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Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation
In this hip, hilarious and truly eye-opening cultural history, menstruation is talked about as never before. Flow spans its fascinating, occasionally wacky and sometimes downright scary story: from mikvahs (ritual cleansing baths) to menopause, hysteria to hysterectomies—not to mention the Pill, cramps, the history of underwear, and the movie about puberty they showed you in 5th grade.
Flow answers such questions as: What’s the point of getting a period? What did women do before pads and tampons? What about new drugs that promise to end periods—a hot idea or not? Sex during your period: gross or a turn-on? And what’s normal, anyway? With color reproductions of (campy) historical ads and early (excruciating) femcare devices, it also provides a fascinating (and mind-boggling) gallery of this complex, personal and uniquely female process.
As irreverent as it is informative, Flow gives an everyday occurrence its true props � and eradicates the stigma placed on it for centuries.
254 pages, Hardcover
First published November 5, 2009
71 people are currently reading
7594 people want to read
About the author
Elissa Stein
11books23followersELISSA STEIN’S most current book is FLOW: the Cultural Story of Menstruation. She lived her publishing dream-come-true night with a launch party at Rizzoli's on 57th Street that The New Yorker wrote about the next day. Previous projects include NYC adventures with kids, interactive thank you notes, and labor support for parents-to-be, along with visual histories of iconic pop culture—two of which were featured in Entertainment Weekly’s Must Have list. In addition to writing, she runs her own graphic design business. To balance the above, she practices yoga, knits with enthusiasm, and shops for vintage coats on ebay. She lives in New York City with her husband Jon and their two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 265 reviews
June 20, 2010
First, I want to point out that I like the idea of this book. The argument that women have always been period-hating victims of men and the femcare industry's judgement and marketing is cool with me; I hate the femcare industry and like yelling about misogynism as much as the next lady. The many vintage advertisements and illustrations are nice, and realizing that "water cure" meant "water-stimulated orgasm to relieve hysteria" was pretty cool.
However.
Several things about the book rubbed me the wrong way. The greatest of these was the mini-section on alternatives to big femcare products (tampons and disposable pads). Menstrual cups (my personal torch) rated just one, mostly positive, page, although any convincing of reluctant readers is undermined by the writers suggesting that removal will cause you to be covered in "bloody goo." For two women who want us to view our periods more holistically and without the shame industry has assigned them, that seemed like a strange choice of words. Even more strange, though, is the section on cloth pads (which have a pretty long history to back them up). The strange part, though, was a side-quote from one of the authors, who writes that she "delved into the world of reusable pads" (241) in the spirit of conservation and book-research. Well, congratulations to you. Unfortunately, she admits that she was squicked out by seeing blood on her happy little flannel robots and that pads are hot in August. (Personal-torch-rant: TRY A CUP! THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE RESEARCH AND THEN YOU MIGHT BE FREE FROM THE DISPOSABLES COMPANIES!) I'm a little surprised that authors of a book that is so damning of the femcare industry and all that they market to us come off as so personally unadventurous toward reusable products. Why else have you been spending five chapters telling us about TSS and deoderized tampons and landfills and et cetera et cetera et cetera?
Anyway.
Other minor gripes include the occasionally off-putting conversational/breezy tone of the writing, the relatively thin coverage of menopause and menarche, and the overall focus on white, middle-class American women throughout history. (Yes, I know the book is about America and that advertising for 200 years has tended to target the middle- and upper-classes, but STILL. Token mentions of the working poor and minorities do not constitute coverage.)
All in all, I enjoyed my trip down bio-feminism lane, or whatever you want to call it. I've been embracing my period (and menstrual cup) for five years now, though, so the choir was feeling a little superior to the preachers' revelations about alternatives to big femcare.
However.
Several things about the book rubbed me the wrong way. The greatest of these was the mini-section on alternatives to big femcare products (tampons and disposable pads). Menstrual cups (my personal torch) rated just one, mostly positive, page, although any convincing of reluctant readers is undermined by the writers suggesting that removal will cause you to be covered in "bloody goo." For two women who want us to view our periods more holistically and without the shame industry has assigned them, that seemed like a strange choice of words. Even more strange, though, is the section on cloth pads (which have a pretty long history to back them up). The strange part, though, was a side-quote from one of the authors, who writes that she "delved into the world of reusable pads" (241) in the spirit of conservation and book-research. Well, congratulations to you. Unfortunately, she admits that she was squicked out by seeing blood on her happy little flannel robots and that pads are hot in August. (Personal-torch-rant: TRY A CUP! THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE RESEARCH AND THEN YOU MIGHT BE FREE FROM THE DISPOSABLES COMPANIES!) I'm a little surprised that authors of a book that is so damning of the femcare industry and all that they market to us come off as so personally unadventurous toward reusable products. Why else have you been spending five chapters telling us about TSS and deoderized tampons and landfills and et cetera et cetera et cetera?
Anyway.
Other minor gripes include the occasionally off-putting conversational/breezy tone of the writing, the relatively thin coverage of menopause and menarche, and the overall focus on white, middle-class American women throughout history. (Yes, I know the book is about America and that advertising for 200 years has tended to target the middle- and upper-classes, but STILL. Token mentions of the working poor and minorities do not constitute coverage.)
All in all, I enjoyed my trip down bio-feminism lane, or whatever you want to call it. I've been embracing my period (and menstrual cup) for five years now, though, so the choir was feeling a little superior to the preachers' revelations about alternatives to big femcare.
Want to read
February 12, 2014
Femicin ad, 1968
Thank fuck for three waves of feminism.
May 23, 2015
I can't blame this book for not giving me the information I was hoping for. Nobody seems to know for sure how women in Regency England dealt with the flow.
But Flow was an engaging enough book to hold me until the end, anyway. The period (in every sense) product ads alone are worth the price of the book, though I'm not sure I wanted to know that until fairly recently, women were encouraged to use bleach-based products to stay "fresh." (Lysol douching, kids. It happened. I'm scared.)
But Flow was an engaging enough book to hold me until the end, anyway. The period (in every sense) product ads alone are worth the price of the book, though I'm not sure I wanted to know that until fairly recently, women were encouraged to use bleach-based products to stay "fresh." (Lysol douching, kids. It happened. I'm scared.)
December 31, 2009
I did not *enjoy* this book, per se. (See ) But it was a truly informative read.
Sure, there are some tiny mistakes (for example, doctors endeavoring to produce hysterical paroxysm did not *always* have the patient stand - the patient could also be reclining) but that is being nit-picky. And the tone can be a little too full-on "How can anyone not love their period?" (Quite easily, thank you.) But the book makes up for this by providing you with some eye-opening facts about how menstruation has been treated in America.
