Childhood days

I grew up in a very small semi urban town called Garhwa in the state of Jharkhand in India. I come from a conservative middle class society where menstruation is still a taboo. As a child I remember, I would get curious about sanitary napkins while watching advertisements on TV. My mother would get embarrassed and try to avoid the subject. When I explicitly asked her about it, she told “you would know about it once you grow up”.

At the age of 11, I met with a serious accident and was totally bed ridden for months. My mother would fix a narrow pipe to my urinary tract to help me with urination. One day while fixing the pipe my mother saw some traces of blood in my vagina which was actually due to a minor cut received earlier while fixing the pipe. She thought I have started my periods and she told me about periods for the first time. She said that all girls and women get it. I was the youngest among my cousins and they had already started getting their periods. I realized why suddenly all my elder cousin sisters had started their private conversations and wouldn’t let me be a part of it.

First period and the burden of myths

I got my first period when I was 12 years old. I informed about it to my mother and she made me bathe with 2 and half mug of water. By doing so, she believed my flow would last only for 2 and half days. Nevertheless, I was a heavy bleeder like my mother and my flow would last for at least 7 days if not more. I started off with using old discarded cotton cloth folded in the shape of a pad to absorb the flow. I used to get debilitating cramps and my daily routine would go for a toss. Things became worse when restrictions arising from age old myths were thrust upon me during my periods. I wasn’t allowed to sit on other’s bed but just mine. I wasn’t allowed to touch the place of worship or anything holy in the house. I had to wash and dry my cloths separately. During periods I wasn’t allowed to eat or touch pickle as it was believed that they would get spoilt if I touched them. After my periods would get over, I had to wash the bed sheet whether it’s stained or not. In short, I was treated as impure or polluted and I was expected to have become “pure” only after the 7^th day when I had taken a bath and washed my hair.

I was strictly told by my mother to not let my father or brothers get even a hint of my periods. Since menstrual blood is considered impure, I and mom used to store the used and washed cloth pads in a very dark, damp and not so clean corner of the bathroom. Even today I feel sorry for the 12 year old me. My parents are well educated and were financially well off. We could have easily afforded sanitary pads but the question was who would go to buy them and risk their and the family’s dignity. Back in 1992 and even today in many societies menstruation is an unspeakable curse.

I got my first period when I was in class 7^th, and many of my friends did too. But the subject of menstruation was not introduced in our textbooks well until we were in class 9^th. Our biology teacher was a male and he asked us to go through the chapter on our own and ask him in case we had any doubts about it. The teacher was quite friendly to us and obviously his skipping the chapter made the whole subject of menstruation and child-birth a taboo for us. We learnt to deny our own body, our own self right from the time we start growing up and then everything surrounding it, be it child molestation, rape, periods, pregnancy, intercourse, even touching and hugging becomes shameful and embarrassing.

All this while I only knew that period were important so that I can have a baby some day in future. Becoming a mother is a big deal and a very important aspect of women in our societies. Woman who can’t bear child are considered unfortunate, unlucky and have no respect within the family or in the society.

Goodbye rags

Due to lack of better education I took admission in a school in a different city away from my home. I had to stay in a hostel. There was only one bathroom for every 10 girls. Washing and drying cloth pads was not possible there. I saw my roommate using whisper napkin. She told that one can easily buy them at the medical stores. So I went to the medical shop and very shyly asked for the brand name, the shop keeper wrapped the packet with paper and then put it in a black poly bag and gave it to me. I was using sanitary napkins for the first time at the age of 15. It was so much dry, less messy and comfortable as compared to using cloth pieces as pads. Over the next 12 years I had tried, testing and using napkins of various brands and absorbencies.

During my post graduation days, I got into a relationship with one of my batch mates, Tuhin. Tuhin was an activity partner and we often worked on projects together. We are now happily married. Tuhin has only one sibling, a younger brother, so he never got a chance to know about periods beyond what’s taught in the biology textbooks in the schools. After knowing about the inconvenience that I went through every month, Tuhin started to search for more information on menstruation and different ways to manage it in the hope that he could be of some help during those days of the month. He told me many things that I myself did not know about periods. It occurred to us that if there are so many essential things about menstruation that’s unknown to me even after having periods for past several years and in spite of being well educated, there must be millions others who might be ignorant about menstrual management. So I took up a yearlong project on menstrual awareness. This research project had laid the grounds for Menstrupedia.

Tampons

While working in Mumbai, I had joined swimming classes. I enjoyed swimming a lot and wondered how am I going to continue during my periods? That’s when I learnt about tampons and started using them but was always wary about TSS. Every time I used them I had to keep track of time to change them.

