the same thing as reclassifying it as "not a problem." I'm not sure I would invest in this technology--I'm not an especially early adopter--but I can definitely see a role for technology of this nature.
posted by drlith at 6:05 AM on May 18, 2016 [13 favorites]
So the Internet of Things is finally finding its way up our various bodily cavities - I feel we're just one small step away from the true Internet of Shit.
posted by Dr Dracator at 6:07 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Dr Dracator at 6:07 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
drlith, I mostly feel that it sounds rather awkward to have the string of your tampon clipped to your waistband. It makes me feel uncomfortable just thinking about it (apart from the way that tampons all by themselves are uncomfortable to me). What if you're in a hurry to go and pee, and yank your pants down without thinking?
Menstruation, and the risk of leaks, are a problem for some of us, for sure. Personally, I prefer the solutions that we currently have.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:21 AM on May 18, 2016
Menstruation, and the risk of leaks, are a problem for some of us, for sure. Personally, I prefer the solutions that we currently have.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:21 AM on May 18, 2016
Speaking as someone who, to her embarrassment and horror, realized yesterday that my period arrived in a fury and I was traveling on a bus with no tampons on my person, I welcome options where I am not in tears with pain and a soaked crotch and nowhere near a place of privacy or safety.
posted by Kitteh at 6:21 AM on May 18, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 6:21 AM on May 18, 2016 [9 favorites]
So the Internet of Things is finally finding its way up our various bodily cavities
The future is now.
posted by freya_lamb at 6:47 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
The future is now.
posted by freya_lamb at 6:47 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
And here's where I expound upon the wonders of the Clue app! Track your periods! It lets you know when your period is coming! I love it!
posted by cooker girl at 7:07 AM on May 18, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by cooker girl at 7:07 AM on May 18, 2016 [6 favorites]
Just saw this on my Twitter, OBGYN Jen Gunter talking about why it's not a good idea to use a natural sea sponge (as recommended by Glamour). Which is a good general reminder to be careful what you stick up there.
posted by emjaybee at 7:10 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by emjaybee at 7:10 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
So, when I was working the front desk at an art museum, one morning we had a Famous Female Author come to speak in one of our galleries. Part of my job was checking bags both in and out if people weren't leaving them in the coin-op lockers in the lobby. So, I greeted FFA and took just a cursory peek in her bag on her way in. She was very cool about it.
Later on, I was relieved for my lunch break by the building manager; when I got back, FFA hurried up to the desk from where she had been waiting just around the corner.
"I'm so glad you're back," she said. "I was waiting for you because I have tampons in my bag and I didn't want that man rifling through them."
I don't know, maybe it's silly, but it sort of made me feel a little better to know that even famous, successful women still worry about their tampons like the rest of us.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:11 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Later on, I was relieved for my lunch break by the building manager; when I got back, FFA hurried up to the desk from where she had been waiting just around the corner.
"I'm so glad you're back," she said. "I was waiting for you because I have tampons in my bag and I didn't want that man rifling through them."
I don't know, maybe it's silly, but it sort of made me feel a little better to know that even famous, successful women still worry about their tampons like the rest of us.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:11 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Menstruel cups are much less prone to leaking - and are reusable.
I wish we still had the BLINK tag, so I could say (as I feel like a say every time this comes up) Menstrual cups do not work for every woman, because not everyone's anatomy is the same. If, for example, you are one of the about 1 in 4 women who have a tipped uterus, there is a high chance that a cup won't work for you. (Many women who have a tipped uterus can't use tampons comfortably for the same reason.)
Cups are great, but they are not the one true way.
posted by anastasiav at 7:13 AM on May 18, 2016 [21 favorites]
I wish we still had the BLINK tag, so I could say (as I feel like a say every time this comes up) Menstrual cups do not work for every woman, because not everyone's anatomy is the same. If, for example, you are one of the about 1 in 4 women who have a tipped uterus, there is a high chance that a cup won't work for you. (Many women who have a tipped uterus can't use tampons comfortably for the same reason.)
Cups are great, but they are not the one true way.
posted by anastasiav at 7:13 AM on May 18, 2016 [21 favorites]
And here's where I expound upon the wonders of the Clue app! Track your periods! It lets you know when your period is coming! I love it!