For example, companies assuring women their douche products were safe with no testing whatsoever. (Again, Lysol??? WTF???)
On the research front, this book is great for historical authors who want to know what their female characters would have gone through each month before the ease of current products.
Sure, there are some tiny mistakes (for example, doctors endeavoring to produce hysterical paroxysm did not *always* have the patient stand - the patient could also be reclining) but that is being nit-picky. And the tone can be a little too full-on "How can anyone not love their period?" (Quite easily, thank you.) But the book makes up for this by providing you with some eye-opening facts about how menstruation has been treated in America.
For example, companies assuring women their douche products were safe with no testing whatsoever. (Again, Lysol??? WTF???)
On the research front, this book is great for historical authors who want to know what their female characters would have gone through each month before the ease of current products.
November 22, 2010
Gah! This should be a monumental piece of work. Instead, it's flawed with a severe lack of authority, questionable references to the internet (moreso than books) and extremely lacking in recent medical discoveries. Interesting cultural tidbits, but overall, nearing the line of more fiction than fact.
December 26, 2009
2.5 stars. This is a great idea for a book, and it looks fantastic--the design and layout are top-notch. And all the vintage advertisments for feminine products were really great to look at. But for me, the writing style really grated. It felt like reading Seventeen magazine--preachy, didactic, and way too cutesy. Adding to the the feeling that I was reading something aimed at youth rather than adults was all the repetitive, careful explanation about drug companies and makers of feminine products. For instance, are you shocked to learn that these businesses are concerned more with selling their products than with protecting your health and well-being and conserving the earth's resources? No, you're not shocked because that is pretty obvious to most any modern adult who lives in the world? Oh, okay. Well, you're way ahead of this book, then.
May 28, 2010
The authors use a lively, irreverent tone to take readers through the history and American cultural experience involving menstruation, that very taboo subject. I feel that the book is strongest when they assert that a natural biological process associated with fertility has been co-opted by the "femcare" industry into a monthly event that is feared and hated, mostly for the purposes of selling us products -- pads, tampons, hormonal replacement therapy, Midol, what have you. (No surprise: that's my feeling, too.)
I'm not saying periods are so awesome; there are women who have serious medical issues surrounding them, and they're not imagining them, nor should they be ignored. But that doesn't have to be the norm. When you consider how many periods an average American female has, you can see what a money-maker it is to convince women that they are smelly, gross, unappealing to all other humans, and that any attendant issues like cramps, headaches, digestive upsets etc. must be medicated into submission. The authors throw out an intriguing tidbit: right around the time that "hysteria" started to die out as a legitimate medical diagnosis, "PMS" started up.
I appreciate that the authors went right there on a lot of topics: smell, sex during your period, just what is "normal," etc. Their "hey sisters!" tone grated at times, and the phrase "funnily enough" was oddly overused. (I just have a problem with the word "funnily.") But it's worth a read or at least a browse, if only for the reproductions of the many, many hilarious ads from the 1900s to today.
I'm not saying periods are so awesome; there are women who have serious medical issues surrounding them, and they're not imagining them, nor should they be ignored. But that doesn't have to be the norm. When you consider how many periods an average American female has, you can see what a money-maker it is to convince women that they are smelly, gross, unappealing to all other humans, and that any attendant issues like cramps, headaches, digestive upsets etc. must be medicated into submission. The authors throw out an intriguing tidbit: right around the time that "hysteria" started to die out as a legitimate medical diagnosis, "PMS" started up.
I appreciate that the authors went right there on a lot of topics: smell, sex during your period, just what is "normal," etc. Their "hey sisters!" tone grated at times, and the phrase "funnily enough" was oddly overused. (I just have a problem with the word "funnily.") But it's worth a read or at least a browse, if only for the reproductions of the many, many hilarious ads from the 1900s to today.
January 3, 2015
Easy, entertaining and informative.
It's the light kind of non-fiction - the one that feels more like a casual chat with someone who knows what they're talking about than a textbook - and just the right book for a certain someone to get started on her New Year's resolution to read more non-fiction. Get reacquainted with real life, you know.
There's some horrifying stuff in here, mostly with regards to how women have handled and viewed their period through the centuries, and at times it can feel a bit scattered as far as cohesiveness and a clear thread are concerned, but overall it's very, very interesting and often amusing. The topics it handles go well beyond the period, touching anything from the social construct that is hysteria to feminism and female sexuality, and it's done in a way that feels complete and relevant, not just there for the sake of it.
Bonus: there are reproductions of vintage advertisements all throughout the book.
In case you were wondering, the authors' final recommendation, and message of the entire work, is to just... go with the flow. Not my pun.
It's the light kind of non-fiction - the one that feels more like a casual chat with someone who knows what they're talking about than a textbook - and just the right book for a certain someone to get started on her New Year's resolution to read more non-fiction. Get reacquainted with real life, you know.
There's some horrifying stuff in here, mostly with regards to how women have handled and viewed their period through the centuries, and at times it can feel a bit scattered as far as cohesiveness and a clear thread are concerned, but overall it's very, very interesting and often amusing. The topics it handles go well beyond the period, touching anything from the social construct that is hysteria to feminism and female sexuality, and it's done in a way that feels complete and relevant, not just there for the sake of it.
Bonus: there are reproductions of vintage advertisements all throughout the book.
In case you were wondering, the authors' final recommendation, and message of the entire work, is to just... go with the flow. Not my pun.
January 28, 2016
I’ve been interested in how women who got out and about throughout history have dealt with menstruation. I was especially intrigued by 2 of my favs: Catherine the Great (my review of Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman /review/show...) and her 6-month Crimean journey and Christine Granville (my review of The Spy Who Loved /review/show...) and her trip across the Tatras into Poland during WWII. Like Ginger had to do everything Fred did but backward and in heels, women historically toughed it out with the men while dealing with their own bleeding. Hygiene and privacy were not what they are today in my world. Plus women had many less periods until the 20thC with our good nutrition and access to reliable birth control. I live in San Francisco. We have a large population of homeless. I feel for the women among them without regular access to product and facilities. Then there's Trump attacking Megyn Kelly for possibly menstruating. Mr. Backward.
Instead of properly researching my more historic/academic questions, I got lazy and found “Flow� on someone’s ŷ page. A coffee table (yes) book on menstruation is not for me. Too much opinion, speculation, repetition by non-historians. I learned a bit and the old adverts were an eye-opener. The things we ladies do to ourselves! Lysol was touted as a internal body cleanse for women. Nice. I do agree with the authors that advancements in femcare have coincided with advancements in the women’s movement. We wouldn’t get too far from home without the modcons and products.
