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Women’s Health Matters: Period.

by

Sit tight: this post is a doozy.

I’m a Vagina Warrior.

I realize this is quite a startling way to begin my post, but being a Vagina Warrior drives me, it shapes the way I look at the world, and fuels my passion for women’s health advocacy. What exactly is a Vagina Warrior? Well, it stems Eve Ensler’s The Vagina MonologuesI performed in five productions of the show throughout college and two years after I graduated at the first college where I worked. The mission of the V-Day movement is near and dear to my heart, and a Vagina Warrior is someone who fights for women, women’s rights both home and abroad, and for the safety and health of women and girls everywhere. My work in health advocacy, particularly around infertility, is how I assign my Warrior status (and when I say Warrior, think dorky Xena sporting Old Navy rather than leather-plated skirt).

So I’ve got three things my inner Vagina Warrior wants to cover in this post, all related to our periods: Tampons. The Red Tent. Project Vital Sign. Sound interesting? Read on.

So I was thrilled when I saw the new Kotex U commercials:

(I am in no way being compensated for this. This was too damn awesome not to share.) Thank you, Kotex, for keepin’ it real.

I haven’t had a “real” period in months, technically years if you count that fact that while on birth control, it’s not an actual period as a result of ovulation, rather, it’s withdrawal bleeding from a drop in hormones. I’m still experiencing breakthrough bleeding on my HRT (the pill), and I had to use a tampon for the first time in over a year last month. I stared at it like, “You want that to go where?” amazed at how quickly I had forgotten all about this strange feminine product. So when I saw this commercial I appreciated that it wasn’t trying to sell me this flowered up idea but was like, “Hey. Hey you, you with the XX chromosomes. You’re of menstruating age and you need a practical solution to your monthly biological phenomenon. Here, have a tampon.”

I appreciate Kotex’s candor, because women don’t like to talk about our periods. It’s something society doesn’t talk about… like infertility. (Funny how women’s problems are marginalized into silence.) Which brings me to my next Vagina Warrior subject: the Red Tent Temple Movement and the forthcoming documentary: Things We Don’t Talk About. 

 Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, an inspiring fictional retelling of the story of Dinah, Jacob’s only named daughter in the Bible. The Red Tent was where the women of Jacob’s tribe gathered for their monthly cycles, for births, miscarriages, and shared sisterhood. If you haven’t read it, go do that this summer. And keep a box of tissues handy when you do. ALisa Starkweather has taken the fundamental ideas of The Red Tent and translated them into a movement of women gathering in sacred spaces to share in each other’s sisterhood.

Our temples are bedecked in red fabrics and welcome to women of all ages, menstruating or otherwise; the Red Tent Temple Movement is about restoring women’s dialogue and celebrating the feminine life experience. The Red Tent Temple has allowed me to restore what I felt was lost- my sense of monthly cycles. While I may not bleed every month, I gather with my friends, my sisters near each new moon and that sense of womanly rhythm has returned to my life.

Isadora Leidenfrost will be exploring this movement in her forthcoming film, Things We Don’t Talk About: Healing Narratives from the Red Tent. I get the sense that this is going to be an important film, and wanted to put this on folks’ radars.

Still with me as I talk about all these “woman” problems? You are? Great. Because my biggest problem is calling Aunt Flo a problem. She should be a welcome guest, not a nuisance!

CNN recently published an  article online about women’s attitudes toward their periods. The article is (fairly) balanced, but the thing that got me was the general tone that “Ewww! Periods are icky and gross and cumbersome.” I know for some women, they dread their period: heavy flows, debilitating cramps, nausea, and worse. But it was the title that got me: Periods – who needs them anyway?

Who needs periods? Every woman does, that’s who!

This leads me to my third and final soapbox moment of this post: Project Vital Sign. Sponsored by Rachel’s Well, a non-profit women’s health organization, Project Vital Sign is working to create a national movement for educators and health professionals to recognize menstruation is just as much of a vital sign as heart rate, blood pressure, or temperature.

