PERIOD POWER!!!
It seems that one of my larger missions in this lifetime definitely has to do with our monthly cycles. When I was diagnosed with endometriosis my life instantly became all about my period. In truth the 4 1/2 years prior to that, the years in which I had spent trying to get a diagnosis my life had become more and more about my period. So much so that I would have to miss work or school, because of the massive amount of pain I was in. However, I still ignored it for the most part, because I didn't have any knowledge that there was another choice. My illness, along with healing it, has definitely changed every aspect of my life. And has kinda led me to accepting the fact that I am a woman and my body is not meant to function in the way men's bodies are. It's very easy for them to work the entire month non-stop, because their bodies were designed to be consistent, whereas my body was designed to go through a very elaborate set of changes all in the course of a month. Not honoring this or pretending it doesn't happen, just leads to us as woman being sick or constantly tired. It also leads to us being inauthentic with ourselves and our bodies. These changes we go through are remarkable and they deserve to be celebrated. If bleeding for a week out of the month every month without dying doesn't serve as a direct testament to our strength I don't know what does.
Part of my mission is to figure out how we can create a society that revolves around our bodies as women and celebrates this powerful cycle that we go through every month. I definitely don't think my moontime is gross anymore, nor am I ashamed of any of it. However, I have realized through this process that the shame we feel as women in regards to it, isn't just shame we feel because we bleed, it's the shame we feel because we're women. This is a constant reminder to us that we're different than men, and from the perspective of the Patriarchy and the male population it makes us less than them, which makes it justified for them to violate us, degrade us, and discriminate against us (amongst many other things). We can't necessarily control how they feel about us, but we absolutely have the ability to control how we see ourselves as women and how we see each other. We can celebrate our bodies and our cycles, and see it as a time of empowerment. I have a lot of really great blogs, videos, etc. about our moontime that I am excited to share over the coming months.
The above video is all about how a girl's cycle can lead to her missing school, due to a lack of menstrual products. In countries where girls have access to period products they tend to miss school due to irregular periods (and fear of being embarrassed by it especially during the first few years when they start theirs), painful periods or illnesses associated with menstruation like endometriosis. These are topics that need to be addressed as well.
"In January 2012 Shaw and Siemens traveled to Uganda to meet the AFRIpads team and founders in person. What they discovered was a business that employs 50 women who are using their employment income to purchase land, homes and livestock, and invest in their children's education.
Lack of access to menstrual products effects millions of girls in the developing world. As many as 10% of school aged girls miss school because of it. The effect of these missed days is devastating, with girls missing up to 20% of their education, thereby increasing the likelihood of dropping out, earlier marriage and pregnancy as well as limiting career options.
Since its inception, in partnership with dozens of groups, individuals and NGOs, Lunapads has helped provide 100,000 girls and women in 15 nations with menstrual pads or underwear, giving them an immediate, essential and sustainable means to remain in school or at work."
http://lunapads.com/about-us/donate-pads
I also included two other blogs in which women talk about their moontime cycles and products they use! What I like about the second blog is that she is talking about alternative menstrual products, and I have been on this journey of trying out different ones so that at some point I could review them and let women know that you don't have to just use dioxin laced tampons!
"A few years after I started using cloth pads, I placed a second order and it came with information pamphlets. I mustered the courage to leave the pamphlets in the staff washroom of the school where I worked. I also sent out an email inviting interested staff to inspect my new, never-used products.
After school, I passed a group in the hall chatting about their disgust with reusable sanitary items. I think I embarrassed them when I stopped to say, “Hey, I can totally understand how you’d feel that way, but it’s actually pretty cool and empowering!” One woman couldn’t believe I had sent the email to all staff—male and female. “This isn’t something men should have to think about!”
I lacked the ovaries to stand up for myself and shuffled back to my room. I was in the middle of an “It’s okay! You’re okay! You’re not disgusting!” self-peptalk, when a colleague in her early fifties entered my classroom in tears, holding one of the pamphlets. She squeezed me hard and thanked me for sharing the information.
She told me her periods had been a source of discomfort and pain since she was young. She said the Lunapads were going to change her life."
"does any of this seem weird? does anything i’ve said make your skin crawl? if so, take some time to think–i mean, really think–about why you feel the way you do about your period. what was your experience like coming of age? what was your mother’s attitude about menstruation? a mentor from my youth taught me to think of my period within the traditional cherokee framework: for many indigenous americans, your monthly period is your “moontime.” it’s your time of power and of creativity–it’s your time to go away for a while and tend to your own needs, rather than tending to the needs of the many. the cherokee knew that the moon, grandmother moon, had dominion over the waters. they also knew that, without water, there could be no life. how would your life be different if you started questioning your practices, investigating your negative (and positive!) feelings, reclaiming your moontime for the intensely powerful experience that it is, and reinvisioning your womb not as a garbage receptacle, but as the rich and watery."
http://urbanherbwifery.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/eco-minded-moontime-part-1/