The authors are jaunty and likeable but as much as they want us all to lighten up on the subject, you will not find “Flow� on my coffee table.
Instead of properly researching my more historic/academic questions, I got lazy and found “Flow� on someone’s ŷ page. A coffee table (yes) book on menstruation is not for me. Too much opinion, speculation, repetition by non-historians. I learned a bit and the old adverts were an eye-opener. The things we ladies do to ourselves! Lysol was touted as a internal body cleanse for women. Nice. I do agree with the authors that advancements in femcare have coincided with advancements in the women’s movement. We wouldn’t get too far from home without the modcons and products.
The authors are jaunty and likeable but as much as they want us all to lighten up on the subject, you will not find “Flow� on my coffee table.
December 20, 2016
якщо ви вже колись детально цікавилися тим, як працюють дівчатка, навряд чи ця книжка скаже вам багато нового � і, судячи з того, що на першій сторінці відгуків нема жодного від хлопчиків, зате є чимало нарікань на брак інформації про окремі аспекти життя з місячними (чи сучасні, чи історичні), так воно зазвичай і стається. утім, знання має стільки рівнів: наприклад, те, що ви добре бачили, але ніколи не узагальнювали (усюдисущий символізм чистої води в рекламі прокладок і тампонів); те, про що можна було здогадатися, та воно якось не спадало на думку (місячні з гормональною контрацепцією � несправжні; авторки грайливо називають їх stepford wives of menstruation); те, до чого додуматися легко, але не хочеться (гормональні гойдалки періменопаузи, що не поступаються радостям перших років після менархе). коротше, всуціль речі, з якими ми всі живемо, але розмова про які досі не особливо складається. а доповнюють це все ілюстрації � зразки реклами, які самі по собі розповідають цікаву історію ставле��ня до місячних у двадцятому столітті.
August 25, 2014
I did a lot of skimming in this book. It wasn't as great as I had hoped it would be. A lot of the book was spent complaining about how the medical field, from ancient Greece to modern America, had/have no idea what was going on with the menstruation cycle and we should be outraged at how inept they were/are. I was cool with that aspect the first hundred pages, but after that I just got bored with being outraged.
I did enjoy the historical aspects of the book on how women have dealt with having their periods. Oh, and I learned that you should refer to feminine hygiene products as femcare products because using the word hygiene implies something dirty is happening and periods are natural and beautiful.
I did enjoy the historical aspects of the book on how women have dealt with having their periods. Oh, and I learned that you should refer to feminine hygiene products as femcare products because using the word hygiene implies something dirty is happening and periods are natural and beautiful.
March 3, 2015
Kind of fun, kind of interesting.
Something was missing, I can't really figure out what!
The vintage ads were, without a doubt, the best part of the book, and the facts about menstruation in other cultures and countries were interesting. I was scared to learn how it was treated in other centuries, poor women!
Something was missing, I can't really figure out what!
The vintage ads were, without a doubt, the best part of the book, and the facts about menstruation in other cultures and countries were interesting. I was scared to learn how it was treated in other centuries, poor women!
July 15, 2020
A good start to the conversation, but I found this one a little disappointing and the tone struck me as off-puttingly casual at times. I also would have appreciated at least one distinction between "women" and "biologically female people" since it was implied throughout the book that all women (and only women) have periods. :/
January 3, 2017
This book is mainly about how american women's view of menstruation has been affected by misogynistic rhetoric and an industry build up on their insecurity and myths about menstruation. Interesting read and I wish there were more about how the rest of the world views our monthlies.
August 9, 2012
I love the cover of this book, and let's face it, it sounded like it might be interesting. This time the cover art and the description did the book justice; it was interesting, and fun to boot.
The authors are women, and often I found myself thinking this sounded more like a day out with the girls than a primer on the history of menstruation and all things associated with it. The writing has a very nice, easy "you-are-there" style, which helps as sometimes the subject matter is just - well - yeah, it's a bit on the "icky" side.
The history of "femcare" as the authors dub it isn't all that long, surprisingly enough. Way back in the day there was no such thing. What did our intrepid ancestors do, you may ask yourself? Um, bled. Sorry, but that's the truth; our foremothers pretty much bled on whatever it was they were wearing. Yes, some of them tried to use various things to handle the flow (some of them what you'd expect, like wads of cotton) but most just bled onto their clothes. As the authors are quick to point out, why do you think our clothing back then had so many petticoats and such? It wasn't to look feminine after all; it was to hide all that icky stuff going on down there.
Perhaps the authors' biggest complaint is that femcare is almost always presented as a problem, and thus, a solution. But pretty much every woman is going to need it at some point in her lifetime, so it's really not a problem so much as it's simply a matter of biology, and the authors want to know why it can't be presented as such. Think about it: have you ever seen an ad for tampons, pads, douches or the like that didn't talk about making your life better somehow? And keep a close eye out for the "not-so-fresh" type comments, as almost every ad has one of some sort. Women's flow is almost always presented as an obstacle to overcome, and a very yucky one at that.
Then we get to the whole idea of not having a period at all, which is now possible through the miracles of modern medicine. And the authors want to know two things: is this really a good idea and why is it being pushed on us? Well, it's sort of a good idea if you're concerned about ovarian cancer. The Pill gives a woman a leg up (so to speak) on cutting down her chances of ovarian cancer due to the fact that the eggs don't burst out of the ovaries as they normally would every month. No bursting means no repairing the ovary which means less chance of the cells going haywire and becoming malignant. And yes, I had pretty much forgotten everything they taught me in my sex-ed class and was fascinated by this information. It makes sense to me now why some of my friends know when they're ovulating, as they feel the discomfort/pain of that little tiny egg kicking its way through the ovarian wall. And if you're on the Pill, you don't really have a period, either. You have a pseudo sort of thing happen every month, something that mimics a period but doesn't supposedly have all the usual aches/pains/icky stuff that those not drugged up experience.
To that I say, my sweet a**! Sorry but in the name of full disclosure, I've been on the Pill since I was eighteen. Most months I would say I'm pretty OK, no PMS or anything to really clue anyone in that "Aunt Flo" is visiting. But sometimes, look out - it's love you one minute, hate you the next, and where's the damn ice cream?! I do get some pain (cramps, occasional backache, etc) and I still have some bloating. So if my body isn't having a "real" period, what's all that about? Is it all in my head? Sure doesn't feel like it, and sadly, the authors don't explore this enough for my taste.
Overall though it's an interesting, and yes, fun, book. Even if you have no intention of reading it, pick it up for the pictures alone. There are some fabulous old ads for the various products. My favorite are the ones used for the "Modess...because" campaign: high fashion photography that look more like artwork than femcare ads. In fact, if you saw them elsewhere you'd never know they were hawking tampons/pads!