Allow me this divergence… I’m still reconciling my feelings on hormonal birth control pills. On one hand, it kept my ovarian cysts at bay all throughout college, after I had already lost an ovary to a torsioned cyst. On the other, it masked my POI for what could have been years. Now they replace the hormones my body cannot produce naturally. I’ve had this weird give-take relationship with hormonal birth control, so I’m still not sure where my allegiance lies. The point of this brief divergence is to say that eliminating our periods or masking them is a dangerous game, as we lose a basic sign of our reproductive health. My personal thoughts on birth control aside…

Our periods give us a clear picture of our reproductive health and even our overall health. The fact that the media and society paint our periods as nuisance, gross or insignificant is infuriating: it sends the message that we should do away with them entirely, reinforcing broader social constructs of shame, embarrassment, and silence surrounding women’s health issues. I know I’m not going to change society, but I’ll be damned if I don’t try. And look, don’t take my word for it (cue Reading Rainbow music) – Dr. Lawrence Nelson at the NIH/NICHD agrees in a recent piece on NPR:

“There’s this disconnect,” says Nelson. “The menstrual cycle is just seen more as a nuisance by many women. But actually, [when periods are regular] it’s the sign that the ovaries and the whole endocrine system related to reproduction is working the way it should.”

My points, after this whole long, ranting post?

Love your period. 

Celebrate your womanhood.

Advocate for women’s health issues.

Because women’s health matters. Period.

Comments

  1. Just randomly read this post when you linked to it from today's (6/27/11) post.
    I'm really on board with the idea that women's health shouldn't be marginalized and that young women shouldn't be "taught" that their normal bodily function of menstruation is gross or weird.

    However, if I come to my own conclusion that my period is a nuisance and I love the fact that my Depo-Provera gets rid of it, does that make me less womanly? I know my answer is no, but to everyone else I ask, why can't I hate my period? Why am I suddenly seen as cowing to the men in the medical field when I decide to not have a period through my BC that gives me control over my reproduction?
    For me, a period equals the following: unpredictable cycles giving way to ruined underwear/clothing/bedsheets; changes in the flow also giving way to ruined underwear/clothing/bedsheets; cramps that aren't every REALLY alleviated with OTC painkillers (and really, how "natural" is it to have to take Tylenol for a "natural" monthly cycle); decrease in enjoyable "intimacy" with my fiance (on both our parts, he's not playing any stereotypical "ignorant male" cards here).
    I apologize if I've come off as angrier than I really am on this topic. I just hate being called out as less of a women's health ally/defender for my intense dislike of my menstruation. It's a conclusion I've found on my own which is why I defend it. I whole-heartedly agree that these feelings need to be explored by each woman on her own, and they should NEVER be programmed or conditioned on any young girl.
    Okay, end rant now. Just my 2 cents 😉

  2. Just saw this today (playing catch up on my reading). First, I LOVE the Kotex ad. Truly excellent.

    And since we have the same condition you know I also agree with you on your stance of having healthy periods. I was on birth control for the majority of my reproductive years. I needed to be for endometriosis. My endo was kept at bay as long as I stayed on a low estrogen pill. I switched to Nuva Ring when I had some weird liver bloodwork. Turns out the bloodwork had nothing to do with the BCPs but I liked the Nuva Ring a lot so I stayed on it. It also kept the endo at bay. Or at least it seemed to. Perhaps that's when the endo left and the POI started? Who knows?
    I have no idea when my POI/POF started. I just know that the hot flashes turned in to night sweats so I went to the doc. Who said "it's probably nothing but let's check." If the symptoms had not been masked would I have found out in time to get pregnant? Who knows? The jury is still out on whether I'll conceive now. But it would have been nice to have that year or two or three back.

    Project Vital Sign rocks!

  3. Love the post! I have no words of wisdom/advice to add here…but it's awesome!

    ummm…I am guilty+thankful for the nuisance of regular Agnedy Fugnimima!

  4. Thanks for sharing this! I agree that in our society, we try to medicate away what should be a normal and healthy sign from our bodies (and I wouldn't be too surprised if this had to do with the fact that many of those in charge of "treatment" are male, and unfamiliar with this cyclic rhythm and its possible values).

