Welcome to your one stop shop for menstrual art, news, science, and more!

• All you hip ladies out there should check out these super cool 2011 Menstrual Lunar Calendar by Etsy crafter vivalacraft.
• Blogger Life as a Reader responds thoughtfully and personally to our post The Curse? Cultural Celebration of Menarche in her post Huge Myths About Women’s Bodies.
• See the commercial that started it all!  The word “period” said on air in this commercial for the first time by our friend, Courtney Cox.  Did anyone see this when it first aired?  Did you notice it was the first time you heard the word “period” on television?
• Read this sassy British review of the MoonCup, Investigative Journalism from the Fringes of Girl Culture #9827: Over the MoonCup, complete with awesome graphic (shown on right).
• Check out this awesome, unintentionally menstrual positive tattoo Norwegian footballer John Carew got on his neck.  This might have to be my next tattoo.
• Blogger Context and Variation posted a very interesting academic (but totally readable!) article titled Iron-deficiency is not something you get just for being a lady, which explores the relationship between anemia and menstruation.  Surprise!  They may not be as linked as you think.
• Look for the new Moon Cup packaging at your local store! It uses fewer materials and takes up even less space in shipping, reducing the cup’s eco-footprint even more.
• There are great tips in Social Media for the 28th Day: 9 Tech Tips for Easier Periods, but as you know DivaCup is not the only option. What is your favorite cup?  In your tweet, use the hashtag #28thday to voice your opinion and add your tips!

December’s Monthly Friend is Adonia, who blogs about her
adventures living car-free in Los Angeles.  Read it here!

Name: Adonia Lugo
Age: 27
Hometown: San Juan Capistrano, CA
Current location: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Bicycling Ethnographer

Interests: Carfree transportation (biking, walking, trains), Intentional communities, Architecture, Anthropology, Public Space, Diversity
Dreams: Seeing more Americans embrace carfree transportation, Returning to the Pacific Northwest, Finding time in my busy schedule to start an all girl garage rock band

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: Since January 2010
Reason for making the switch to reusables: My friends had good experiences with them, and it’s really important to me to cut down on what I’m sending to landfills.

Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you’d like to share: Making the switch to reusables has been even better than I expected. The options work perfectly for me as an active traveler and urban cyclist.

Diane used to work at GladRags years ago before she moved away to study Vipassana meditation.  We loved having her around then and we still miss her. It was always fun to watch her at lunch time intently writing away in her journal.

Name: Diane
Age: 37
Hometown: SF East Bay, CA
Current location: Charlotte, NC
Occupation: SAHM

Interests: poetry, flash fiction, Vipassana meditation, family life
Dreams: I have a one year old… my dream right now is to take a really long nap. Beyond that I’d like to continue reducing my carbon footprint, nurture a happy healthy family, and to write, published or not.

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: 16 years
Reason for making the switch to reusables: It just made sense to the environment, to my health- it was a logical decision for me.

Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you’d like to share: (currently my mind is pretty clear… or full of hearing ‘mommy! mommy! mommy!… so I’m going to go now. I’ll think on this…)

This blog post originally appeared on My Red Tent.  We thought it was just to cute and funny to not share with the GladRags community!  Thanks to GladRags Guerrilla, Lafan, for allowing us to re-post it.

Who would have thought that a Gladrags cloth pad could double as a teddy bear cast.  Thank you to my kids for creativity and good laughs!

• Alternative menstrual products fan and all around cool blogger, RasingBoyChick, writes an in depth and thoughtful review of Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation.



• A student makes an amazing gingerbread and candy uterus model!  See photo to the right.  Learn more and see the the candy key here.
• Simply Healthful has a great Moon Cup review.
• Awesome blog post about the pros and cons of menstrual cups from Shuffled Pink. In summary: “Just do it, you big sissy.”
• Do women living close to each other sync up their periods? Our favorite podcast, @MomStuffPodcast explores in a recent podcast why many believe this and what science shows.
• Interesting article from Live Science on the most recent research on what happens to women during ovulation and how this may effect behavior.

Reviews and giveaways!

• Win organic pantyliners from Sacred Bee and read her review here!

• The Allergy Be Gone blog shares with us info on a New Study Finds that Early Menstruation Linked to Greater Asthma Risk.
• One of the the most interesting blogs on the internet, Sociological Images, reports on an artist’s installation on Re-Framing Menstruation through branding (see image to the right).
• Pfizer recalls ThermaCare HeatWraps Menstrual lot.  Check out our microwavable Herbal Comfort pacs instead!
• Check Mommy of 1 and Counting’s review of GladRags pads.