The authors are women, and often I found myself thinking this sounded more like a day out with the girls than a primer on the history of menstruation and all things associated with it. The writing has a very nice, easy "you-are-there" style, which helps as sometimes the subject matter is just - well - yeah, it's a bit on the "icky" side.
The history of "femcare" as the authors dub it isn't all that long, surprisingly enough. Way back in the day there was no such thing. What did our intrepid ancestors do, you may ask yourself? Um, bled. Sorry, but that's the truth; our foremothers pretty much bled on whatever it was they were wearing. Yes, some of them tried to use various things to handle the flow (some of them what you'd expect, like wads of cotton) but most just bled onto their clothes. As the authors are quick to point out, why do you think our clothing back then had so many petticoats and such? It wasn't to look feminine after all; it was to hide all that icky stuff going on down there.
Perhaps the authors' biggest complaint is that femcare is almost always presented as a problem, and thus, a solution. But pretty much every woman is going to need it at some point in her lifetime, so it's really not a problem so much as it's simply a matter of biology, and the authors want to know why it can't be presented as such. Think about it: have you ever seen an ad for tampons, pads, douches or the like that didn't talk about making your life better somehow? And keep a close eye out for the "not-so-fresh" type comments, as almost every ad has one of some sort. Women's flow is almost always presented as an obstacle to overcome, and a very yucky one at that.
Then we get to the whole idea of not having a period at all, which is now possible through the miracles of modern medicine. And the authors want to know two things: is this really a good idea and why is it being pushed on us? Well, it's sort of a good idea if you're concerned about ovarian cancer. The Pill gives a woman a leg up (so to speak) on cutting down her chances of ovarian cancer due to the fact that the eggs don't burst out of the ovaries as they normally would every month. No bursting means no repairing the ovary which means less chance of the cells going haywire and becoming malignant. And yes, I had pretty much forgotten everything they taught me in my sex-ed class and was fascinated by this information. It makes sense to me now why some of my friends know when they're ovulating, as they feel the discomfort/pain of that little tiny egg kicking its way through the ovarian wall. And if you're on the Pill, you don't really have a period, either. You have a pseudo sort of thing happen every month, something that mimics a period but doesn't supposedly have all the usual aches/pains/icky stuff that those not drugged up experience.
To that I say, my sweet a**! Sorry but in the name of full disclosure, I've been on the Pill since I was eighteen. Most months I would say I'm pretty OK, no PMS or anything to really clue anyone in that "Aunt Flo" is visiting. But sometimes, look out - it's love you one minute, hate you the next, and where's the damn ice cream?! I do get some pain (cramps, occasional backache, etc) and I still have some bloating. So if my body isn't having a "real" period, what's all that about? Is it all in my head? Sure doesn't feel like it, and sadly, the authors don't explore this enough for my taste.
Overall though it's an interesting, and yes, fun, book. Even if you have no intention of reading it, pick it up for the pictures alone. There are some fabulous old ads for the various products. My favorite are the ones used for the "Modess...because" campaign: high fashion photography that look more like artwork than femcare ads. In fact, if you saw them elsewhere you'd never know they were hawking tampons/pads!
September 26, 2021
2.5 stars. I have a different book on my TBR shelf dealing with the history of menstruation; perhaps I should have picked that up at my library rather than this book.
Positives: PLENTY of old advertisements for anything concerning women's reproductive lives. The layout of the book is attractive and inviting. I was shocked to learn Lysol was promoted as a douche (which the entire douche thing is also scary) and the ads in the 1940s-1950s about vaginal odor and germs and letting your man down, wow! I also liked the anecdotes on the sidebars
Negatives: My impression after finishing the book is that the authors' central argument is that menstruation and everything that revolves around it are natural and we should all embrace it. Stop your complaining. "We're handing young women the opportunity to change the way their bodies work, erasing something that's been a fundamental female experience since the first humans stood up from all that primordial goo. While we believe women should be free to do what they want with their bodies, we're nevertheless disturbed by the underlying message being sold to us wholesale, no questions asked..."(p. 100) Also, that, overall, do not trust the medical community. And WTF with "getting one's period is not only confusing and frightening, but of downright depressing as it signals the end of presexual freedom." (p. 162) Excuse me? Are the authors insinuating that young girls dream of sexual freedom before menstruation but then are disheartened with their menarche because now they can't have risk free sex? It truly appears that the authors are against BCPs, even to the point of providing misinformation about them. They often refer to them as "Menstrual Suppression" Also, they must be of the dogma of "Big Pharma" people. For instance, for them it is the drug makers who encourage women to have "negative attitudes" about menstruation. Seriously? Uh, no. Dealing with a period every month for 35 years is a handful. As they themselves admit several times in the book, it is a messy and at times, painful process. They say, more than once, that BCPs have not proven safe - "we simply don't have enough evidence to prove that menstrual suppression is reversible or even safe in the long run."(p.31) "Thanks to menstrual suppression drugs, we can now choose how often we menstruate, if at all. Yet this raises numerous questions, from health risks to problems with potential fertility."(p. 100). Footnotes, please? Speaking of footnotes, there are none, just a bibliography. One author is a graphic designer/author, the other is a playwright. So if you are going to make some medical claims, perhaps you should cite each of your claims with a footnote. I even checked the Acknowledgement and nope, no thank you to any medical physician.
Positives: PLENTY of old advertisements for anything concerning women's reproductive lives. The layout of the book is attractive and inviting. I was shocked to learn Lysol was promoted as a douche (which the entire douche thing is also scary) and the ads in the 1940s-1950s about vaginal odor and germs and letting your man down, wow! I also liked the anecdotes on the sidebars
Negatives: My impression after finishing the book is that the authors' central argument is that menstruation and everything that revolves around it are natural and we should all embrace it. Stop your complaining. "We're handing young women the opportunity to change the way their bodies work, erasing something that's been a fundamental female experience since the first humans stood up from all that primordial goo. While we believe women should be free to do what they want with their bodies, we're nevertheless disturbed by the underlying message being sold to us wholesale, no questions asked..."(p. 100) Also, that, overall, do not trust the medical community. And WTF with "getting one's period is not only confusing and frightening, but of downright depressing as it signals the end of presexual freedom." (p. 162) Excuse me? Are the authors insinuating that young girls dream of sexual freedom before menstruation but then are disheartened with their menarche because now they can't have risk free sex? It truly appears that the authors are against BCPs, even to the point of providing misinformation about them. They often refer to them as "Menstrual Suppression" Also, they must be of the dogma of "Big Pharma" people. For instance, for them it is the drug makers who encourage women to have "negative attitudes" about menstruation. Seriously? Uh, no. Dealing with a period every month for 35 years is a handful. As they themselves admit several times in the book, it is a messy and at times, painful process. They say, more than once, that BCPs have not proven safe - "we simply don't have enough evidence to prove that menstrual suppression is reversible or even safe in the long run."(p.31) "Thanks to menstrual suppression drugs, we can now choose how often we menstruate, if at all. Yet this raises numerous questions, from health risks to problems with potential fertility."(p. 100). Footnotes, please? Speaking of footnotes, there are none, just a bibliography. One author is a graphic designer/author, the other is a playwright. So if you are going to make some medical claims, perhaps you should cite each of your claims with a footnote. I even checked the Acknowledgement and nope, no thank you to any medical physician.
