March 3rd, 2010 by Chris Bobel

Tina Turner didn’t sing THOSE lyrics, but what if?
Those that follow re:Cycling may recall-with a grin and a cringe–how Ingrid Berthon-Moine’s portraits of women wearing their menstrual blood as lipstick sent many Guardian and Salon Broadsheet readers to the “icky” place, where unexamined assumptions run amok.
Plenty of folks readily expressed their disgust at the idea of menstrual blood on display (ack!!!on the mouth??) but few were willing to dig into WHY this disgusted them and how that disgust hurts women and girls…..if they dared to really look first, at those blood-smeared lips, and then, at themselves.
Moine’s models, silent and unblinking, issue a challenge. When we meet their gaze and contemplate their deep red mouths, we are forced to look back at ourselves, and at each other.
Why is there a menstrual taboo, anyway? And who and what does it serve? There must be an awful lot at stake when people work so hard to keep it alive.
This week Moine is exhibiting her work in London. Placing her portraits in the context of a V-Day show makes explicit the connections between the denigration of women’s bodies and violence against women and girls. Continue reading...
Tags: Activism, art, Menstrual Taboo, shame, taboo, violence against women
Posted in Activism, Art, Menstruation | 3 Comments »
February 9th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Tags: Activism, art, vagina, vulva
Posted in Activism, Art, Sex, anatomy | Comments Off
February 3rd, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
We’ve had a couple of productive discussions recently here at re:Cycling about men and menstrual humor, so it seems a good time to introduce Vinnie D’Angelo, creator of Vinnie’s Tampon Case. Therese Shecter has graciously shared this clip from her thought-provoking film, I Was A Teenage Feminist.
I’ve written about Vinnie and the role of men in menstrual activism before, in the “Menstrual Counterculture” chapter of my book, Capitalizing on the Curse: The Business of Menstruation. Here is a brief excerpt from that chapter:
According to interviews, D’Angelo’s motivation in developing his tampon cases was to help out his female friends. He would see them fishing in purses or backpacks for a tampon and retrieve “a mangled applicator and a lump of cotton with old gum stuck to the string” (quoted in Raappana). He also liked the idea of changing attitudes toward menstruation. . . . Interviews with D’Angelo reveal a feminist sensibility that extends beyond providing menstrual support.
I confess to some ambivalence here: I am uncertain what men’s role should be in celebrating menstruation. I appreciate [Harry] Finley’s genuine curiosity, and I admire D’Angelo’s feminist approach and his lack of squeamishness. I’m glad to see men talking about menstruation and not insisting that it remain hidden. I like D’Angelo’s playful, accepting attitude toward menstruation, but at the same time I find the fact that he has built a cottage industry of it vaguely exploitive. No one is harmed by his products, of course, but it is more than a little ironic that someone who doesn’t menstruate launched this successful line of whimsical, self-conscious menstrual products. On the other hand, perhaps D’Angelo’s masculinity adds a social legitimacy (as well as a humorous novelty element, as he has noted in interviews) that a woman’s name would not carry in the current cultural climate. And he’s great with the clever slogans: He owns the domain name knowyourflow.com, and recent ads for his tampon case say, “Don’t let your period cramp your style.”
What do you think, re:Cycling readers? How do you feel about the fact that two of the most visible examples of menstrual activism in the U.S., Vinnie’s Tampon Case and Harry Finley’s Museum of Menstruation, are created and promoted by nonmenstruators? Does it matter if these ventures are commercially successful? (Just for the record, Finley has received no financial benefit – only internet notoriety – from the Museum of Menstruation. Since introducing his eponymous tampon case in the late 1990s, D’Angelo has also developed Vinnie’s Giant Roller Coaster Period Chart and Sticker Book, and Vinnie’s Cramp Relieving Bubble Bath, which is also available packaged with Vinnie’s Soothing Bubble Beats CD of “music to menstruate by”. I do not know how profitable these products are for him.)