We like to stay in touch with former GladRags co-workers because they lead such interesting lives.  Elizabeth is an inspiration to us and also to others. She is a great lesson in pursuing your dreams! 

Name: Elizabeth Marsh
Age: 32
Hometown: Duluth, Minnesota
Current location: I’m new to Madison, Wisconsin
Occupation: Unitarian Universalist minister

Interests: Racial justice and social justice work, being outside, bicycle and pedestrian advocacy, and good, subversive pop culture.
Dreams: I just accomplished my dream of attending seminary and being ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister, so now I’m in the process of imagining some new dreams.

How long have you used reusable menstrual products? I’ve been relying on them for 8 or 9 years now.
Reason for making the switch to reusables: I switched for many reasons: environmentally, I could take my own responsibility for the lessening of paper menstrual product production and their waste in landfills.  I also appreciate the women’s empowerment that happens around reusables, and the financial savings are quite nice after all these years.

Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you’d like to share: My first exposure to reusable menstrual products was a decade ago, when I served in AmeriCorps in Portland, Oregon.  My work team took a tour of businesses focused on reduction and reuse of waste materials.  GladRags was one of these businesses.  An employee showed us The Keeper and all the women on my team were astonished: “How does that huge thing fit inside my body?!”  Little did I know then that I’d soon use The Keeper and GladRags, eventually work for the company, and now be sharing my story as their Monthly Friend.  I’ve learned so much from the whole company, especially the customers I worked with when I was a GladRags employee.  Many of us learned from each other that menstrual cups are not nearly as huge as they first seem.

Here we are back from a bit of break to bring you the latest menstrual news, art, and more!

• In Which I Discuss Periods in which one mother/blogger shares her thoughts on the Keeper Cup.
• Interesting take on the attractive male type of advertising campaign– Disposable pad ads featuring shirtless dudes: creepy?  funny?  condescending?  What do you
• Great blog, EmpowHER explores the menstrual cup in this article.
• Easy to read, Fast Facts about alternative menstrual products.  Informative and fun, especially designed for teens!
• GladRags was featured in the Better World Shopping Guide and we got an A! Their highest grade!
• Green Your Period: Menstrual Cup Replaces Disposable Tampons gives some well deserved love to the Lunette Cup.
• On the nature of writing The fantastic, the mundane, and menstruation.
• The new Chinook Books are out!  They have tons of great coupons along with an awesome one from GladRags.  So if you live in the Bay Area, Boulder/Denver, Portland, Seattle, or the Twin Cities pick one up today!

• Green Upgrader sings some praises in Reusable Menstrual Products Help Reduce Waste, Save Money.

• A study finds that the presence of older brothers delays menstruation in girls.  Learn more about why they think that is and how it relates to sexual activity here.

• I’ve always wondered What Causes Digestive Issues During Menstrual Periods.  And now I know!
• Ashley at Domestic Chaos reviews cloth pads and the Instead and rates them according to effectiveness and comfort.
• A new study finds a link between stress and worse PMS symptoms.
• Life on Health brings us many reasons to start using menstrual cups in Wondering How To Forget About Menstrual Pains & Discomfort Of Constant Tampon Or Pad Changing? Menstrual Cups!
• Check out this laughable recent ad for douching How to Ask for a Raise: First, Wash Your Vagina.  If only we could all feel comfortable with our own bodies silly shaming ads like this would not be a problem!
• Reasons to use a menstrual cup, let blogger Delta S count the ways.

About GladRags:

• Thanks to everyone who donated to our campaign for an orphanage in Nepal!  Learn more about the orphanage and our donation campaign here.
• You can see the TigerMama crew sporting their new GladRags pins in the picture to the right! Want one of your own? Sign up to be a GladRags Guerrilla!

• Guardian author, Hannah Betts, is inspired by British soap opera to discuss culture’s “weirdness about women’s private parts” in Mail got its knickers in a twist over Emmerdale’s ‘jam rags.’
• Psychology Today explores The Last Taboo: Menstruation and Body Literacy in a highly interesting article.
• Blogger Nevyn discusses her experience with reusable menstrual products coming from a place of embarrassment about her period.  Her article, Secret Women’s Business – Green Menstruation, includes lots of good times on using menstrual cups.
• Can menstrual cramps change the brain?  According to a preliminary study featured on ABC news they can!
• And last, but not least– 5 Reasons to Use a Menstrual Cup