When it comes to competitiveness, I am the winner. I choose to be ridiculously competitive about certain things, and my fight to beat everyone else is bloody, bitter, and vaguely worrying. Of all the things I’ve fought hardest to win though, puberty was maybe not one that you’d expect. I wanted to grow up faster than all my friends, and I wanted it badly.
Maybe that’s why I never understood – and still don’t understand – the negativity that menstruation seems to evoke. Periods, to me, seem messy, annoying, and slightly nerve-racking. However, they’re also to thank for, oh, you know, just the entirety of the human race.
When it comes to the perception of menstruation, one could argue that our attitude towards it has almost regressed. In Ancient Greece …
While I understand that there is humour in provocation, this meme (the picture to the left) that’s been making the rounds on websites like 9gag and We Know Memes made me throw up in my mouth a little. Although I love these websites to death, and I think the political potential of memes is huge, these websites (9gag in particular) feature so much overt sexism that I often get mixed feelings. I think 9gag may be conditioning women to think that sexism is funny and perfectly acceptable.
Honestly, sexist jokes — such as the “woman-in-kitchen” variety — never used to offend me that much. I didn’t think that they really had much to do with women, just like yo-mama jokes have nothing to do with mothers. I figured they were …
I just wanted to share with you guys a short video piece I did as part of my Masters thesis for The New School in early 2011. It is a short discussion among young women about the use of the menstrual cup.
Tell It Like It Is: Demystifying Childbirth for Teens
Last Sunday the Guardian website published an article highlighting the rise in reported birth trauma in the UK. The piece, reported on the National Health Service’s response to the number of women requesting caesarian sections for second births, after bad first experiences have left them too scared to opt for traditional methods.
Tocophobia, or the fear of childbirth is said to be increasing at an alarming rate on these shores and an official study is now under way. As someone who last year had a child of her own, I read the Guardian’s article with great interest, even more so when the selected interviewee Angela Almond described a ‘traumatic’ childbirth experience that was not too dissimilar to that of my own and other mothers I know. Now I would …
Pads, Phallus, and Gloria: Advocating for Trash Bins and More
I recently came across Gloria Steinem’s “If Men Could Menstruate” as I was perusing over required reading packet. In this article, Steinem creates an alternate universe where the power of the penis is amplified by not women but men’s ability to menstruate. She hypothesizes that it would be no surprise to find the government taking an active role in making “monthly discomforts” more convenient, boys competing for longest and largest amount of monthly blood loss, and boyfriends encouraging intercourse at “that time of the month.” As I lmfao-ed, I remembered a certain incident at a yacht party in the early summer.
My friend’s parents had organized a yacht party to celebrate his graduation. Families and friends showed up in their cocktail dresses and suave suits. Before boarding, …
Why are tampon ads constantly stupid? It’s embarrassing how advertisers think that because periods are a “girl” problem that we must want to see “girly” ads. So what does this translate to? Girls behaving stupidly and in a way that has nothing to do with their periods.
Example 1
Now, I understand loving being a woman and all that – I’m not ashamed of my period – but to be perfectly honest it does not make me want to dance and sing. Ever. But, gee, isn’t this what girls do when they’re happy? They jump around in flippy dresses with big goofy smiles on their faces! I’m actually surprised there isn’t a field of daisies in the background.
