Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Book Collective Read Free Book Online Page A

all-organic cotton, chlorine-free tampons are often sold in health food stores and online, and increasingly at some drug and grocery stores. Also, you can make your own cloth pads. There are make-your-own sites online, showing very economical alternatives.
    Some women use natural sea sponges that work like tampons. These are also available in health food stores and online. They are reusable and relatively inexpensive. Unfortunately, many pollutants are dumped into oceans and it’s possible that sponges may absorb some of these pollutants and cause problems. Therefore, some users boil a sponge for five to ten minutes before using it for the first time and between uses. Doing so, however, shrinks and toughens the sponge and reduces its lifetime.
    Some women prefer products that collect rather than absorb the menstrual fluid. The Keeper, the DivaCup, and the Mooncup are three examples of menstrual cups—elongated cups made of rubber or medical-grade silicone that are held in place by suction in the vagina. They can be worn during swimming and other physical activities but not during intercourse or other insertive sex. Some women use a diaphragm or a cervical cap in the same way as a cup. A disposable device called Instead is worn in the upper vagina to collect menstrual flow. The rim softens in response to body temperature and creates a seal to protect against leakage and slipping. (For more information on these products, see youngwomenshealth.org/alternative_menstrual.html.)
It’s Your Period—How Do You Own It?
    In mainstream Western culture, menstruation is largely taboo. We may hear jokes about it on television, or we may see advertisements for menstrual products, but rarely is menstruation talked about in honest terms. When’s the last time you heard menstrual blood even mentioned? Being “fresh” or “clean” is emphasized, and the fact that we menstruate is hidden. Until recently, most menstrual product advertisements tried to be subtle, showing women staying fresh and wearing white while practicing yoga or dancing on the beach. Kotex came out with an ad campaign in 2010 making fun of the genre—to which Kotex readily acknowledged contributing. (Older ads used to include a strange blue liquid representing menstrual blood.) But honesty could go only so far, as noneof the three major television networks would allow the word “vagina” to be used.
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    BLOOD IN THE BOARDROOM
    i ask her if she’s got a tampon i could use she says
    oh honey, what a hassle for you sure I do
    uou 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
    â€”Ani DiFranco,
“Blood in the Boardroom” 5
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    â€œFem-care advertising is so sterilized and so removed from what a period is,” Elissa Stein, coauthor (with Susan Kim) of Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation, told the New York Times. “You never see a bathroom, you never see a woman using a product. They never show someone having cramps or her face breaking out or tearful—it’s always happy, playful, sporty women.” 6
    Indeed, we often feel obligated to apologize when discussing menstruation. For many women, there is much more to the menstrual experience than bleeding. Our experiences, both physical and emotional, range widely and sometimes are connected to our religion or culture.
    We may have certain traditions around menstruation, passed down through our families—even if the tradition is as simple as what kind of product to use or how best to wash out a bloodstain.
    I don’t have any bad feelings about it or get upset when I get my period. It’s a sign that I’m not pregnant, which makes me happy, because I’m in college right now and I’m not at the stage where I want any kids yet.
Physical and Emotional