Tap, tap.

Is this thing working? Is this thing on?

After some rest, reconnaissance, and re-organization, re:Cycling is back — bigger, bolder, and with more menstruation and women’s health news than ever. Most of our old team is back, along with a few new recruits and some exciting guest bloggers. There’ll be some new features here as well. More about all of that is coming soon. Our posting will be spotty and irregular throughout August, but expect to see a more consistent, regular flow after September 1. (Yeah, see what I did there? )

We’ve missed a lot of action in four months away. We can’t possibly summarize all of it, but here are some of my personal highlights:

July 19 – The Institute of Medicine (U.S.)  just released a report on preventive health services for women, and the consensus is that health plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 should cover contraception without demanding co-payments. You can read and/or download the full report here.

July 18 – Remember Summer’s Eve marketing disaster last summer? They still don’t get it. This year’s “Hail to the V” campaign may be saluting vaginas, but it’s still telling everyone vaginas are dirty.

As Maya put it over at Feministing.com,

That chatty hand claims to be my vagina but is clearly an impostor, because my vagina would never refer to herself as a “vertical smile,” knows better than to even mention vajazzaling to me, and is too busy complaining about how long it’s been since she’s gotten laid to give a damn about if my cleansing wash is PH-balanced. My vagina is not a whiny little pussy.

If you’re not offended enough, check out the stereotypes in the Black and Latina vaginas. For a satisfying satirical response, check out Stephen Colbert’s July 25 program.

July 13 – Bloggers at Ms. magazine have done yeoman work drawing attention to the sexism in the latest PSA from the milk industry, criticizing the sexism toward both women and men in the Milk Board’s stereotype-rich “Everything I Do Is Wrong” campaign about PMS. Ms. has also promoted Change.org’s petition protesting the campaign. Update: By July 24, the campaign had been pulled in response to protests.

July 5 – As copyranter astutely notes, the use of a RED spot in the center of a maxi-pad to represent menstrual blood is an historic moment in advertising history. Are we finally done with the mysterious blue fluid? (By the way, copyranter is THE source for smart, snarky analysis of advertising;  he oughta know — his day job is writing the stuff.)

June 20 – Corporate and subsidized donations of disposable menstrual pads may be good for girls, but not so good for the environment.

June 2 – British artist Tracey Emin  art student at University of Wisconsin, follows in Judy Chicago’s inspirational footsteps and turns her tampons into art.

What else have we missed? Add your links in the comments, and don’t be shy about sending us suggestions!