I too love Clue and am kicking myself for not paying attention to its notification that told me my period was due yesterday.
posted by Kitteh at 7:14 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
I too love Clue and am kicking myself for not paying attention to its notification that told me my period was due yesterday.
posted by Kitteh at 7:14 AM on May 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
I wish we still had the BLINK tag
MeFi still has it; it's the browsers that stopped rendering it.
posted by cortex at 7:17 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
MeFi still has it; it's the browsers that stopped rendering it.
posted by cortex at 7:17 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
Ths is not a real problem
Are you sure? Here, watch these commercials. Just to be sure.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 7:20 AM on May 18, 2016
Are you sure? Here, watch these commercials. Just to be sure.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 7:20 AM on May 18, 2016
anastasiav: Cups are great, but they are not the one true way.
Of course they aren't. Of all the ways that people deal with their periods, there is not a single one that works for everyone. I'm pretty sure we all realise that.
posted by Too-Ticky at 7:21 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
Of course they aren't. Of all the ways that people deal with their periods, there is not a single one that works for everyone. I'm pretty sure we all realise that.
posted by Too-Ticky at 7:21 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
And here's where I expound upon the wonders of the Clue app! Track your periods! It lets you know when your period is coming! I love it!
Until the day you start on the path towards menopause and your cycles start going haywire and any kind of tracking app pretty much throws up its little electronic hands and says "I have no idea what's going on any more FUCK THIS".
Ask me how i know about that kind of thing.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:21 AM on May 18, 2016 [13 favorites]
Until the day you start on the path towards menopause and your cycles start going haywire and any kind of tracking app pretty much throws up its little electronic hands and says "I have no idea what's going on any more FUCK THIS".
Ask me how i know about that kind of thing.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:21 AM on May 18, 2016 [13 favorites]
The story consisted of a girl playing in front of the school on her high school basketball team, and just as she went for a layup, her very bloody tampon fell out and lay there on the gym floor for all to see.
why were they playing basketball naked?
posted by poffin boffin at 7:42 AM on May 18, 2016 [10 favorites]
why were they playing basketball naked?
posted by poffin boffin at 7:42 AM on May 18, 2016 [10 favorites]
Does anyone have teen-girl magazines in their lives (daughters? read them yourself for fun? I do not judge!) and do they still have an endless parade of those real-life-embarrassment-story columns? Because yeah, I remember they always seemed to be full of Someone Found Out I Had My Period stories. I don't think I ever actually had any sort of horrifying menstrual drama, but oh, how I lived in fear that I would someday, because Seventeen had taught me that was a frequent occurrence. I'm vaguely curious whether that's still a thing we're horrifying young women about.
(Between the Mirena, and the DivaCup before her, I have not needed a tampon or pad for myself in a solid decade or so now. But I still keep a small stash in my bathroom in case a guest ever needs one. It's never occurred to me to carry something with me, but I think maybe now I will.)
posted by Stacey at 7:49 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
(Between the Mirena, and the DivaCup before her, I have not needed a tampon or pad for myself in a solid decade or so now. But I still keep a small stash in my bathroom in case a guest ever needs one. It's never occurred to me to carry something with me, but I think maybe now I will.)
posted by Stacey at 7:49 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
I have a very distinct memory of reading a "true" "embarrassing story" in one of those teenage girls' magazines. The story consisted of a girl playing in front of the school on her high school basketball team, and just as she went for a layup, her very bloody tampon fell out and lay there on the gym floor for all to see.
OH MY GOD I REMEMBER READING THIS. All these years later.
I am not in the market for this kind of thing -- I can barely be bothered to upgrade a phone, much less become an early adopter for new technology. But now I remember how miserable the very idea of a stain could make me when I was a tween and young teenager. I didn't get a reliable source of those good, thin, broad pads for a couple of years; they were new then. The little bastards from Kotex or Modess were easy to find in a school vending machine or hide in your purse, but they weren't much good to me.
If this could help a teenage girl . . . well, I still think it's expensive nonsense, but girls that age don't get much peace of mind. Free tracking apps are helpful for knowing when to go out forearmed, but if you are irregular, you can still get fooled, and girls are often irregular.