April 8, 2010
I reserved this at the library because I saw a couple snippets of Susan Kim speaking with Sarah Haskins. Advertising+feminism+humor=great, right? Pretty much, yes.
Although I knew a good amount of the information in this book before I read it--dioxin in tampons, clitoral orgasm as historical cure for hysteria, condescending faux-medical femcare advertising, etc.--I also learned a reasonable amount of new info. For those less knowledgeable about the contemporary western cultural history of menstruation, the information here would be critical.
A few caveats, however:
The book is styled in a very pink, girly, retro-kitsch way, plastered with midcentury ads and curlicued chapter headings. Ordinarily this would piss me off to no end; in this case, however, half the point of the book is exploring the historical marketing of femcare, so my reaction is more complex. On one hand, the design could be an overtly ironic statement, aware of its relation with the book's content. On the other hand, it's unfortunately also plausible that the publishing company wanted that design specifically as a marketing device--in short, they may be using the same strategy that a significant chunk of the book dissects. As much as I'd like to attribute the design solely to the first motive, I think it's much more likely to be a combination of the two. So, ok. At least the advertising strategy is being used to actually inform people, as opposed to, for instance, selling Lysol as a douche. The ends are superior, but the means are...more difficult.
The tone, as well, is poised between girlfriendy gossip and scientific data analysis. This does make the information presented easily available to all, with little effort required for understanding, but again, what does this say about marketing to women? Are women too stupid to comprehend a more seriously toned volume, or are they uninterested in anything too complex? The information communicated here is valuable, but by putting literature aimed at women in this problematic tone, it seems to some extent that the authors and their editors are falling into the same trap that they seek to expose.
All things considered, it's definitely worth getting your hands on a copy of Flow. Substantial amounts of the information here is absent from the mainstream presentation of menstruation, and while it's possible to find bits and pieces of said info elsewhere, I haven't seen such a comprehensive volume anywhere else. As long as you consider the book with a critical eye, it's valuable.
Although I knew a good amount of the information in this book before I read it--dioxin in tampons, clitoral orgasm as historical cure for hysteria, condescending faux-medical femcare advertising, etc.--I also learned a reasonable amount of new info. For those less knowledgeable about the contemporary western cultural history of menstruation, the information here would be critical.
A few caveats, however:
The book is styled in a very pink, girly, retro-kitsch way, plastered with midcentury ads and curlicued chapter headings. Ordinarily this would piss me off to no end; in this case, however, half the point of the book is exploring the historical marketing of femcare, so my reaction is more complex. On one hand, the design could be an overtly ironic statement, aware of its relation with the book's content. On the other hand, it's unfortunately also plausible that the publishing company wanted that design specifically as a marketing device--in short, they may be using the same strategy that a significant chunk of the book dissects. As much as I'd like to attribute the design solely to the first motive, I think it's much more likely to be a combination of the two. So, ok. At least the advertising strategy is being used to actually inform people, as opposed to, for instance, selling Lysol as a douche. The ends are superior, but the means are...more difficult.
The tone, as well, is poised between girlfriendy gossip and scientific data analysis. This does make the information presented easily available to all, with little effort required for understanding, but again, what does this say about marketing to women? Are women too stupid to comprehend a more seriously toned volume, or are they uninterested in anything too complex? The information communicated here is valuable, but by putting literature aimed at women in this problematic tone, it seems to some extent that the authors and their editors are falling into the same trap that they seek to expose.
All things considered, it's definitely worth getting your hands on a copy of Flow. Substantial amounts of the information here is absent from the mainstream presentation of menstruation, and while it's possible to find bits and pieces of said info elsewhere, I haven't seen such a comprehensive volume anywhere else. As long as you consider the book with a critical eye, it's valuable.
September 30, 2017
Flow is poorly edited. There was a multitude of glaring typographical errors, as well as passages where someone had rephrased a sentence multiple times without fully deleting previous versions.
Getting past that, the history itself was mediocre. Rather than confine herself to reporting only the facts, Stein goes off on lengthy diatribes against the medical establishment, the pharmaceutical industry, and even, at one point, against women who find menstruation so inconvenient and uncomfortable that they would just as soon not do it.
All that would be fine if she presented actual evidence to support her distrust and dislike of medical professionals. Instead she jumps straight from point A, which is that worldwide, people have some really upsetting attitudes about menstruation and femininity, to point B, which is the implication that doctors and pharmaceutical developers are motivated by a desire to perpetuate these attitudes.
If that sounds a little incoherent . . . well. It is.
I came to this book hoping to read a discussion of the ways in which menstruation is viewed across cultures and history. Instead I got a huge number of pictures of advertisements for feminine hygiene products, with minimal analysis of them to explain what I was looking for/at. Instead, I got rants about businesses that develop products to capitalize on women's insecurities instead of a detailed discussion of how we got to this point, or of how Western ideas differ from, say, Japanese or Thai ideas about menstruation.
I ended up feeling like I was reading a book-length freshman comp study by someone who'd picked out a topic without realizing that properly studying it would require knowledge of three or four languages that she didn't read. As a result, I picked up some interesting trivia, but I did not encounter a fully-formed theory of menstruation's place in Western or any other culture.
Getting past that, the history itself was mediocre. Rather than confine herself to reporting only the facts, Stein goes off on lengthy diatribes against the medical establishment, the pharmaceutical industry, and even, at one point, against women who find menstruation so inconvenient and uncomfortable that they would just as soon not do it.
All that would be fine if she presented actual evidence to support her distrust and dislike of medical professionals. Instead she jumps straight from point A, which is that worldwide, people have some really upsetting attitudes about menstruation and femininity, to point B, which is the implication that doctors and pharmaceutical developers are motivated by a desire to perpetuate these attitudes.
If that sounds a little incoherent . . . well. It is.