Tags: Activism, boys/men, Communication, feminism, feminist film, Men, tampon case, tampons
Posted in Activism, FemCare, Humor, Independent Film, Internet, Men, Menstruation | 5 Comments »
January 20th, 2010 by Chris Bobel

Interior of Red Tent, Belly & Womb Conference, Baldwinville, MA, 2005
The act of reframing the menstrual cycle–as a source of deep awareness and even, power–is hardly news, and yet, it seems that way to most of us.
Liz Kissling sent me this link to a 2002 essay written by Gina Cloud. Here is a classic passionate call for a new (or very old, perhaps) way of responding to menstruation. While I bristle at the essentialism at the root of this reframing, I certainly appreciate any effort to reclaim the menstrural cycle and render it as more than a nasty nuisance that depends on consumerism to make it go away. Cloud renames the menstrual cycle, the “sacred cycle” and PMS as “powerful monthly insight.” For her, the week before a menstruator’s period is a time to “get clear” and unblock what she calls the “repression of expression” most women are socialized to practice every day.
Cloud numbers among a steady stream of women–health educators, midwives, at least one physician, and lay women dedicated to empowering women through resisting more conventional attitudes about menstruation. They have written books, led workshops and generally promoted the idea that menstruation can and should be seen as a not a curse, but a gift. Continue reading...
Tags: Activism, Communication, Menstruation
Posted in Activism, Communication, Language, Menstruation, PMS, Religion/Spirituality | 5 Comments »
January 19th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Remember last fall, when half the Western world was shocked – shocked! – by The Guardian’s publication of an Ingrid Berthon-Moine photo of a woman with menstrual blood on her lips? We’ll never forget.

Apparently menstrual activists are just a few steps ahead of high fashion: Blood red lips are now considered “quite glam”.

Perhaps Laura, my colleague here at re:Cycling and SMCR, is right: Menstruation IS coming out of the closet.

Tags: Activism, cosmetics, fashion
Posted in Activism, Celebrities, Menstruation | 1 Comment »
January 12th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Tags: Activism, contest, FemCare, internet, zine
Posted in Activism, DIY, Internet, zine | 1 Comment »
January 9th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Tags: Activism, economics, FemCare, pads, Procter & Gamble
Posted in Activism, DIY, FemCare, Menstruation | Comments Off
December 18th, 2009 by Elizabeth Kissling

*(I really did type “cosmetetical”. Readers under the age of 40 and/or outside the U.S. can find the origin of the term here.)
Guest Post by David Linton, Marymount Manhattan College
Here’s where exploitation and menstrual activism crash into each other. While activists have been diligently working to reduce the “Ewww” factor so that women are not treated with disgust when (and because!) they menstruate, commercial interests have been just as diligently striving to find new ways to cash in on the period.
One of the newest gambits is found at an online beauty products site called M.S. Apothecary promoting a service that been around for a few years, C’ELLE®. C’ELLE® offers to cryogenically freeze the stem cells found in menstrual blood for future use. Originally the pitch for C’ELLE® focused mostly on the potential of stem cells to yield material that can be used to treat diseases, once medical science discovers a way to use them. Meanwhile, the material is judiciously stored away in one’s “portfolio.” The initial cost is described as a “special introductory rate for new clients” of $499, although the price hasn’t changed in more than a year. Following the first year there is a yearly storage charge of $99 that is subject to later increases. Continue reading...
Tags: Activism, advertising, economics, guest post, internet, Menstruation
Posted in Activism, Advertising, DIY, FemCare, Menstruation | Comments Off
December 16th, 2009 by Elizabeth Kissling
Guest Post by Kaitlyn Elliott, The Cycle Sisters at St. Mary’s College of California