Here's my humorous story of pointless double standards.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:50 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
OH MY GOD I REMEMBER READING THIS. All these years later.
I am not in the market for this kind of thing -- I can barely be bothered to upgrade a phone, much less become an early adopter for new technology. But now I remember how miserable the very idea of a stain could make me when I was a tween and young teenager. I didn't get a reliable source of those good, thin, broad pads for a couple of years; they were new then. The little bastards from Kotex or Modess were easy to find in a school vending machine or hide in your purse, but they weren't much good to me.
If this could help a teenage girl . . . well, I still think it's expensive nonsense, but girls that age don't get much peace of mind. Free tracking apps are helpful for knowing when to go out forearmed, but if you are irregular, you can still get fooled, and girls are often irregular.
Here's my humorous story of pointless double standards.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:50 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
I hate this idea so much. It is incredibly unnecessary. And cumbersome. I can't imagine anyone I know using this. Adding technology to everything is so bizarre.
posted by agregoli at 8:34 AM on May 18, 2016
posted by agregoli at 8:34 AM on May 18, 2016
But I still keep a small stash in my bathroom in case a guest ever needs one.
Thanks for notifying me of a privilege I didn't bother thinking about. Going to pick some up in case a houseguest is ever in need.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:37 AM on May 18, 2016 [22 favorites]
Thanks for notifying me of a privilege I didn't bother thinking about. Going to pick some up in case a houseguest is ever in need.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:37 AM on May 18, 2016 [22 favorites]
fffm, that's cool, and please open the box and remove a tampon or three. As your houseguest, that would make me feel that it's okay to take one.
posted by Too-Ticky at 9:38 AM on May 18, 2016 [26 favorites]
posted by Too-Ticky at 9:38 AM on May 18, 2016 [26 favorites]
Anyone else horrified by this part where they explain why they use purple liquid in demonstrations?
Well, says Field, “in pad commercials it’s usually blue so we wanted it to be a little more realistic. We thought we’d go for red but didn’t want to alienate anyone. We want to change the conversation [around periods] but we’re not looking to cause a revolt. So we mixed blue with red. It meets in the middle.”
WHO WOULD THEY BE ALIENATING? WHO WOULD BE REVOLTING?
posted by meemzi at 9:38 AM on May 18, 2016 [16 favorites]
Well, says Field, “in pad commercials it’s usually blue so we wanted it to be a little more realistic. We thought we’d go for red but didn’t want to alienate anyone. We want to change the conversation [around periods] but we’re not looking to cause a revolt. So we mixed blue with red. It meets in the middle.”
WHO WOULD THEY BE ALIENATING? WHO WOULD BE REVOLTING?
posted by meemzi at 9:38 AM on May 18, 2016 [16 favorites]
Well, says Field, “in pad commercials it’s usually blue so we wanted it to be a little more realistic. We thought we’d go for red but didn’t want to alienate anyone. We want to change the conversation [around periods] but we’re not looking to cause a revolt. So we mixed blue with red. It meets in the middle.”
Oh - that's what's supposed to happen.
posted by Mchelly at 9:48 AM on May 18, 2016
Oh - that's what's supposed to happen.
posted by Mchelly at 9:48 AM on May 18, 2016
"WHO WOULD THEY BE ALIENATING? WHO WOULD BE REVOLTING?"
At first I was going to make a joke about aliens but then I realized that maybe they're talking about people who get queasy and feel faint (or do faint) at the sight of blood so maybe them?
posted by I-baLL at 9:51 AM on May 18, 2016
At first I was going to make a joke about aliens but then I realized that maybe they're talking about people who get queasy and feel faint (or do faint) at the sight of blood so maybe them?
posted by I-baLL at 9:51 AM on May 18, 2016
WHO WOULD THEY BE ALIENATING? WHO WOULD BE REVOLTING?