I came to this book hoping to read a discussion of the ways in which menstruation is viewed across cultures and history. Instead I got a huge number of pictures of advertisements for feminine hygiene products, with minimal analysis of them to explain what I was looking for/at. Instead, I got rants about businesses that develop products to capitalize on women's insecurities instead of a detailed discussion of how we got to this point, or of how Western ideas differ from, say, Japanese or Thai ideas about menstruation.
I ended up feeling like I was reading a book-length freshman comp study by someone who'd picked out a topic without realizing that properly studying it would require knowledge of three or four languages that she didn't read. As a result, I picked up some interesting trivia, but I did not encounter a fully-formed theory of menstruation's place in Western or any other culture.
April 25, 2018
Definitely a must read. For centuries menstruation was demonised and people were afraid to discuss it in public. This book explores the historical and cultural context surrounding periods, which can help begin to open up the discussion around the periods and arm women with knowledge about their natural and normal bodily processes.
"According to the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder in his book Natural History, written in AD 77, period blood could cause horse to have a miscarriage and the extermination of flowers, among other things."
These assertions remained uncontested for more than a thousand years. And since menstruation was a completely feminine phenomenon, the myths and misperceptions surrounding it were used to subvert women's position in ancient society. Menstruation was also used as an excuse to exclude menstruating women from different types of institutions like churches, wineries(Germany) and opium labs(Vietnam).
Ironically, premenstrual syndrome(PMS) used to be diagnosed as hysteria.
But finally the development of fem care products accompanied historic political change for women. In 1920, Kotex pads became available and the same year Nineteenth amendment was enacted in the US allowing women to vote. Again, in 1970,'s, the sale of self-adhesive pads coincided with the women's liberation movement. Today, majorly in the West, menstruation no longer gets in the way of women's education or career but in Sub-Saharan Africa, young girls miss their school because of the lack of fem care products.
Moreover, there is a large gap in our knowledge surrounding menstruation. It is mainly due to the distribution of information by big businesses that are more interested in selling their products than they are in educating women about their natural bodily processes.
"According to the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder in his book Natural History, written in AD 77, period blood could cause horse to have a miscarriage and the extermination of flowers, among other things."
These assertions remained uncontested for more than a thousand years. And since menstruation was a completely feminine phenomenon, the myths and misperceptions surrounding it were used to subvert women's position in ancient society. Menstruation was also used as an excuse to exclude menstruating women from different types of institutions like churches, wineries(Germany) and opium labs(Vietnam).
Ironically, premenstrual syndrome(PMS) used to be diagnosed as hysteria.
But finally the development of fem care products accompanied historic political change for women. In 1920, Kotex pads became available and the same year Nineteenth amendment was enacted in the US allowing women to vote. Again, in 1970,'s, the sale of self-adhesive pads coincided with the women's liberation movement. Today, majorly in the West, menstruation no longer gets in the way of women's education or career but in Sub-Saharan Africa, young girls miss their school because of the lack of fem care products.
Moreover, there is a large gap in our knowledge surrounding menstruation. It is mainly due to the distribution of information by big businesses that are more interested in selling their products than they are in educating women about their natural bodily processes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2015
Reading Flow is a bit like sitting down with your favorite aunt to have a gab about periods. It's got some great wisdom and cross-cultural knowledge about menstruation, plus it's full of hilarious (and often sad) vintage ads for pads, pain pills, and douches. But - perhaps like that aunt's opinions - it's a mixed bag. The authors clearly aren't keen on hormonal birth control methods, which comes out a bit too much like proselytizing. While I am sympathetic to arguments the medicalization of normal body functions can have downsides, pregnancy prevention is serious business! You can't criticize hormonal contraception untempered by a comparison to the risks of pregnancy and birth, which are substantially greater. Plus, there were some things that got my hackles up: they called Implanon a pill (it's a contraceptive implant), and they misrepresented the risk of infant mortality from injectable contraceptives (from an isolated, unreproduced study from 1991, mind you).
Anyways, let me get off my public health high horse. Some of the information here is great, and it's often an entertaining read. So read it for the history of the "femcare" industry (which is a great term), but try to ignore the anti-contraception tangent.
Anyways, let me get off my public health high horse. Some of the information here is great, and it's often an entertaining read. So read it for the history of the "femcare" industry (which is a great term), but try to ignore the anti-contraception tangent.
July 5, 2012
The subject matter was very interesting (maybe not for men, but fascinating for women, anyway). The primary source materials scattered throughout the book (chiefly advertisements for tampax and douches of yore) did a great job at expressing the attitudes of the advertisement industry throughout modern times.
However, the writing style was wretched. An interesting topic was degraded through an excessive attempt to be humorous, and it constantly jerked me back to the recollection that I was reading. The tone was overly intimate and scattered with annoying phraseology. Whenever the writers were trying to point out something incongruent or nonsensical, they led with the phrase "funnily enough", which irked me to no end. This is only one of many repetitious phrases. There were many more.
Another matter of small point: they listed Gary Null as a respected authority in the area of alternative medicine. Gary Null? Really? Would that be Gary Null of infomercial fame?
A great idea, fun graphics, craptastic writing.
However, the writing style was wretched. An interesting topic was degraded through an excessive attempt to be humorous, and it constantly jerked me back to the recollection that I was reading. The tone was overly intimate and scattered with annoying phraseology. Whenever the writers were trying to point out something incongruent or nonsensical, they led with the phrase "funnily enough", which irked me to no end. This is only one of many repetitious phrases. There were many more.
Another matter of small point: they listed Gary Null as a respected authority in the area of alternative medicine. Gary Null? Really? Would that be Gary Null of infomercial fame?
A great idea, fun graphics, craptastic writing.
November 8, 2015
I loved, LOVED this book! It's the sort of thing that I think all women should read. It was hilarious yet informative. I've been menstruating for ten years now and there are a lot of points (some that can greatly affect your health!) that this book brings up that I've never even considered because the idea that menstruation is still (oddly) so taboo to talk about. More women should be open to having discussions that the book poses. It's the most natural thing in the world for women but we've somehow been conditioned to keep all our thoughts, questions, etc. locked away because it's "improper" to talk about, even among each other!
My biggest takeaway from reading this is the idea of maybe switching from tampons to a menstrual cup. I've been doing some research and have come to the conclusion that with the all the benefits, it's really a no-brainer to at least give it a try. (Here's a fantastic youtube video to give you the basics if you'd like to know what it's all about )
My biggest takeaway from reading this is the idea of maybe switching from tampons to a menstrual cup. I've been doing some research and have come to the conclusion that with the all the benefits, it's really a no-brainer to at least give it a try. (Here's a fantastic youtube video to give you the basics if you'd like to know what it's all about )
June 14, 2011
Birthday present!!