  6. I generally liked the point of this article, as I think our society shames women far too much, especially about our periods. However, it seemed like there was a underlying theme of menstruation equaling womanhood, which seems problematic when one thinks about all the variations of women that don't menstruate for a variety of reasons: hormonal, having been born in a body IDed as male, etc.

  7. I love this post! And, a good friend just gave me her copy of The Red Tent… been carrying it around in my bag, haven't read it yet, but plan to soon!

  8. LOVE LOVE LOVE The Red Tent! It's one of my all-time favorite books. It took on a different meaning for me after I was diagnosed as infertile.

    Thank you for giving our bodies a voice!

  9. Preach on Keiko! This is such an important post and it needs to be spread far and wide!

  10. I LOVED The Red Tent. I read it when I was 14, it really should be required reading for highschool. The movement behind the book sounds really amazing. A great post. I do think part of our cultural aversion to menstration is about making females seem weak and promoting the idea that our physiology is somehow "weird" or "gross". Uhm, if it wasn't for our periods there wouldn't BE a human race, so I think its pretty awesome!

    I just wanted to point out that females are XX, not XY, if you want to correct it 🙂

  11. Love this Post!

    I rarely got a period. Maybe 2 times a year, on a good year…and now that I am getting them more frequently, I feel more like a woman…strange, I know.

    I still groan about my cramps, but I'm honestly smiling on the inside, and I wouldn't wish it away =)

  12. WOW, I loved this post!!!!! LOOOOOOVED it! thank you for taking the time to research and share it all with us.

    I am having my mirena removed in 2 weeks,because I would rather have the painful *every month* indication that my body works (sort of) than this hormonal hell I am living in.

    I was just blown away with all the information in this post and vow to do more, say more etc.

    Plus THE RED TENT changed my life, made me love the name Rachel and generally just makes my life better by "being" …..

    thank you so much for all of this. I will no longer bitch and moan about Aunt Flo. PROMISE 🙂

  13. Wonderful post! I love the idea of rejoicing in what our bodies do naturally – and not thinking something is gross, or icky. I remember my mom telling me about my period, and how it was something that had to be "dealt with" and how to hide it, and don't talk about it. I hope to teach my future daughter, if I'm so lukcy to have one, that her body is something to be celebrated.

  14. I love reading your posts your passionate and compassionate. thank you for telling the world like it is.

  15. I just teared up about the fact that I will never have a period again for the rest of my life. That was weird. When I lost my uterus to cancer I thought not having a period ever again would be the one perk. But, I actually just cried about never using a tampon again. Huh.

    Great post.

  16. As one who has suffered from endometriosis from the day of her first period, I thank you for your forthright stance on Women's health – particularly the fact that a healthy, regular period is an indication of overall health while irregular periods or cycles marked by pain and dysfunction indicates imbalance and disease. (wow – big run on sentence there!)

    We need more voices in the medical community and in our culture in general demanding that we do more for women whose cycles are disrupted or dysfunctional. The canned response, regardless of our disease or the underlying causes of the disease is to give us a pill – usually THE pill.

    In my case, my endometriosis is a symptom of a larger problem with estrogen dominance. (depression, mood swings, uncontrollable anger, constipation, endometriosis, debilitating cramps, breast tenderness, generally poor immunity, insomnia, lethargy – the list is HUGE and I've had all the symptoms all my life)

    What is in a Birth Control Pill? More estrogen!

    Problem NOT solved. The only time I have ever felt completely healthy and happy was during the one pregnancy I was able to achieve and maintain – as soon as breastfeeding tapered off, all of my estrogen demons broke out of their cages. That was a scary night – let me tell you!

    Can I find a doctor locally who will even consider looking at my hormone levels and investigating where my endocrine system is broken? NO. I have had to do my own research and self treat with herbs and progesterone cream for years.

    Now, as I enter my 40's, I am learning how to regulate myself and am finding peace in my mind and health in my body. But my fertility is gone, long gone.

    My sweet daughter suffers from many of my symptoms. Her only hope for a healthy reproductive life lies in the voices, experiences and advocacy of women like us. Thank you for stepping up.

  17. Fantastic post!!!! I'd love to join the Red Tent Temple that you go to…where is it in Boston?

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