Us fragile men and our pathetic and shameful inability to handle biological reality. Way back in the mists of time--like, highschool--a friend of mine did a tampon commercial. The two things she mentioned were: 1) it paid extraordinarily well, way beyond what she'd received for any other TV work she'd done to date, 2) being absolutely surrounded by men on the set. I didn't pick up on that, of course, as a stupid teenager. But it makes sense; if women were making every decision about tampon/pad/cup advertising from top to bottom (incl. scheduling the ads on the air), I'd be willing to bet cash money the liquid used would be red. But because it's fragile men, it must be sanitized for our protection.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:00 AM on May 18, 2016
Us fragile men and our pathetic and shameful inability to handle biological reality. Way back in the mists of time--like, highschool--a friend of mine did a tampon commercial. The two things she mentioned were: 1) it paid extraordinarily well, way beyond what she'd received for any other TV work she'd done to date, 2) being absolutely surrounded by men on the set. I didn't pick up on that, of course, as a stupid teenager. But it makes sense; if women were making every decision about tampon/pad/cup advertising from top to bottom (incl. scheduling the ads on the air), I'd be willing to bet cash money the liquid used would be red. But because it's fragile men, it must be sanitized for our protection.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:00 AM on May 18, 2016
Some people don't handle the sight of blood well, no matter from which part of the body it is issuing forth. Maybe I'm fragile, but large amounts of blood can be ptsd-inducing for those of us who have witnessed severe traumas that involved blood. I can see why an advertiser might think twice about using red liquid in this circumstance, apart from judgementalism about periods.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:07 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:07 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yes but it's not that, is it? It's because ugh period blood. It's not like they use large amounts of any coloured liquid in those adverts, it's a tiny amount for demo purposes. They're not restaging Carrie or anything. In laundry detergent adverts they generally show a child's cut knee to illustrate blood as one of the stains that can be magically removed and I was in adulthood before I figured out that it was really a stand-in for menstrual blood. I would pay good money to see a detergent advert where the "housewife" figure shakes her head and smiles wryly as she holds up a white shirt with dirty cuffs, a child's sports kit covered with grass stains, then finally a pair of knickers with a bloody gusset.
posted by billiebee at 10:16 AM on May 18, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 10:16 AM on May 18, 2016 [11 favorites]
Hey, I imagined this device some time ago! I could have gone out and disrupted the period space!
Seriously, while the apparatus here seems cumbersome, the underlying idea of your tampon's notifying you when it's getting saturated is not a bad one. You don't have to be consumed with dysphoria not to want to walk around with blood all over your pants. I work in a professional environment--if I had tomato sauce all over my crotch area, I'd have to go home and change. The big problem with tampons has always been having to keep an eye on saturation in light of variable flow, and of course you can't tell that's happening until just as it's starting. Solve that, and less worry, less waste.
posted by praemunire at 10:19 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Seriously, while the apparatus here seems cumbersome, the underlying idea of your tampon's notifying you when it's getting saturated is not a bad one. You don't have to be consumed with dysphoria not to want to walk around with blood all over your pants. I work in a professional environment--if I had tomato sauce all over my crotch area, I'd have to go home and change. The big problem with tampons has always been having to keep an eye on saturation in light of variable flow, and of course you can't tell that's happening until just as it's starting. Solve that, and less worry, less waste.
posted by praemunire at 10:19 AM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yes, girls' magazines still have embarrassing moments letters in them. My daughter loves them even more than the quizzes and rereads her favorite mortifying stories. I haven't seen periods yet, but there is definitely a lot about crushes (especially doing anything slightly dumb in front of them) and the rest seems evenly spread between farting and underwear (including having to wear a bra and anyone having the knowledge that you wear one). It might be that this is marketed to 8 and up since it had no problem with being embarrassed about seeing underwear.
It does seem like everything connected with puberty for girls is embarrassing in US culture. It doesn't seem fair that guys get to be proud of facial hair -- what do young women get to be proud of that's better than being a girl still?
posted by Margalo Epps at 10:19 AM on May 18, 2016
It does seem like everything connected with puberty for girls is embarrassing in US culture. It doesn't seem fair that guys get to be proud of facial hair -- what do young women get to be proud of that's better than being a girl still?
posted by Margalo Epps at 10:19 AM on May 18, 2016
billiebee: "In laundry detergent adverts they generally show a child's cut knee to illustrate blood as one of the stains that can be magically removed and I was in adulthood before I figured out that it was really a stand-in for menstrual blood."
