Pads for Peace

'Tis the season of giving. Giving to family and friends of course, but also of giving to those in need. With so many worthwhile charities out there, I wanted to do my research and find something I felt good about donating to this holiday season.

One of my favorite sites is GreaterGood.com, where you can click daily for various causes such as breast cancer, childhood literacy, rain forest preservation and more. The site sponsors then donate to partner organizations, depending on how many clicks they get. A free way to give back; how cool is that?

The site also has a store where you can purchase a a Gift That Gives More™. One such gift is a program called Pads for Peace:

"Pads for Peace gives girls access to reusable sanitary pads. The pads are reusable, made of attractive, soft fleece and flannel, and are both made and distributed in Kenya. The girls who receive the pads are also in reproductive education and empowerment classes. Another great benefit of the program is that the women making the pads earn income by manufacturing and selling these pads to women in the community."

A one-time donation pays for a kit of cloth pads, liners and underwear that can last up to 5 years, plus detergent and other items to wash them.

Read more about Pads for Peace here, and also be sure to check out the other cool gifts that are available in the store.

It seems I had forgotten myself

So, I have recently had a baby (yay!) and my period just re-started out of nowhere. It is strange to me how weird it felt. It's almost as though in the last year I have forgotten what a period is. When it began, my first thought was, "Oh no, something has gone horribly wrong" probably because for the last year or so that's been exactly the case, and then I thought, "Oh right, I bleed out of my vagina sometimes"



It made me think about how some girls must feel when they get their periods for the first time and maybe that starting a period and restarting aren't really that different.

For me, my first period was not a big deal. Or at least it must not have been since I have no memory of it. The only thing I really remember was mom setting me up with some tampons in the bathroom. I had been fully aware not only what a period was, but also that it was going to happen to me, and was not a big deal. However, I remember when I was a camp counselor little girls having no idea what their period was, and losing their minds when it started suddenly at camp.

I'm not sure what the rules are these days, but at that time we were not allowed to talk to them about their perfectly normal body functions and instead had to make a big production of shuffling them off to the office to call their mothers. I think this was a disservice to these girls. Not only were they terrified, as is understandable if you don't know it's normal, but then they were treated (and by the rules had to be) as if they had done something horrible. You try to make it seem like no big deal, but the fact of the matter is you are pulling a scared little girl away from her day while saying "We're going to call your mom". It's scary.

Now, obviously as an adult who has been having a period for almost 20 years, it's slightly different. But for me at least, there was a fear of the unfamiliar which I don't ever remember experiencing when I started my period for the first time, and it made me think about those little girls whose parents never warn them about menstruation. My son, who will never experience menstruation,  knows what it is, why it exists, and that it's perfectly normal and not some weird thing that mom has to go hide to take care of, and I think that's healthy. Obviously parents should raise their children however they feel is the right way as long as they are not abusive, but I think that not telling a girl about menstruation is like not telling your child about sneezing, or pooping, or any other thing that our bodies do on a regular basis.

51 Christian Friendly Words for Vagina

Ever wonder what the religious right use to refer to the forbidden lady parts?

51 Christian Friendly Words for Vagina from ChristWire.org

This is a good laugh. Some of my favorites:

- Moist Camel Hump
- Flap Dragon
- Slurpin' Salmon
- Devil's Fun Slide
- Ovary Hallway
- Magic Crepe
- Neighbor of Anus
- Pink Velveeta Shell
- The Pubic Pub

Something gross from four years ago

I've kept a journal since I was 13 years old. It's pretty awesome--I would definitely recommend it. From time to time, I like to go back and read old stuff I wrote. Today I found this, it's from right in the middle of when I was working on my radical menstruation honors project:

Tuesday, Februrary 12, 2008:

Do you want to know something totally DISGUSTING? In my DivaCup fervor, I decided to give some of my blood to the houseplants since I keep hearing they love that stuff. I dumped it in a spaghetti sauce jar, added some water, shook it up, and gave it to them. I didn't use it all, so I kept the extra in the jar in my underwear drawer. Unfortunately, I have a habit of forgetting about stuff like that, so it's been untouched since... however long that's been. I looked at it tonight and it appeared to be a little whitish? I'm too scared to open it. 

That was a fun time in my life.