Author: Eve Agee, PhD

What it’s all about: The uterus!  In many cultures it’s considered the center of the body and a source of power, but in Western medicine the uterus is often ignored or considered a “polluting factor for women’s health” (remember hysteria?).  The author, a medical anthropologist and holistic healer, encourages you to celebrate your uterus and offers in-depth guidance for optimal uterine health.

Who it’s for: If you have a uterus, this book is for you!  You’ll learn how to maintain uterine health through cognitive restructuring and visualization, nutrition, posture, and bodywork.  Women with uterine health conditions such as menstrual cramps, endometriosis, and fibroids, will find detailed chapters on holistic approaches to improving their well-being.  Each section is chock-full of useful information presented in a positive, empowering way.

Why you should check it out: With full chapters on menstruation, fertility, and menopause, this book makes a great reference for all stages of life.  Plus, the author draws from a unique base of experience and knowledge: she was born in the Ozarks, conducted women’s health research in the United States and Africa, served in the Clinton Administration, and is a certified Spiritual Life Coach.

Take a look:  Alex recently attended a discussion led by the author at In Other Words, a feminist bookstore just down the block from GladRags HQ.  The reading and discussion were great!  Agee lead the all-woman group in an open and honest way, and created a safe conversation space where we could say what was on our minds.  The ease of the discussion really mirrored the book’s friendly and informative approach.

We’re giving away a copy of The Uterine Health Companion to one lucky blog reader!  To enter, leave a comment on this entry by August 6th at 12 pm.  We’ll pick a winner using a random number generator. Make sure to include your email address so we can contact you if you win!

The Uterine Health Companion: A Holistic Guide to Lifelong Wellness by Eve Agee

• 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!

• Naked Faery shares her thoughts on why using a menstrual cup is one way that she can feel feminist in every day life on her tumblr.
• Blogger, Raising My Boychick, brings us a great review about Sea Pearls (menstrual sponges)!
• An interesting take on the Do Bears Love Your Menstrual Blood? urban legend that explores male fear of the unknown in a lighthearted manner from The Faster Times.
• Accidentally Mommy shares an honest, interesting blog entry about her thoughts and feelings regarding her period in That Cup Isn’t for Drinking, My Dearest.
• GladRags for Postpartum explains why and how GladRags are perfect during a time when you need some extra comfort and care.
  

Reviews and Giveaways!

• You have one more day to enter to win GladRags nursing pads and Earth Mama Angel Baby nipple butter from the Mommy Business blog on her Nursing Pad Review and Giveaway!

Summer is here, and so is our summer fun guide!  We’ll help you meet your menstrual needs for the most comfortable, eco-friendly summer ever!

The first thing I want to do when summer comes is go camping!  There is nothing like cooking over a fire, roasting marshmallows, and sleeping under the stars.  When I still used disposables, I went on a week long camping trip that started the first day of my period.  I didn’t know what to do!  If only I had known about the convenient Moon Cup: along with the Menstrual Cup  Bag, the Moon Cup provides a compact (for easy packing) solution that enables you to “leave no trace” while enjoying nature!

With record-breaking temperatures being reported in many cities this summer, Jade & Pearl Sea Sponge Tampons are perfect for when there is nothing you want more than to take a dip in a cool, refreshing lake. With no tampon string, you can wear any swimsuit you want without worry!  Easy to insert and remove, these comfortable tampon alternatives will win over even the most committed pad user.

 Just because it’s summer, it doesn’t mean that you should put your yoga practice on hold!  Yoga enthusiasts love the Keeper Cup for allowing a free range of motion and keeping your body free from the chemicals and toxins found in many disposable.  Exercise worry-free with this natural gum rubber cup that holds up to an ounce of flow — keeping you safe from leaks longer than any tampon!

Sometimes you just need to take a break, reflect, and enjoy a good book.  GladRags soft Night Pads and Day Pads are perfect for kicking back on a night devoted to taking care of yourself!  Brew a cup of Monthly Comfort Tea, soak in the tub with GladRags Bath Salts, or unwind with an Herbal Comfort Pac.  All three are specially formulated to soothe menstrual cramps, and are just the thing to help your body and mind relax!

• 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)

This week’s Menstrual Monday is short and sweet, but we hear it’s summer, so you should be outside enjoying the weather anyway!  To everyone (like us) in the Pacific Northwest: don’t worry, someday we’ll get a summer, too.

• Need to convince a friend to try the Moon Cup?  Send her a link to this comprehensive blog entry by a happy Moon Cup user.