I... had not figured that out until you just said it now. I am 40. I am confident I would never have figured it out if you hadn't mentioned it, despite the fact that I do the majority of the laundry for my wife, my teen daughter and I. Thanks, billiebee. The amount of privilege that gets pointed out to me on a regular basis on MetaFilter would fill dozens of invisible knapsacks.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:27 AM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
I... had not figured that out until you just said it now. I am 40. I am confident I would never have figured it out if you hadn't mentioned it, despite the fact that I do the majority of the laundry for my wife, my teen daughter and I. Thanks, billiebee. The amount of privilege that gets pointed out to me on a regular basis on MetaFilter would fill dozens of invisible knapsacks.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:27 AM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
There's so many fish in the barrel of how advertising treats women, I guess we could give them a pass on the blue liquid thing: it's probably their finely tuned data indicating blue for fake body fluids sells 0.005% more whatevers than any other color - they use the same thing in baby diaper ads.
posted by Dr Dracator at 10:34 AM on May 18, 2016
posted by Dr Dracator at 10:34 AM on May 18, 2016
ok but if clear red liquid is so terrifying to people then how do they handle kool-aid commercials, it must be very startling to see this enormous blood jug come smashing through the wall bellowing crazed exhortions for youths to enjoy his gory nectar
anyway maxi pad commercials should obviously use rainbow glitter suspended in a clear non newtonian fluid
posted by poffin boffin at 10:50 AM on May 18, 2016 [39 favorites]
anyway maxi pad commercials should obviously use rainbow glitter suspended in a clear non newtonian fluid
posted by poffin boffin at 10:50 AM on May 18, 2016 [39 favorites]
Seconding rainbow glitter. Also still waiting for shark-themed menstrual supplies.
I guess girls get to be proud of boobs but unless you have the right boobs, it's shame city.
posted by meemzi at 11:09 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
I guess girls get to be proud of boobs but unless you have the right boobs, it's shame city.
posted by meemzi at 11:09 AM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
I dunno. Maybe it's my ADHD but remembering all my period-related remembers--like when to expect it, having supplies with me when I need them, how long it's been since I changed my tampon, or even simply remembering to reinsert a fresh tampon during the bathroom routine!--has always been a huge struggle for me.
Is technology the solution, though? I mean for tampons, following the instructions is advisable anyway (to prevent toxic shock syndrome), should be enough... A liner for backup isn't required but such products exist for people who need them. Pads - it's not really hard to tell when it's time for a reup, we already have a sensor system (but even disregarding that, just from a hygiene POV... regularly? every few hours?). Forgetting to bring pads/tampons while out is not a problem that's likely to be fixed by increasing the amount of gear to remember.
There are 1 million other things that could do with attention (and money), I just find this baffling...
Reducing the *cost* of existing supplies, or maybe not taxing them, or maybe asking business owners to actually fill those 25 cent machines, might be a better use of time but idk
posted by cotton dress sock at 11:15 AM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
Is technology the solution, though? I mean for tampons, following the instructions is advisable anyway (to prevent toxic shock syndrome), should be enough... A liner for backup isn't required but such products exist for people who need them. Pads - it's not really hard to tell when it's time for a reup, we already have a sensor system (but even disregarding that, just from a hygiene POV... regularly? every few hours?). Forgetting to bring pads/tampons while out is not a problem that's likely to be fixed by increasing the amount of gear to remember.
There are 1 million other things that could do with attention (and money), I just find this baffling...
Reducing the *cost* of existing supplies, or maybe not taxing them, or maybe asking business owners to actually fill those 25 cent machines, might be a better use of time but idk
posted by cotton dress sock at 11:15 AM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
Sorry - I do get the issue of forgetting to do things that need regular attention. This is a device I do think is useful.
posted by cotton dress sock at 11:39 AM on May 18, 2016
posted by cotton dress sock at 11:39 AM on May 18, 2016
When I was in school, if I had all the brain power available to me that was being used up contemplating when my period was coming, or if I had it, how bad the stain all over my ass was, because I DEFINITELY had a giant stain all over my ass, oh boy I could have gotten in to MIT or something. As soon as I found out that it was possible to be walking around with a stain on your ass without knowing it & without warning, it became an all-consuming obsession. Even now, with years of experience to know that it doesn't come shooting out like a geyser and you have a little time before it reaches your pants, I STILL get these thoughts.