14 September 2009
A brief twenty-four hours ago we stormed campus, with 350 flyers and two rolls of packing tape in our collective hands. Detailed within are our intentions, goals, and expectations. This is our Manifesta.
As individuals, we each grew frustrated with the lack of support women receive on the St. Mary’s campus. Try as we might, our demands for equality and respect befall deaf ears. For one, the Women’s Resource Center is continually pushed around campus, its current location on the perimeter, out of sight, and our efforts to “Take Back the Night” fail to resonate fully. We are the majority, though we are often forced into the submissive position of the minority. Perhaps one could theorize that the empty tampon and sanitary napkin dispensers are the straws that broke these camels’ backs, but let us assure our critics and our allies: Our bones are unbroken, and until equality is tangible, we will not rest.
Women are ostracized for “bleeding for five days and not dying.” Women are paraded as disgusting examples of human beings when, God forbid, we have monthly emergencies and are unable to secure the cotton products which temporarily stop our bleeding. We are made to feel gross about our bodies, to shudder in horror at our bodily functions, to be embarrassed. We cannot separate our minds from our bodies, so we demand the acceptance and respect of both. We will not be shamed, and we will not live in fear of humiliation.
Popular rumor has it that administrators and primarily male professors found our guerilla campaign completely offensive, inappropriate, and “un-ladylike.” If making bold statements and standing up for ourselves makes us “un-ladylike,” then we should wish to never be classified as “ladies” again. The freedom of speech has long been reserved for men, and our opponents, rather than consider the issue we have presented (and the issues we will present), prefer to demean our liberal methods. “Menstruation” is not a dirty word; neither are “tampons,” “maxi pads,” or “vagina.” Try as they might, the opposition will continue to deny our reproductive cycles, our minds, and our sexuality. Thus, we will work doubly as hard to control our own portrayals and our own bodies. If bleeding is any indication of one’s dedication to a cause, consider us loyal until the end.
Our demands are simple: We expect and require the humanity and freedoms that are continuously and permanently reserved for men. To alter a quote of yore: Hell hath no fury like a woman denied her voice.
We are a sorority of “hysterical” women (we do not fraternize), and we refuse to be quiet until these cycles of oppression are broken.
We are Cycle Sisters.

Tags: Activism, backlash, college students, guest post, pads, tampons
Posted in Activism, FemCare, Menstruation | 2 Comments »
December 13th, 2009 by Elizabeth Kissling
Tags: Activism, Menstruation
Posted in Activism, DIY | Comments Off
October 7th, 2009 by Chris Bobel
3 features in 4 days
160 comments plus another 120 plus another 39 and still they post...
MENSTRUAL ACTIVISM has hit a nerve!
On Friday, The Guardian published a story on menstrual activism which featured a photograph of a woman with *menstrual blood* on her lips (a piece by artist Ingrid Berthon-Moine). And there was a complementary article published in the same issue (an honest first person narrative about shifting menstrual attitudes).
Both articles generated a lot of comments–much of them negatively focused on the photograph. Liz Kissling responded with a great retort on this blog.
Then on Monday, following up on The Guardian piece, writer Amanda Fortini argued on Salon.com’s Broadsheet that the menstrual taboo is a thing of the past.
..shock, panic, fingerpointing (those stupid feminists are barking up the wrong tree), namecalling (I think someone actually called me, by association, “Professor of the Faculty of Useless Studies”) disgust (eeeewwwwww), outrage…..the gamut.
There were stretchy analogies (as in, that’s a STREEEEEETCH (see: excremental activism)), tragic anecdotes run amok (since I am cool with my period, that means EVERYONE ELSE is) and plenty of superficial “we’ve come a long way, baby” analyses that seemed forged in a vacuum, and more. Continue reading...
Tags: Activism, backlash, internet
Posted in Activism, Communication, Internet, Media, Menstruation, New Research | 4 Comments »
October 3rd, 2009 by Elizabeth Kissling

Image via livejournal.com menstrual activism commmunity
I was quite excited to see our own Chris Bobel and Giovanna Chesler quoted in this piece from The Guardian about menstrual activism, and then to discover that the Guardian published a second piece the same day about menstruation: Rowena Davis explains What My Period Means to Me. Kira Cochrane’s article about menstrual activism provides a broad, useful definition of the term, and several examples, ranging from avant-garde artworks to Rachel Kauder Nalebuff’s collection of menarche stories to Chris’ forthcoming book about third-wave feminist activism and menstruation.
It seems that menstrual activism (otherwise known as radical menstruation, menstrual anarchy, or menarchy) is having a moment. The term is used to describe a whole range of actions, not all considered political by the person involved: simple efforts to speak openly about periods, radical affronts to negative attitudes and campaigns for more environmentally friendly sanitary products.
Davis’ essay is a personal one, describing the transformation of her negative attitude toward her own period to one of not only acceptance but appreciation of menstruation for the opportunity it provides to reflect: Continue reading...
Tags: Activism, feminism, Menstruation, news, Simone de Beauvoir
Posted in Activism, Communication, Newspapers | 7 Comments »
Readers should note that statements published in re: Cycling are those of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Society as a whole.