menstruation studies!

#menstruationmonday, autumnal decay edition

#menstruationmonday, autumnal decay edition

Hey folks! Here we are again at the cycling of the...cycle. Just a quick couple of links this month to keep you in the menstruation loop, as it were. And a shout-out to all my friends out there dealing with cramps and heavy bleeding on top of travel, family, and holiday anxiety this Thanksgiving week here in the States; I feel you. We can do it. If I had any photoshop skills, I would put a picture of Rosie the Riveter with a tampon in her fist here, but I do not, so please accept this Beyoncé version as a consolation. (And if any of you out there with Photoshop know-how want to help me out...that would be amazing.)

Read More

Menstruation...Wednesday?

Menstruation...Wednesday?

Yeah, it's not Monday, but we're still going to talk about menstruation. Don't stress out about it too much; alliteration is not the only literary device we know how to use here.

1. I've recently started more actively using the Clue app and while I'm not yet ready to actively endorse it, I do quite like their newsletter, which has been bringing all kinds of interesting period content to my inbox. I'm not sure if you can subscribe without registering in the app, though, so I'll pass along the best stuff here for those who don't want to sign up. First off is this piece, "Is Period Slang Ever Useful," offered in support of Clue's #justsayperiod campaign. It's built around an interview with the professor who taught my menstruation studies class, and it's all about the power of words and language, so I might be biased, but I think it's worth a read. And don't ever forget that the term "period" itself is a euphemism. Interrogate ALL THE THINGS!

Read More

Critical Menstruation Studies, Week 5: Stand Up, Fight Back

Critical Menstruation Studies, Week 5: Stand Up, Fight Back

This is the fifth in a five-week series of posts recapping a micro-seminar I'm taking on Critical Menstruation Studies through the Boston-area Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies.

Last week we had the final meeting of our micro-seminar. The theme for the week was "Resistance to the Menstrual Status Quo" and it seemed designed to give a hopeful, progressive view for future work and activism (and to trouble them, naturally). Of course, it also ended up being a general wrap-up of the course. Most everyone agreed that we wished we had more time to tackle all the complex issues that we were just starting to get a handle on, but that's something I've felt at the end of most classes I've taken, not just those that only lasted a total of 10 hours. In any case, here's what we read for the last day:

Read More

Critical Menstruation Studies, Week 4: What If You Could Just Stop Menstruating?

This is the fourth in a five-week series of posts recapping a micro-seminar I'm taking on Critical Menstruation Studies through the Boston-area Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies.

I have been sick with a gross spring cold and also (appropriately) laid out with terrible cramps, so this is a little delayed (in fact, we just had our last class this week), but I'm making good on my goal to write up every week of the course. The theme for week 4 was "The End of Menstruation?" (yes, question mark and all). The readings focused on menstrual suppression practices and various ways to think about them. And ho boy, is this a loaded topic. We read:

Read More