This prevarication around the right way to challenge menstruation etiquette, the desire to be revolutionary – but not revolting! – results in a sort of confusion as to whether my.Flow is breaking down menstruation stigmas, or monetizing and reinforcing them.
I thought the article itself was really good, very insightful and actually going and pointing out all the problems with this technology. In my opinion the only technological breakthrough that menstruation products need is to just be wide & tall enough. Pads have been getting narrower and shorter, I guess to save money? This is why I only use adult incontinence products now. They are so much more reliable.
But if we have to have some kind of Internet of Things shit, awhile back we were talking about nanobots that scoop you out in your sleep. I would go for that.
posted by bleep at 11:48 AM on May 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
This prevarication around the right way to challenge menstruation etiquette, the desire to be revolutionary – but not revolting! – results in a sort of confusion as to whether my.Flow is breaking down menstruation stigmas, or monetizing and reinforcing them.
I thought the article itself was really good, very insightful and actually going and pointing out all the problems with this technology. In my opinion the only technological breakthrough that menstruation products need is to just be wide & tall enough. Pads have been getting narrower and shorter, I guess to save money? This is why I only use adult incontinence products now. They are so much more reliable.
But if we have to have some kind of Internet of Things shit, awhile back we were talking about nanobots that scoop you out in your sleep. I would go for that.
posted by bleep at 11:48 AM on May 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
Ah, sorry, bleep... that does sound difficult.
I think your lower-tech solution makes more sense than this thing, though.
There is a place for assistive tech for attention issues (which I also suffer from), for sure, but for devices to be extremely task-specific like that, not applicable to any other use, is (I feel) maybe not that helpful for this problem. Gadgety, so gadgety, Inspector Gadgety
posted by cotton dress sock at 12:08 PM on May 18, 2016
I think your lower-tech solution makes more sense than this thing, though.
There is a place for assistive tech for attention issues (which I also suffer from), for sure, but for devices to be extremely task-specific like that, not applicable to any other use, is (I feel) maybe not that helpful for this problem. Gadgety, so gadgety, Inspector Gadgety
posted by cotton dress sock at 12:08 PM on May 18, 2016
I don't use tampons but I think in the future, if there was a way to alert you it was done that was tiny, waterproof, completely unobtrusive, disposable, environmentally-friendly, and affordable, it would be pretty cool. This is not there yet.
posted by bleep at 12:18 PM on May 18, 2016
posted by bleep at 12:18 PM on May 18, 2016
I'll talk about measuring trees any time.
.... Oh, I thought you said "mensuration"
posted by humboldt32 at 12:23 PM on May 18, 2016
.... Oh, I thought you said "mensuration"
posted by humboldt32 at 12:23 PM on May 18, 2016
ok but if clear red liquid is so terrifying to people then how do they handle kool-aid commercials, it must be very startling to see this enormous blood jug come smashing through the wall bellowing crazed exhortions for youths to enjoy his gory nectar
It's funny, but you just never know. I lived 2 blocks from the People's Temple in San Francisco until they moved to Guyana, and while the giant Kool-aid thing doesn't terrify me, the Jonestown event sure "colors" my perception.
Yeah, blue liquids in advertising look "clean" and I'm sure it's focus-grouped all to hell.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:23 PM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's funny, but you just never know. I lived 2 blocks from the People's Temple in San Francisco until they moved to Guyana, and while the giant Kool-aid thing doesn't terrify me, the Jonestown event sure "colors" my perception.
Yeah, blue liquids in advertising look "clean" and I'm sure it's focus-grouped all to hell.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:23 PM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
Courteney Cox for Tampax, back in 1985. This commercial was extremely controversial at the time because Cox *gasp* used the word "period" to refer to menstruation. (This was the first time it was done on a US TV ad)
posted by SisterHavana at 2:08 PM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by SisterHavana at 2:08 PM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
"it must be very startling to see this enormous blood jug come smashing through the wall bellowing crazed exhortions for youths to enjoy his gory nectar"
Laughing so hard I may rupture something...
posted by WalkerWestridge at 3:00 PM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Laughing so hard I may rupture something...
posted by WalkerWestridge at 3:00 PM on May 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
They also use blue liquid to symbolize urine in diaper ads, but that could just be because yellow liquid would be more difficult to see.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:34 PM on May 18, 2016
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:34 PM on May 18, 2016
"...president of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research" *
Yessss. More proof for my students that there is an association/society/committee/etc. for absolutely everything. Also for just sheer awesome: yes, let's have more research on the menstrual cycle--please and thank you!
