Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation (34 page)

Finley is the go-to guy for all kinds of menstrual facts, opinions, and research. He’s been quoted in The New York Times, featured on The Daily Show, and written up in Bust magazine. He was also the subject of a Sylvia comic strip, interviewed by Howard Stern, and consulted as an underwear expert (his site also covers the evolution of underwear) when Britney Spears flashed the paparazzi.

Mum.org
is totally unique and absolutely riveting. One could spend days (and trust us, we have) exploring its strangely nonlinear layout, bouncing from patent medicine ingredients to visitors’ quotes, vintage ads, art created with menstrual blood, then over to Harry’s personal collection of cat photos. It’s an extraordinary, albeit highly idiosyncratic and subjective, forum. And okay, if one was maybe expecting the Smithsonian, one can certainly pick at the Museum of Menstruation for all kinds of reasons (that it’s run by a guy, that it’s disorganized, that it’s so utterly opinionated, that it’s even called “mum” in the first place), but that’s missing the point. Harry Finley’s collection is really the only extensive repository of a pretty remarkable aspect of women’s history … and that’s worth a shout-out, no?

Another male voice in the menstrual world is Vinnie, as in Vinnie’s Giant Roller Coaster Period Chart & Journal Sticker Book. The book contains charts and stickers to help keep track of first and last days, when friends are menstruating, and mood and body changes. Fans can also pick up Vinnie’s Cramp-Kicking Remedies and Vinnie’s Tampon Case.

So what do we make of men horning in on our body processes and, in Vinnie’s case, turning a handy buck? Our feeling is, they’ve already been doing that for centuries, and at least Harry Finley and Vinnie are, relatively anyway, forces of good as opposed to evil. What’s more intriguing to us is the overriding idea that femcare has been so long monopolized by the same monstrous juggernaut of manufacturing, medicine, advertising, and religion that any fresh, individual voices seem like cool water in a blazing desert.

Think about the young women who created Tampaction, a campaign of the Student Environmental Action Committee. Their goal?“To destroy patriarchal taboos, end environmental degradation caused by disposable tampons and pads, and promote vaginal and menstrual health.“They spread their message in strictly grassroots terms, by encouraging fellow students to educate themselves about the products they’re using and then share that information about alternatives on their campuses.

“That Time of the Month” uterus prick cushion © Ell Pace

Blood Sisters (
bloodsisters.org
) promotes menstrual activism by encouraging women to bring product concerns to the attention of both femcare manufacturers and government officials. They also encourage experimentation with alternative products. They’ve hosted “Be Rad, Make a Pad,” “Ax Tampax,” and “D.I.Y. Gyno” workshops, produced the zine Red Alert, and continue to provide downloadable make-your-own-reusable-pad instructions on their Web site.

While menstruation is almost never mentioned in mainstream culture, it’s amazing to see what’s going on below the radar. There are zines, Web sites, YouTube videos, MySpace pages, and performance art pieces, all exploring the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of menstruation with intelligence, activism, outrage, sensitivity, anger, and humor.

So what do we make of all this?

Don’t get us wrong … we’re thrilled to see that conversations are actually happening and that the female cycle is experiencing a sort of renaissance and is even occasionally celebrated. But to be totally blunt, we also find ourselves vaguely depressed by the very fringe-iness of goddess bowls, womb-healing circles, goddess rituals, and other ultra-alternative stuff. Because ultimately we wonder: alternative to what?

It’s depressing that feeling comfortable in our own bodies is still considered so damn freaky and that exploring viable options to corporate femcare immediately puts one smack in the middle of some cultish, feminist ghetto. Nevertheless, we’re hopeful since we know that we can each make an actual difference in our own lives. The way to start is by questioning assumptions, asking questions, and seeking out more information. Knowledge, after all, is powerful stuff. Let it work its magic by filtering into the conversations we have, informing the decisions we make, influencing the products we buy, and, last, shaping the lessons we pass on to our friends, colleagues, sisters, daughters, and granddaughters.

There are millions of women out there—mainstream women, women like you, women like us—who get along with the uterus just fine, along with all its bleeding, symptoms both good and bad, hormones, pregnancy fears and dreams, menarche, menopause, and the whole menstrual time line of our lives. With our new knowledge, we can hopefully take back a process that’s been fundamentally ours all along, an indisputable part of our lives that has been too long judged, ridiculed, and hidden away.

Just go with the flow.

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“Hysterectomy Doesn’t Harm—and May Help—Sexual Function.” Harvard Women’s Health Watch, August 2007: 3.

“Negotiating the‘Bio-identicals’Controversy.”Harvard Women’s Health Watch, April 2008: 1-2.

“Ovary Removal Linked to Risk for Dementia, Parkinsonism.” Harvard Women’s Health Watch, January 2009:3.

Quinlan, Mary Lou. “Working Through Menopause.” More, June 2007:88–92.

Richardson, Martha K.“Is It Safe to Take a Pill That Eliminates Periods?” Harvard Women’s Health Watch, September 2007: 8.

Surowiecki, James.“A Drug on the Market.”The New Yorker, June 25, 2007:40.

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