• 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.

• “Menstruation Skateboards: some girls bleed more than once a month.”  An Austrian university student creates a fake skateboard brand that is both awesome and positively reframes menstruation.

• A new study links early menstruation to a greater risk of asthma.

• Save on GladRags in stores by requesting up to 10 coupons on GladRags.com.

• Enter to win a 3-pack of GladRags color day pads on Heather M’s blog, Mommy of 1 and Counting!

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!

• Toni Weschler, author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement and Reproductive Health, answers a few questions about menstruation on Scarleteen in Talking Menstruation with Toni.
• Lani Beloso, an artist with menorrhagia paints canvases with her own menstrual blood (see photo).  Read more about how she sees her work as catharsis and art in this article on Jezebel.
• The Huffington writes about reusables in How to Green Your Period!  Negative comments ensue.  Be sure to change that by posting about how much you love GladRags or your menstrual cup!
• The Diva Cup, Race, and Blood by Nuñez Daughter brings up some thought-provoking ideas about race, feminism, and alternative menstrual products.

Giveaways:

Win a 3-pack of the Color Cotton GladRags from the Rent Tent Movie!  Also check out their site; we can’t wait to see this film!

• The Moon Cup: for All Your “Feminine Product” Needs is a great article with a helpful list of all the benefits and downsides to using the Moon Cup.
• The Women’s Rights section of change.org has a very interesting article presenting the idea– Subsidised Menstrual Pads: Good for Girls, Bad for the Plant.  What do you think?  Should the India government be supplying cloth pads or menstrual cups or do clean water concerns get in the way?  If you want to help girls in Zambia with their menstrual needs check out our donation partnership with Beth’s Girls.
• Diary of a Mom’s Green Topic #4: Going Paperless has a number a good ideas about different ways to have a paperless household.
•  A design/art student named Hiromi Ozaki invents a Menstruation Machine so that everyone can have the feeling of menstruation! (picture from the Wired article on the subject)

Hi! I’m Alyssa, GladRags intern for the summer! My job is to create an informative and fun zine for young women, and another for young girls about alternative menstrual products. I am hoping you, fellow GladRags followers, can help me come up with a great name for each zine. I’m hoping to have the title be straightforward, but witty. Thanks for your help!

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Menstrual Monday.  Enjoy!

•  Bianca I. Laureano, on RH Reality Check, writes a very in depth and highly critical review of Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation.  You can read it here.
• You can check out one woman’s journey from disposable menstrual products to cloth pads and menstrual cups here, on nora_charles livejournal blog.
• My Little Red Book is set to come out with second edition with new stories!  Learn about what made the author compile period stories from around the world from women of all ages in this story from the New Haven Resister (the author was a Yale woman).
• Blogger One Day at a Time has a great article on alternative menstrual products and why you should use them.
• One Craftster.org contributor has a great idea for what to do with those extra tampons lying around your house come Easter (see photo to the right).
• The Jezebel community provides us with a wealth of useful information in A Reader’s Treasury of Cures for your Cramps.  Note: there are some less than traditional (read illegal) cures in here.
• And last, but not least you can learn more about the Benefits of Menstrual Cups on Naturally Savvy.

A short and sweet Menstrual Monday post today is coming at ya!

• Sify News presents a great article about artist Ashmina Ranjit.  She grew up in a conservative household in Nepal and now creates menstrual inspired artwork designed to educate and challenge long held beliefs about impurity.  Read more in Woman’s Blood Inspires rebel Art in Nepal.
• Did you know menstrual blood contains stem cells?  You can learn about the latest research in this area in the new article from the Santa Barbara Independent, Stem Cells in Menstrual Blood: They Can Even Become Neurons. 
• Despite the odd name, the chapter called Vulva Care–Keeping Your Kitty Happy actually contains some good advice from Psychology Today.
• Actress Eunice Wong shares her take on switching to alternative menstrual products here.
  

Menstrual Monday is your place for menstrual news, art, musings, and more!

• Mona Eltahawy has collected a variety of very interesting stories and poems about menstruation into five blog posts: Menstruation, Menstruation II, Menstruation III, Menstruation IV, Menstruation V.  If you are looking for an engrossing read, check them out!
• The New York Times shares an amusing and insightful article on what menopause is like, called Fast Forward to Old Age, Please.
• Plasticcupcake has an adorable whale menstrual cup pouch (see picture) for sale on Etsy.  On her blog, Sugar n’ Stitches, you can see other super cute menstrual cup pouches, including a hamster and a fly!
• If you’re feeling crafty yourself, we found this great knit menstrual cup pouch pattern on All is Full of Yarn.
• This article about a Professor [who] Discusses Men’s Roles in Menstruation Ads makes me wish I could take his class at Marymount Manhattan College.  How interesting!  Academics should tackle the role of menstruation in our culture more often.
• Going on a trip soon?  Travel Insights 100 has an insightful article called No Tampons, No Problem: Alternative Products for Female Travelers.
• Wild Mother Arts posted a fabulous article on Moonwise Monday: Washable Cloth Pads.
• Consumer Reports has an article on Tampon Alternatives!