*Linking to their Fb page because google thinks their website might have been hacked
posted by librarylis at 6:18 PM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yessss. More proof for my students that there is an association/society/committee/etc. for absolutely everything. Also for just sheer awesome: yes, let's have more research on the menstrual cycle--please and thank you!
*Linking to their Fb page because google thinks their website might have been hacked
posted by librarylis at 6:18 PM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
I go and find the only other woman on the floor
it's the secretary sitting at the desk by the door
I ask her if she's got a tampon I could use
she says
oh honey, what a hassle for you
sure I do
you know I do
I say
it ain't no hassle, no, it ain't no mess
right now it's the only power
that I possess
these businessmen got the money
they got the instruments of death
But I can make life
I can make breath
posted by bendy at 6:27 PM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
it's the secretary sitting at the desk by the door
I ask her if she's got a tampon I could use
she says
oh honey, what a hassle for you
sure I do
you know I do
I say
it ain't no hassle, no, it ain't no mess
right now it's the only power
that I possess
these businessmen got the money
they got the instruments of death
But I can make life
I can make breath
posted by bendy at 6:27 PM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
I loved reading those mortifying stories in magazines (I would still read them if those magazines were lying around somewhere) but I was never actually afraid of anyone seeing my tampon/period blood/whatever. I'm sure this was just because I was a big nerd who did not give a fuck. Once I had my period at a boy's house and wrapped my tampon in tissue and threw it in the garbage, and he went to the bathroom after me, and when he came back he was like, "omg, I was in the bathroom and I sneezed and I grabbed a piece of toilet paper from the garbage to sneeze in and it had your tampon in it! Agh!" and I was like "? are you an idiot? Don't take used tissue out of the garbage??" And I'm pretty sure that story was calculated to make me feel maximum shame, despite the fact that he was the one rooting around in the garbage. I think that cemented my no-fucks-giving forever.
I think my "period stain" shame would be about on par with my "blew my nose and a boog got stuck to my nostril" shame or my "saliva randomly squirted out of my mouth while talking to someone at work" shame or my "didn't eat breakfast and stomach is grumbling on a date" shame. Which is to say, bodies are inconvenient, but literally who cares about a little menstrual blood.
posted by stoneandstar at 10:20 PM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
I think my "period stain" shame would be about on par with my "blew my nose and a boog got stuck to my nostril" shame or my "saliva randomly squirted out of my mouth while talking to someone at work" shame or my "didn't eat breakfast and stomach is grumbling on a date" shame. Which is to say, bodies are inconvenient, but literally who cares about a little menstrual blood.
posted by stoneandstar at 10:20 PM on May 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
I'm also highly confused about the "bloody tampon falls out during basketball" story? Like it must have really worked its way down, then fallen out, then fallen out of her underwear and her shorts? What? ... possible... yet unlikely? Does this happen to people? I would imagine a pad getting unstuck and wiggling out would be more plausible.
posted by stoneandstar at 10:23 PM on May 18, 2016
posted by stoneandstar at 10:23 PM on May 18, 2016
I could see that happening to me. Everyone's body is shaped slightly differently plus the learning curve to getting them ALL the way up there. Getting them in and having them stay put doesn't work great for everyone.
posted by bleep at 10:47 PM on May 18, 2016
posted by bleep at 10:47 PM on May 18, 2016
Bleep: I think that stoneandstar's wondering isn't so much about "how did the tampon work its way out of her body" so much as it's about 'how did the tampon not get caught by her underwear". And I'll admit that that's something I'm wondering about the "went for a layup and her tampon fell out onto the floor" story myself, because I wasn't under the impression that female athletes went commando.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:59 AM on May 19, 2016
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:59 AM on May 19, 2016
I assume that the tampon-basketball story was actually fake (as I assume, in hindsight, all of their embarrassing stories are). As a naive 12 or 13 year old with little experience of tampons, none of this occurred to me, of course. I just assumed that tampons were amazingly hard to keep in one's underwear... like all the blood made them super-slippery or something. This story contributed to a new fear of spontaneous emergence of the tampon. The fact that it could do so in some completely unpredictable way that violated the laws of physics made it more scary to me -- I could never predict it! -- rather than making me think that the story was clearly made up.
