What's that tampon doing next to your penis?

So on the Ms. Blog, I came across this new machine that simulates the pain and bleeding of menstruation.

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/09/26/if-men-could-menstruate/
http://www.sputniko.com/works/sputniko/menstruation-machine

The inventor of the machine seems to be posing the question, why should women menstruate at all anymore. To me the question seems less cultural and more biological. It's true that it's a womanly thing to have, you know those menses, for me however, the pills that down play your menstrual cycle seem biologically bizarre and I don't trust them.I'm probably completely wrong, but it seems unhealthy to me to NOT menstruate every month. Also, I really really appreciate my body telling me for absolute certain that I am not having a baby right now. It's almost like a courtesy call from my uterus. "*Ding* Not this month". I don't feel I am culturally attached to having my period, and I think it's something that should be discussed freely and openly without people being embarrassed, but I don't know if that extends to having a machine that simulates the process.

I find the idea of this machine really bizarre as well. Not that I think it's necessarily a bad product and don't mean to blast it at all. I find the idea of it intriguing. But it seems to make menstruating into a novelty, which is not an experience that goes along with female menstruation. It's something that happens all the time, whether you like it or not. Is there any real reason for someone to wear this machine? I can't see a real justification. Because it's not like it can possibly simulate ALL of the symptoms of menstruation. Example: I get itchy during my period because of my hormones, does this machine make you itchy? I think that claiming that it simulates menstruation as an experience is a little misleading. I love my period and all the things that go with it (even the bad ones, because when they go away it's all the better) but I don't know if I would want my boyfriend walking around thinking he knew what menstruation was like because of a machine that he wore for a week or so.

The thing that weirds me out the most is that it actually bleeds as you can see in the video on both links. Where is the blood coming from? Who/What's blood is it? What if the blood touches me? I mean, I'm okay with my own blood, but mystery blood, not so much. And if it is your own blood (which I think would be better) how do you get it, is there a needle like a diabetes finger pricker? I guess this machine leaves me with more questions than answers ultimately.  I do think it's an interesting idea as I said, and can certainly help get discussion going, which is always a good thing.

Real quick round-up

• Are you more creative while menstruating?
• A post on Amplify about the Nepali tradition of chaupadi--isolating women who are on their periods:
  In this superstitious logic, if a menstruating woman touches a tree it will never again bear fruit; if she consumes milk the cow will not give anymore milk; if she reads a book about Saraswati, the goddess of education, she will become angry; if she touches a man, he will be ill.
• Similarly, Jos at Feministing writes about the attitudes and beliefs surrounding menstruation and sexuality while growing up in an Eastern Orthodox Christian church.
  Every sperm, and egg, is sacred. Wasting either, through masturbation, a wet dream, or simply having your period, is a sign of our fallen state, our unclean-ness. Even though a woman’s period is also a sign of her one real purpose: to make babies. So women are baby-making factories, that’s what God made them for, but their ability to fulfill this purpose makes them unclean. So women are inherently unclean, or a failure at being women.
• Jezebel posted a trailer for the new movie Hysteria, about the invention/development of the vibrator. Actually, it's a rom-com that happens to be based around the development of the vibrator. It looks pretty feel-good, so to speak. Don't expect a documentary, people!

In which I am an agent of social change

This is a bragging on myself type of post. If you are not interested in that, skip down and read Jamie's post about RePhresh tampons.

...I'll wait...

Carrying on. After numerous phone calls and letters to many of the major retailers in the area, one has finally answered my call to start carrying Softcups. If you are in the Fayetteville, AR area and are interested in giving these a try, the Wal-Mart on Martin Luther King is now selling them. I have to admit that after Jamie sent me a sample pack, I absolutely fell in love with this product. Though not as friendly to the Earth as a Diva Cup (someday!!) I really enjoy them. I can't feel them at all, and it's nice to not have to worry about getting up in the middle of the night to change a tampon. I still frequently use tampons during the day, but the Softcup has become my go to night time protection product.

So to wrap up: I like Softcups, they sell them in my town now, I want a Diva Cup.

