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As the quintessential late bloomer, my first period came to me a bit later; yet make no mistake, it came in a crowning fashion. I was covered in a brand spanking new pair of GAP khakis, a luxury for our family in those days as high-end store prices were usually out of our grasp. (How the mighty have fallen…) Of course, nature knew way before me that beige was just not a color I should ever wear, and promptly regaled me into a lifetime of dark jeans and black bottoms as it decided to release the proverbial hounds; and when I say proverbial hounds, I mean my period.
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You’ve probably all heard about how close friends’ menstrual cycles sync up when they live together, but is there any truth to it or is it simply an urban legend? And can the synchronicity occur with people you only interact with online? There’s plenty of anecdotal data, but let’s see what science has to say about it.
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From the article:
While this is obviously a bad situation, I’m fortunate in that I can stash my supplies in my desk and slip out to the “ladies room” whenever I need to do so. I don’t have to worry about it being too obvious that I’m having “female issues,” as my boss refers to it. I think back to how I might have handled this if I still worked in a restaurant or in retail and there is, literally (I don’t use this word lightly), no way I could have gone about doing my job. I couldn’t have run off to the restroom every 20 minutes, but if I didn’t, I would have had visible stains. It would have been impossible, and ultimately, embarrassing. How do you tell your employer that you have to go home because you’re bleeding all over everything when they’re a man? It makes me cringe to even think about telling any of my former male bosses. If I didn’t have a salaried position with some flexibility, I would have probably lost my job last week.
Read more at Persephone Magazine.
From the article:
While this is obviously a bad situation, I’m fortunate in that I can stash my supplies in my desk and slip out to the “ladies room” whenever I need to do so. I don’t have to worry about it being too obvious that I’m having “female issues,” as my boss refers to it. I think back to how I might have handled this if I still worked in a restaurant or in retail and there is, literally (I don’t use this word lightly), no way I could have gone about doing my job. I couldn’t have run off to the restroom every 20 minutes, but if I didn’t, I would have had visible stains. It would have been impossible, and ultimately, embarrassing. How do you tell your employer that you have to go home because you’re bleeding all over everything when they’re a man? It makes me cringe to even think about telling any of my former male bosses. If I didn’t have a salaried position with some flexibility, I would have probably lost my job last week.
Read more at Persephone Magazine.
From the article:
Always Infinity pads are one of the newer, slightly more expensive products to hit the menstruation marketplace. It boasts of its ability to stay in place, absorb better, and of a design that inhibits leaks. Basically, what almost all pads claim to do. Having tried many other pads since my confusing, painful, and anti-climactic transition to womanhood, I can say that these pads are actually the real deal. Despite the fact that the Always website has copy that looks like it was poorly translated from another language into English, (“ideal product for menstruation period”?) they’re not lying about the abilities of this product.
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Three Posts from Yesterday You Should Read
Hello again, Persephoneers. We know you’re waiting for the 8 o’clock post with bated breath, but there are plenty of other articles in our archive that you can read while you wait! Check out these three articles from yesterday that didn’t get many comments but are really wonderful reads:
Caregiving: The Relationship In The Middle
There are times where big things have caused problems in our relationship. So far, we’ve survived them. But there comes a point, when there are issues at stake like Mr. Juniper’s stability and ability to cope, that we have to acknowledge outside help is needed. Does that mean couples therapy? No. Does it mean a call to his mental health team? Yes. However, that does not mean in any way, shape or form that Mr. Juniper is to blame for an issue. What it does mean is that in order for us to work through an issue, Mr. Juniper needs more support. This is where being a carer for a partner gets hard: there comes a point where you have to step back. At least, I’ve had to. That doesn’t mean stopping everything I’m doing, but acknowledging when there’s an issue between us, I’m not going to be able to give him all the support he needs.
Crimson Tide Diaries: Luna Pads
The Luna Pad wasn’t nearly as distracting as a plastic pad and didn’t leave me with that crunchy, dried blood that comes with the territory. In fact, it was akin to having a nice little blanket on my precious bits, one that left me thinking, Christ, who in the hell ever thought that marketing disposable plastic pads to the masses was a good idea? (Answer: dudes). I experienced very little spillage until my pad was ripe for the picking and even then it wasn’t the careening mess it has been with pads (though this varies). Since the pad is 100% cotton, it breathes, unlike plastic ones, causing less irritation and lowering the risk of rashes if you are prone.
International Women’s Issues: Economic Empowerment in Cambodia
Women’s rights in Cambodia are a bit complicated. The literacy rate for women is 64% vs 84% for men, which means that fewer girls are being educated, and those that are remain in school for a shorter period of time. Women are hugely underrepresented in political office, and although there are laws requiring equal pay for equal work regardless of gender, women are frequently paid less than men for doing the same work. On the other hand, scholars state that due to the influence of Buddhism and a much more egalitarian view of marriage, women are treated as “generally equal” to men, and that gender is only one of many factors that determine social hierarchy. The genocide also strongly impacted the role of women in the country, as far more men were killed than women, turning hundreds of thousands of wives and children into widows and orphans. However, the genocide did also necessitate women taking on previously unheard of roles in society, as there were simply no men left in certain parts of the country. Thirty years on, however, the male population is coming back, and some of the advancements made in women’s roles in society in the wake of the genocide are receding.
Happy reading!
Oh bleeding. Here you are again with your cramps and your shedding of uterine lining that makes me want to beat the shit out of whoever created tampon advertising. It’s easy to have negative feelings towards your period, especially as it seems that is the common theme aimed at those who bleed (fyi:fuck y’all). But the shame thing is really wearing thin and I’m tired of the same old conversations and secrecy around the period, one of the reasons I decided to go public with the conversations which are happening anyway, on my great search for the perfect period product that is not contributing to mass waste and gets the job done. This week, I’m covering Luna Pads, the washable cloth menstrual pad.
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From the article:
My first attempt at weaning off the tampons required going back to one of the older methods of stopping the flow – the sponge. The Museum of Women’s Health and Menstruation states that the sponge is one of many of the oldest period control methods. Women are have said to used sponges for absorbing menstrual discharge, as well as medicating their vaginas and killing sperm for thousands of years. Sea sponges had been used by women living on coastal areas, as well as sex workers who used the sponges so that they could still work on their period. The sponge itself is highly absorbent and small pored, and doesn’t dry out the vaginal canal or alter the pH of the vagina like most tampons do. Bonus points: no TSS risk.
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