I never said I was a smart kid...
posted by forza at 3:01 AM on May 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
I never said I was a smart kid...
posted by forza at 3:01 AM on May 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
"...president of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research" *
Yessss. More proof for my students that there is an association/society/committee/etc. for absolutely everything
I know you probably don't mean disrespect but the Society is not just some one off thing made up a few years ago for the internet. They've been around since 1979.
I love love love the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research and the blog Re:Cycling. They are doing amazing work and it was really them who convinced me to let go of my period shame! And also get angry about the almost total lack of research regarding periods.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:17 AM on May 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yessss. More proof for my students that there is an association/society/committee/etc. for absolutely everything
I know you probably don't mean disrespect but the Society is not just some one off thing made up a few years ago for the internet. They've been around since 1979.
I love love love the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research and the blog Re:Cycling. They are doing amazing work and it was really them who convinced me to let go of my period shame! And also get angry about the almost total lack of research regarding periods.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:17 AM on May 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
Fuck pads and tampons and cups and aps and all that nonsense. I want menstrual extraction to become a real thing. Especially since developing fibroid tumors I bleed like crazy for the first day and a half (as in changing once and hour or less, I don't sleep the first night) and then my period can be as long as TEN FREAKIN' DAYS LONG! If I could just go, oh look, my period started better go get my vag vac. Boom, done! my life would be soon much better.
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 12:31 PM on May 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 12:31 PM on May 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
VagVac as an option would be a fine thing. If it happens before the next bloody go-around, even more fine.
posted by datawrangler at 1:02 PM on May 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by datawrangler at 1:02 PM on May 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
I know you probably don't mean disrespect but the Society is not just some one off thing made up a few years ago for the internet. They've been around since 1979.
Er, of course not? I'm not quite sure what went awry with my words, but I intend zero disrespect and did not assume that they were a) recent or b) made up. I am genuinely excited that there is a society promoting menstrual research and I am genuinely excited to tell my students about it where relevant.
posted by librarylis at 5:54 PM on May 20, 2016
Er, of course not? I'm not quite sure what went awry with my words, but I intend zero disrespect and did not assume that they were a) recent or b) made up. I am genuinely excited that there is a society promoting menstrual research and I am genuinely excited to tell my students about it where relevant.
posted by librarylis at 5:54 PM on May 20, 2016
I would like to share some words of wisdom from one of my favorite old-school riot grrrl bands and the woman who wrote the song actually turned out to gain some fame and recognition when she became one of the front women fpr Sleater-Kinney. This is a Heavens to Betsy song called my red self: "what is the color/the color of shame/is it red/is it blood blood red? does it creep out/from my two legs/up to my face/if you notice the stain.
never wear white when your shame will creep right through. is this the rag/you use to humiliate me/because I was born/I was born a girl? is this the rag/you use to humiliate me/because I was born/ Iwas born to bleed? never wear white we are shame will creep through never wear white or your shame will creep right through. What is the color the color of shame? I know it's red I know it's blood blood red. Is this the period/Too long too strange/for you to understand/ [gets louder, angrier] so you make me hide/the truth from you/so you make me hide/my red self from you.
posted by CallandTesponse at 10:09 AM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
never wear white when your shame will creep right through. is this the rag/you use to humiliate me/because I was born/I was born a girl? is this the rag/you use to humiliate me/because I was born/ Iwas born to bleed? never wear white we are shame will creep through never wear white or your shame will creep right through. What is the color the color of shame? I know it's red I know it's blood blood red. Is this the period/Too long too strange/for you to understand/ [gets louder, angrier] so you make me hide/the truth from you/so you make me hide/my red self from you.
posted by CallandTesponse at 10:09 AM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Scientists Avoid Studying Women’s Bodies Because They Get Periods
posted by homunculus at 12:40 PM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by homunculus at 12:40 PM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by billiebee at 3:21 AM on May 18, 2016 [83 favorites]