February 28th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Tags: cartoon, Humor, webisode
Posted in Internet, Media, Menstruation, Objects | Comments Off
February 27th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Introducing Leak Chic.
Chella Quint celebrates Fashion Week, recently ended in London and New York, with clot couture.
StainsTM. A removable stain to wear on your own clothing as you see fit. A fashion statement that really says something, and that something is, ‘Screw you, Madison Avenue. I’m taking this one back. I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve and my blood on my pants. I’m gonna reclaim the stain, reclaim my blood, and reclaim my period.’ Because people, I’m telling you red is the new black.
Read more at Adventures in Menstruating.

Tags: blood, blood stain, chella quint, fashion, Humor, stain, zine
Posted in Activism, DIY, Humor, Internet, Menstruation, zine | 1 Comment »
February 26th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Tags: Humor, pads, technology
Posted in FemCare, Humor, Objects | Comments Off
February 19th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Tags: advertising, Humor, PMS
Posted in Advertising, Humor, PMS | 4 Comments »
February 10th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Guest Post by David Linton, Marymount Manhattan College
Four years ago I published an article in Sex Roles (March 2006) about the twists and turns of the media coverage of a scandal that came to be known as “Camillagate.” It concerned the publication of a surreptitiously recorded phone chat between Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, and his lover, Camilla Parker-Bowles, that occurred in 1993. The reason the mild sex banter between two horny middle-aged royals got so much attention was that at one point they made joking references to tampons in an erotic context. The exchange was widely misreported with a distorted claim that Charles expressed a desire to be transformed into a tampon. It even became the basis for a skit on Saturday Night Live (only a small portion of it is available now online).
At the time I predicted that Charles would never get away from the tampon association. What I could not predict was how nuanced the forms of mockery would be. Who could possibly have guessed that the story would play out as a means of bolstering George W. Bush’s faltering reputation by contrasting his macho style with the more effete image of The Prince of Wales? Continue reading...
Tags: boys/men, guest post, Humor, shame, SNL, tampons
Posted in Celebrities, Communication, Internet, Men, Menstruation, Newspapers, Television | 2 Comments »
January 28th, 2010 by Chris Bobel
All this iPad humor has got us thinking about menstrual humor more generally–what’s funny (to some) what’s not (to others), why and why not.
In the end, anything-menstruation is almost always met with either
1) a shudder and a swift topic shift
OR
2) an uncomfortable laugh that reinforces once again, the menstruation-rule-we-live-by.
Then there’s our friends Chella Quint and Sarah Thomasin who brilliantly and creatively write and perform menstrual humor that is genuinely funny without being offensive to women. But their work is truly exceptional.
Usually, the humor is more like this classic from Kids in the Hall. Finally giving up the luddite’s fight, I joined Facebook this week and look what I found: this page referencing a sketch starring Dave Foley
The over-the-top earnestness of this guy is funny, sure, but that’s not all that’s going on.
Yeah—he offers a lot more appreciation for the menstrual cycle than even I aspire to– but is the premise–that a guy could offer something other than disgust (or at best, indifference) to menstruation– really that hysterical?
Granted, the concluding passage (below)had me laughing, but like most (all?) satire, after the laughs die down, I’m left wondering: why IS that funny, anyway? Continue reading...
Tags: Humor, Men, Menstruation, television, viral video
Posted in Humor, Internet, Men, Menstruation, Television | 7 Comments »
January 27th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Word on the street is that Apple is introducing their first tablet computer today. With their usual flourish, they’ve named it . . . wait for it . . . the iPad.
ETA: The ladies at Jezebel have published more than one compilation of period-related iPad jokes. A sample:
Are you there, God? It’s me, Marketing.
Don’t make fun. The iPad is the technology of the future. Period.
Can I get a scented iPad for when my data feels not-so-fresh?
Edited again to add: The Week has an interesting comparison of historical femcare slogans and Apple slogans – more similar than one might expect.
[Video via Lunapads]

Tags: advertising, Communication, computer, FemCare, Humor, internet, pads
Posted in Communication, FemCare, Humor, Internet, Language, Television | 10 Comments »
January 25th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
Tags: advertising, big pharma, birth control pill, FemCare advertising, Humor, internet, period control, viral video
Posted in Birth Control, FemCare, Humor, Internet, Media, Menstruation | 2 Comments »
January 21st, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
The latest magazine ads for Always “Infinity” maxi pads remind me of this old joke:
Two young boys walk into a pharmacy one day, pick out a box of Tampax and proceed to the checkout counter.
The man at the counter asks the older boy, “Son, how old are you?”
“Eight,” the boy replies.
The man continues, “Do you know what these are used for?”
“Not exactly,” the boy says. “But they aren’t for me. They’re for him. He’s my brother. He’s four. We saw on TV that if you use these you would be able to swim and ride a bike. Right now he can’t do either one.”
So if I use Always, will I be able to be a contortionist like the acrobat in the picture? Because right now, I’m pretty sure I can’t do that.

Tags: advertising, boys/men, FemCare advertising, Humor, pads, Procter & Gamble, Tampax, tampons
Posted in Advertising, Disposable menstrual products, FemCare, Humor, magazines | 4 Comments »
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