• 27 films, 7 minutes, 1 theme: Jezebel presents a video entitled “Period Pieces,” a compilation of menstruation-related clips from movies ranging from Boys Don’t Cry to Superbad.

• “A vagina by any other name isn’t a vagina.”  Euphemisms for women’s bodies and their functions explored.  Also, a lot of talk about “vajazzling.”

• Help Alyssa name her zines about menstruation!

We are back from our Seattle Green Festival trip to bring you the triumphant return of Menstrual Mondays!

• Hobo Mama brings us an in depth comparison between the Instead Cup and a reusable Menstrual Cup in Instead vs. DivaCup for your Menstrual Cup Needs.  Keep up with her blog for a GladRags review coming soon!
• A lovely Ode to a Diva from FemineUs.
• “You’re Going to Bleed: Period” Educating Young Girls about Menstruation is a great article written by a research psychologist.  I rarely get to read articles like this about menstruation!  It comes at the topic of Western cultural interpretations of menstruation from a scientific background with research to support its conclusions.
• Great article on Reusable Sustainable Feminity from Frugal Vegcafe.
• Journalist Ann Douglas brings an interesting article on how today’s disposable menstrual product companies see their costumers in These mother-daughter websites about menstruation fail, period.
• Useful article on Going Green: Simple Idea for Busy Mamas from the High Heeled Mom.

• Sewing blogger SlipStiches brings us a great article on making your own cloth pads out of scraps that you probably have around the house.
• The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) will be airing a documentary about menstruation called “Seeing Red: A Cultural History of Menstruation” on June 14th & 21st.  Hopefully we can find a way to watch it here in the States!
• CNN has a very fair-handed article about period-eliminating contraception titled Periods — Who needs them anyway? Women have mixed feelings.
• Endometriosis blogger EndoFriendo brings us two great article about why she loves the Keeper and GladRags!
• A short and sweet article from Today’s Natural Living on how Conventional Menstrual Products Get Revamped.
• This great, funny, interesting article, The Strangest Ads for Menstrual Products, from Rabbit Write is a must read!  See the ad to the right for a teaser.
  
• Excellent article and lots of discussion from University of York’s student newspaper, Nouse: Increasing our understanding of women’s natural cycles is essential.

Take a break from your (hopefully not too) manic Monday with this week’s Menstrual Monday: a line-up of interesting news articles, blogs, art, and more, straight from the GladRags Twitter feed.

• Pick up a copy of the latest Mothering Magazine for their awesome article on cloth diapers; a lot of the concepts in “The Diaper Dilemma” apply to cloth pads, too.

• Lunette Selenes are in!  You’ll have to excuse us shouting this from the rooftops, because these cups are just so darn pretty.  I think I actually clapped my hands with glee when the package arrived at the office.

• Read “Saving the World by Not Using Tampons” to learn more about the founder of Green Drinks Singapore and why her first experience recycling was not so fun.

• “Eight Myths about Washable Pads Dispelled” makes me love the folks at Scarleteen even more than I already did.  Such an amazing resource for young people!

• Kali from The MakeUp Drawer Blog recently heard about cloth pads for the first time and shares her thoughts.  She says she’s not a convert (yet) but wants to hear your experience in the comments — so make sure you let her know how much you love reusables!

• Go Green Street has five super easy tips to help ease menstrual cramps — naturally.

• What does it mean to stop menstruating?  The Great Whatsit reflects on the finale of her 29 years of menstruation.

• Here at GladRags HQ we’ve been preparing for this year’s Green Festival in Seattle.  We’re hoping lots of GladRags fans will stop by our booth to say hi! Volunteers for the festival get free passes, so there’s no excuse to miss this incredible event!

• Read the heartbreaking story of the 29 girls who were kicked out of their school for menstruating in Nepal School Expels Girls for ‘Being Accursed’
• RH Reality Check brings us another great article!  Read Tampon Safety and Our Monthly Affair with Toxins to learn more about the chemicals used in tampon production and their harmful effects.
• Have you seen the Huffington Post’s article about alternative menstrual products?  You can read the interestingly titled Make Her Vagina Green here.  Being mentioned on such a big news outlet is awesome, but I wish should would have at least tried our products before writing about them.  What do you think about it?
• Amy Ziz in Austin writes about her experiences and first impressions of the Moon Cup in this article.
• Creative Madness Mama has a great article on using GladRags.  She provides lots of tips on using and buying GladRags in GladRags- Menstrual Monday.
• The title of this funny and informative article says it all: Menstrual Cups: Why They Are Awesome and You Should Get One.