Transgender Menstruation

A couple nights ago on MSNBC (I think), I watched a show about a FtM transgender boy and his FtM mentor. It was a touching story. The boy was about fourteen/fifteen. I'm not sure how long he had been transitioning, but one thing he mentioned being terrified of was getting a period. His mom said one day he had one tiny spot of blood and flipped out. I have no idea what that must be like, but I imagine it's very disturbing.

So then I was thinking about what else menstruation might mean to different members of the trans community. A little googling led me to learn about Korean transsexual pop singer Harisu. She got famous by doing make-up commercials, but what caught my attention was the commercial she did for disposable pads.

I can really see how those transitioning female-to-male would want to avoid menstruation altogether, but I wonder how it's viewed from a MtF perspective?

Oh la la!

I am surprised. Bleeding tyrannasaurus cartoons = genius?

Down in the Menstrual Hut

Watch this.
Okay, so the music didn't really do anything for me, but I did enjoy the puppeteering.

On second thought...

My last post was about PMSBuddy, basically a site for men to keep track of the lady-happenings of whatever women in their lives might let them.



But later, I also remembered sites like MyMonthlyCycles, which is a site for women who want to keep track of their periods. I've never used it, but it appears that you can also track other events relating to your body: weight gain or loss, fertility cycles, when its time for breast exams. I can see how this could be really helpful: it creates a very clear picture of what your cycle pattern (or lack thereof) looks like, thereby giving you a heads-up for next time.

Does anyone use a website like this?

PMS Buddy?

Feministing brought to my attention a new website called PMSBuddy.com. What is it, you ask?

PMSBuddy.com is a free service created with a single goal in mind: to keep you aware of when your wife, girlfriend, mother, sister, daughter, or any other women in your life are closing in on "that time of the month" - when things can get intense for what may seem to be no reason at all. ...Saving relationships, one month at a time!

Uhm, alright.

This website is geared towards men who want to keep track of women's magic times with the assumption that said magic time correlates with moodiness.

Firstly, as someone who has never really had any trouble with PMS, I can say that that correlation doesn't exist (in me, at least, and certainly in other women).

Secondly, PMSBuddy says it is "a great way to give people in your life a heads-up of when you might be feeling a bit irritable without having an awkward conversation". So instead of an "awkward conversation" (whatever that means), you can instead sign up for regular awkward emails?

Thirdly, maybe I don't want anyone or everyone to know when I'm having my damn period! This site kind of operates on the assumption that ladies will gladly tell you their bleeding schedules so you can avoid picking up on any social cues about if someone's grouchy or not. And for that matter, it also assumes regular bleeding schedules.

PMSBuddy, I hope, is intended to be a light-hearted joke kind of thing, so I'm trying not to get too analytical about it. Personally, I've never really thought jokes about PMS were funny. Although they're not always offensive (though most of the time they are), they just plain don't make me laugh. So this seems like a dumb idea to me. There are a lot of aspects of the website that annoy me: "During PMS women can feel bloated and unattractive. Show her how you really feel with some sexy lingerie". Ugh. Please don't. Odds are 999 to 1 that this website was made by men.

Thoughts?

Cyanide and Happiness Comic

Looooovvvvvveeeeee it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello again

I got my period yesterday and thought of how much I enjoyed doing this project. Then I realized there's really no reason why I can't continue blogging about the vaginal stigmata. And so I will.

PS - I finished the zine in July and it's totally kick-ass. It's called Menstruator Extraordinaire and it is available for purchase through my etsy, http://drygoods.etsy.com .

Get yours today!!

Real-life etsy reviews from satisfied customers:

• I teach a Young Feminisms class, and needed recent zines to show them. Your work is amazing, and I hope it inspires my class to do some zine making of their own.
• This is officially my new favorite thing everrrr in the world. I can tell you put great effort forth and I really appreciate being able to enjoy the product of your hard work. Thanks. Seriously.
• Great zine! As a fellow menstruation academic, I will put it to good use.