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I didn't care for the "We're just a couple of girlfriends chatting!" conversational style that the authors took in a lot of places, but overall this was a VERY informative book. I dug all the vintage menstruation-related advertisements, too.
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I didn't care for the "We're just a couple of girlfriends chatting!" conversational style that the authors took in a lot of places, but overall this was a VERY informative book. I dug all the vintage menstruation-related advertisements, too.
February 3, 2010
Young women should read this. Good feminist reading on a needlessly taboo subject. Good cultural feminist history primer as well.
November 8, 2022
As a late bloomer who got on DepoProvera almost immediately after starting my period, it has been a wild ride getting off birth control close to 20 years later, so I'm always grateful for an opportunity to learn more about periods in a way that is open, informative, and aware of the many Westernized, perhaps even US-specific, biases.
This book definitely attempts to do that, but there's no escaping that it was published in 2009. For all its valid commentary about how the relatively short history of feminine hygeine advertisements have managed to do a terrifying job of exploiting fears, it falls short in it's analysis of the lack of represention of menstruators of color without providing much information to rectify the problem. Commentary and jokes sometimes felt tone deaf and, despite criticism of third wave feminism being focused on well-to-do white women, this book also feels focused on well-to-do white women.
There are jokes and commentary that just wouldn't fly if it were published today, and if I'm recalling correctly, there is exactly one mention of LGBTQ+ people, but only by virtue of negation, because it was talking specifically about women in heterosexual partnerships without children.
Criticisms aside, there was new information in this book for me, particularly in the back half of the book. Learning that humans are one of the few mammals who menstruate, the rituals that happen in cultures that celebrate menarche, and how to pronounce the word menarche were all revelatory to me. A critical look at advertising in the ~100 years these products have been available was very interesting, and the full color reproductions of ads and other written materials was really fascinating to look through.
With the knowledge that this is an imperfect book, written in a way that would almost certainly be tweaked to be more sensitive and inclusive were it to be published today, I still found this to be a worthwhile read.
As I approach middle age, it was also great (although slightly terrifying) to read some open and honest non-fiction about perimenopause and menopause. The section was short, but a good reminder to myself to be better educated about my choices going into those phases of my life than I was when I was a teenager.
This book definitely attempts to do that, but there's no escaping that it was published in 2009. For all its valid commentary about how the relatively short history of feminine hygeine advertisements have managed to do a terrifying job of exploiting fears, it falls short in it's analysis of the lack of represention of menstruators of color without providing much information to rectify the problem. Commentary and jokes sometimes felt tone deaf and, despite criticism of third wave feminism being focused on well-to-do white women, this book also feels focused on well-to-do white women.
There are jokes and commentary that just wouldn't fly if it were published today, and if I'm recalling correctly, there is exactly one mention of LGBTQ+ people, but only by virtue of negation, because it was talking specifically about women in heterosexual partnerships without children.
Criticisms aside, there was new information in this book for me, particularly in the back half of the book. Learning that humans are one of the few mammals who menstruate, the rituals that happen in cultures that celebrate menarche, and how to pronounce the word menarche were all revelatory to me. A critical look at advertising in the ~100 years these products have been available was very interesting, and the full color reproductions of ads and other written materials was really fascinating to look through.
With the knowledge that this is an imperfect book, written in a way that would almost certainly be tweaked to be more sensitive and inclusive were it to be published today, I still found this to be a worthwhile read.
As I approach middle age, it was also great (although slightly terrifying) to read some open and honest non-fiction about perimenopause and menopause. The section was short, but a good reminder to myself to be better educated about my choices going into those phases of my life than I was when I was a teenager.
June 23, 2018
I found this book in a thrift store a few years ago and just adored the cover. Plus, there are just things that seem completely natural (e.g., death, birth, menstruation, etc.) that have this stigma around them I've never fully grasped. So, I was much more excited about this book than anybody else to whom I've since showed it. C'est la vie. It's a fascinating look at how society has dealt with menstruation throughout history and the various products, treatments, and supposed knowledge that has been peddled publicly (most of which have ostracized and/or preyed on the fears and insecurities of the very people it pretended to help). In addition to having a wonderful sense of humor and being quite well researched, priceless advertisements and illustrations stretching all the way back to the late 1800s are sprinkled throughout the book. There were so many factoids, shocking practices, and parts I had to read twice to really let them sink in that I hardly know which ones to share. While this wasn't part of the book, even today, in some parts of the world, young females don't get a full education because they're forced to stop going to school after getting their periods and not having access to pads or tampons.
Maybe I'll just leave you with these stellar "resources" as mentioned from the final chapter:
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- ("... an online cartoon heroine who can be found fighting evil with nothing more than a tampon lasso, a flying pad, and (when all else fails) her powerful, fire-hydrant-esque flow.")
Maybe I'll just leave you with these stellar "resources" as mentioned from the final chapter:
-
- ("... an online cartoon heroine who can be found fighting evil with nothing more than a tampon lasso, a flying pad, and (when all else fails) her powerful, fire-hydrant-esque flow.")
January 17, 2022
Pros - extensive look at how advertising has shaped our "knowledge" (or lack thereof) about periods. Reproduced ads are damning evidence in and of themselves.
Cons - not written by science or medical writers; not even clear that any medical professional was part of the editorial process. Which makes me uncomfortable when the authors start exploring biology.
The writers also completely missed an obvious point about the advertising - it would have been largely created by white, middle-class men, with all the implicit and explicit bias inherent in that.
Cons - not written by science or medical writers; not even clear that any medical professional was part of the editorial process. Which makes me uncomfortable when the authors start exploring biology.
The writers also completely missed an obvious point about the advertising - it would have been largely created by white, middle-class men, with all the implicit and explicit bias inherent in that.
April 14, 2015
This book is an irreverent look at menstruation and the history of "femcare". The authors apparently wrote this as a reaction to continuous hormonal birth control use to eliminate one's amazingly wonderful period. I'm someone who avoids hormonal birth control and often uses cloth pads and a menstrual cup, so you'd think they would be preaching to the choir. Still, I had issues with this book. It's too shallow and filled with editorial conjectures and questionable anecdotes. For example, the chapter on hysteria and "water treatments" is appropriately shocking, yet has no citation on the number of women who may have received such cures. The implication is that many or even most women did. No, not all water cures were as described, but we are meant to think so. Just because some American women have a $10,000 handbag doesn't mean that most women do. Information matters.