The End.

In which I am skeptical once again

FACT: The insides of your vagina are a chemically delicate ecosystem. It's no big though, because mostly, your body regulates this itself.

FACT: If this pH balance gets messed up, you may get a yeast infection.

FACT: One of the ways your pH balance can get thrown out of whack is by using tampons. Tampons are up in there indiscriminately absorbing not only blood, but your other lady-fluids as well.

Okay, so. It seems to me that if using tampons is messing up your insides, the most straightforward/logical solution is to stop using tampons.

But I guess in our wacky medicalization society, another viable option is to just treat tampons with even more chemicals to help "regulate" your vaginal pH balance. Introducing RepHresh, "the first and only tampon clinically shown to reduce the usual vaginal pH increase during your period."

I get that yeast infections are annoying. And that tampons are convenient. And so if there's a way you can have your convenience and not be itchy, that sounds great. But is it really so smart to keep absorbing more and more chemicals into our bodies? My complaints are along the exact same lines as Aana's when she writes about scented tampons. To me, this is just another quick fix that treats the symptoms of a larger problem without even recognizing that there is a larger problem. 

Thoughts?

h/t to EmpowHER

Big deal or no?

Lots of blogging about Always' new ad campaign that actually portrays a red dot on one of their maxi pads, replacing the notorious/sanitized/confusing blue liquid.

image from adweek.com

Is this really that big of a deal?

Diva cup experiences

I adore my Diva cup. It is one of my favorite inventions. Every month, I'm so thankful I have it. It's comfortable and clean (aside from the obvious insertion messiness). Actually, I usually forget I even have my period at all until it's time to dump it out. But I even enjoy dumping it out!! (TMI?)

I think more women would use Diva cups (or Keepers, or Mooncups, or any type of menstrual cup... I just refer to them all as Diva cups cuz it's easier) if they knew about how awesome they are. Probably most women don't even know about them, then when they learn, their first reaction is "omg, gross/weird." I know that's how I was.

Every so often I come across accounts of women's first impressions of using the Diva cup, so I thought it might be beneficial to group them all together in a post here, so you all can see I'm not the only one in love with my cup!

• The Diva Cup Review (Mom, Dad this is all about my menstruation please don't read it) at jessicagottlieb.com: I was walking through Whole Foods, spotted the Diva Cup, and thought, “Why not? It’s only $30, I’m going to waste more than that on snooty cheeses this week.” ...It’s become one of those things that I want to shout from the rooftops. YOU NEED A DIVA CUP.
• Would You Use a Menstrual Cup? at No More Dirty Looks: The cup is not gross in the slightest (and I’m squeamish). In fact it feels far “cleaner” than tampons or pads—sterile almost. ...Application and removal were easy, and it felt more comfortable to me than a tampon. In fact, it almost felt like I didn’t even have my period. My only regret was that I hadn’t tried it sooner.
• The Diva Cup: A New Trend: "With all the state-of-the-art conveniences western society has developed, it baffles us why outdated feminine products are still being used. We believe that reusable menstrual cups are the next generation of feminine hygiene because they are the most environmentally responsible choice. They are also the most convenient and reliable option available and are not linked to Toxic Shock Syndrome."
• My First Experience With A Menstrual Cup at Mamas and Babies: I had NO LEAKING the entire time I used the cup. I had been cautioned to use pads the first few days or so just in case, but I didn't need them. I was very impressed, especially because even tampons leak when they get full.

Real quick round-up

• Video: How to make a vagina cupcake. [Insert pussy-eating joke here]
• My Little Red Book--stories about people's first periods! I'm adding it to my want list.
• From Jezebel: How to Menstruate Politely. This is actually practical advice! I love Jezebel more and more lately.
• From Huffington Post: "A new study suggests that depending on where they are in their menstrual cycles, women have very different reactions towards strange men."
• A woman is donating her uterus to her 25-year-old daughter! Isn't that an interesting thought?--The place where you came from is now inside you! At least you'd know you were getting quality equipment. :)