The authors' two enemies are the pharmaceutical companies for "medicalizing" menstruation, and the femcare industry for capitalizing on it. Their anger with doctors sends mixed messages: at times, they're upset doctors do too much tinkering and treat menstruation as a pathological issue that needs to be cured. Later, they're lamenting doctors' apparent lack of interest in treating menstrual problems. In subsequent chapters, the authors are helpful enough to offer the reader medical advice. What?
The authors are up in arms that femcare advertising focuses on hygiene and personal cleanliness, yet they provide a quote stating that in pre-femcare days, women (a few? many? most?) were disgustingly filthy from their bellies to their feet. So what is the point of femcare if not to provide hygiene and cleanliness? I agree that absorbent tampon strings are unnecessary, but femcare in general is not. The authors make light of ad quotes that indicate tampon companies are helping women keep their "secret". You know what, yeah, I do want my period to be a secret from the general public, and I don't think that makes me ashamed of my body. I remember well the day in middle school when my period was decidedly NOT a secret, and I wouldn't want to relive that.
Their other issue with ads is that the ads don't tell you what femcare DOES or how to use it. The authors see this as a sinister message from "the man" that menstruation is vile and you should hate yourself if you're a woman. And yet, ads for toilet paper don't show you how to wipe yourself, and you'll never see a wad of used toilet paper in an ad. Is that a problem, too? As comfortable as a woman may be with her body, I believe these are still considered private bodily functions. The authors also conclude that femcare ads depicting models in or near the water illustrate the perceived dirtiness of menstruation. Might I argue that the ads show that women can indeed go swimming in comfort if they use a tampon? No? So it's definitely because of the misogynistic view that women need ritual cleansing & sanitizing after their periods? I guess I've misunderstood advertising all these years. And talk about willful misunderstanding--the authors take a Kotex ad that includes the word "protect" and jump all over it, wondering what Kotex will protect you from. Um, how about protecting me from getting blood all over my clothes? Is it really so hard to understand? As a final WTH? moment, after all the big-business femcare rants, the authors don't even like menstrual cups or reusable pads! So�.I'm confused as to their ultimate point.
In the end, I enjoyed this book for the vintage adverts and the historical info. The rest…meh.
The authors' two enemies are the pharmaceutical companies for "medicalizing" menstruation, and the femcare industry for capitalizing on it. Their anger with doctors sends mixed messages: at times, they're upset doctors do too much tinkering and treat menstruation as a pathological issue that needs to be cured. Later, they're lamenting doctors' apparent lack of interest in treating menstrual problems. In subsequent chapters, the authors are helpful enough to offer the reader medical advice. What?
The authors are up in arms that femcare advertising focuses on hygiene and personal cleanliness, yet they provide a quote stating that in pre-femcare days, women (a few? many? most?) were disgustingly filthy from their bellies to their feet. So what is the point of femcare if not to provide hygiene and cleanliness? I agree that absorbent tampon strings are unnecessary, but femcare in general is not. The authors make light of ad quotes that indicate tampon companies are helping women keep their "secret". You know what, yeah, I do want my period to be a secret from the general public, and I don't think that makes me ashamed of my body. I remember well the day in middle school when my period was decidedly NOT a secret, and I wouldn't want to relive that.
Their other issue with ads is that the ads don't tell you what femcare DOES or how to use it. The authors see this as a sinister message from "the man" that menstruation is vile and you should hate yourself if you're a woman. And yet, ads for toilet paper don't show you how to wipe yourself, and you'll never see a wad of used toilet paper in an ad. Is that a problem, too? As comfortable as a woman may be with her body, I believe these are still considered private bodily functions. The authors also conclude that femcare ads depicting models in or near the water illustrate the perceived dirtiness of menstruation. Might I argue that the ads show that women can indeed go swimming in comfort if they use a tampon? No? So it's definitely because of the misogynistic view that women need ritual cleansing & sanitizing after their periods? I guess I've misunderstood advertising all these years. And talk about willful misunderstanding--the authors take a Kotex ad that includes the word "protect" and jump all over it, wondering what Kotex will protect you from. Um, how about protecting me from getting blood all over my clothes? Is it really so hard to understand? As a final WTH? moment, after all the big-business femcare rants, the authors don't even like menstrual cups or reusable pads! So�.I'm confused as to their ultimate point.
In the end, I enjoyed this book for the vintage adverts and the historical info. The rest…meh.
September 18, 2022
I’ve been drinking the pro-period kool-aid for quite some time so not a lot of this was news to me but I still highly recommend to any menstruating person and any person wanting to be an ally of the former. Have period sex people. Try a menstrual cup. Dump that blood down the sink. Know what your discharge and menarche is like based off of what point you are in your cycle. Get off birth control if you don’t even remember how your body was before it (obviously stay on it if you love it). (One of my joys in life is convincing one of my friends who were absolutely gobsmacked that I’m not on it and decide to give it a try for the first time since high school and LOVE it. Your libido and body will thank you!) Do something spiritual based off of where you are in your cycle. Experience what your cycle and ovulation (my favorite time!!) feels like in your body, independent of what anyone else thinks. Menstruation should be something revered, mourned, celebrated, and well-known to you. Period.
I’m really on a soap box here, but really sit with if men could menstruate. There would be abortion clinics at the airport. Drive through free pads and tampons. Probably contests to see who can bleed the most. Maybe not. Maybe I’m wrong here. But please, stop feeling shame about what something ~50% of the population experiences.
I’m really on a soap box here, but really sit with if men could menstruate. There would be abortion clinics at the airport. Drive through free pads and tampons. Probably contests to see who can bleed the most. Maybe not. Maybe I’m wrong here. But please, stop feeling shame about what something ~50% of the population experiences.
January 16, 2012
The profound cis-bias in this retrospective work proves uncomfortable, considering its apparent feminist origins. Altogether, the determination of the authors is shot down in their own failure to look outside the realms of the second wave of feminism. The nature of 'Flow' as chronicle to menstruation produces polar statements in the presentation of varying historical perspectives. For instance, the book bears emphasis upon the uterus-bearing person as physiologically and psychologically independent of their hormones (hence insisting upon an emasculation of menstruation) or promoting various natural remedies to PMS symptoms (which has been previously claimed as having no scientific basis). The pharmaceutical industry is rightfully critiqued in its treatment of menstruation, but criticism of various medications marketed towards gynecological conditions implies that those using said prescriptions are somehow bad or wrong for engaging the aforementioned pharmaceutical corporations. It is remarkably difficult to prepare a summation of as broad a topic as periods. The authors have brought the subject to greater literary attention, but it is irreparable to establish such an anti-gender-essentialist perspective, as is done in 'Flow', whilst reinforcing cisgendered presumptions.
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