Menstrual cups

It was during late last year that I and Tuhin started our initiative Menstrupedia with the hope of sharing our knowledge and experiences about menstruation. While researching about the subject I came across menstrual cups many times but never felt a need to dig enough to know about them or maybe I was too comfortable and structured to try anything other than pad or tampon. While researching about various menstrual products, Tuhin found that the benefits of menstrual cup along with the overtly positive user testimonials made it definitely worth a try. So we bought a menstrual cup. Since then I have been using it without complaint. It has not only saved me money but also the trouble of buying fresh supply of pads or tampons every period and I don’t have to worry about waste disposal anymore and I would never like to go back to using pads and tampons anymore. That leaves me wondering, had I known about these different, better ways to manage periods, I wouldn’t have had to bear the agony of being a girl every month.

 Aditi Gupta is the founder of Menstrupedia. She believes in spreading awareness about menstruation in a fun and entertaining manner. In her free time she blogs about crafts made from common household waste along with the DIY tutorials.

Great news from our friends at Empower Women in Africa! They’ve been chosen by Huffington Post as one of the top start-up NGOs in the nation! There are five different categories, each with two organizations in competition for a $10,ooo grant from IGNITEgood. This means that Empower Women in Africa is now competing against just one other organization within the Health and Wellness category!

Why choose EWA over their category competitor? Three reasons: sustainability, local ownership, and low-cost/far reach.

“EWA provides a means to increase education for girls, which creates opportunities lasting throughout their lifetimes. EWA is transitioning to local production, where women are taught to make and sell pads with locally available resources so communities can reap the benefits long after EWA is gone. To date, EWA has reached more than 2,500 girls throughout Africa solely through volunteer work and donations.” – Lori Schippers, founder of EWA

To cast your vote — no login, account setup, or email address entry form required:

1. Visit  the voting page here

2. Scroll down to the Health & Wellness category

3. Select Empower Women in Africa and click VOTE!

We hope you’ll join us in supporting this amazing organization!

Here at GladRags, we’re always looking for ways to improve the way we do business. Sometimes, the solution is obvious (recycle everything) and sometimes, it’s not so straightforward. When we became a Benefit Corporation (more on that here!) we realized that we had room for improvement with our merchant services provider.

First off, what in the world is a merchant services provider? They’re the ones who make accepting credit cards possible, by processing the customer’s card and charging a small fee to the seller. As a company that sells products online, this is a service we use every day. So we thought: how can we make this super important part of our operations fall in line with our values?

After some research, we discovered Dharma Merchant Services and fell in love. Like GladRags, Dharma is also a Benefit corporation, with a strong commitment to environmental sustainability. Even better, they donate 10% of their revenue from fees to a non-profit organization of our choice!

We’re proud to have chosen to continue our support of Empower Women in Africa with this added revenue source, and thank YOU, our customers, for every transaction you make with us. Any time you place an order with us, you’ll be adding to the amount Dharma Merchant Services will send to Empower Women in Africa, at no cost to you. Just another reason to feel amazing about shopping at GladRags.com!

We want to hear from you: what else can we do to make our impact on people and the planet even more positive? Tell us in the comments!

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: Since 2008-2009

Reason for making the switch to reusables: I was taking a class on feminism and pop culture, and came across articles and stories of these cups and pads, that womyn made and advocated. I felt so empowered that I had to try it myself, and it was around the time that I was becoming aware of waste, sustainability, organic food, etc. After the first months, I was hooked! I talked to my friends, family, men and womyn about reusables! I still do! I hold workshops at schools, gardens, and at homes about these products!

Image Copyright National Breast Cancer Foundation

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For information on what you can do to help, visit http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/

10 Important Facts You Should Know About Breast Cancer

Normal, healthy cells divide only when the body needs new cells. In some cases, cells in a certain part of the body will divide without control, which leads to the development of a tumor (mass of cell tissue). Sometimes, a tumor is noncancerous (benign) and the cells that are dividing out of control are normal. However, if abnormal cells divide out of control, the tumor is considered cancerous (malignant).

Breast cancer is a form of cancer in which the dividing, abnormal cells originate in the breast tissue. Breast cancer, like other forms of cancer, can spread throughout the breast tissue and to other parts of the body if left untreated. Of course, preventative medicine is ideal for reducing your risk. Early detection through regular checkups is also important in order to initiate the most effective treatment plan.

The following 10 facts provide additional information about breast cancer, which will help you to increase your awareness of this serious disease.

1. Breast self-exams are essential for early detection. Get into the habit of performing a breast self-exam at the same time every month (hormonal changes throughout the month can cause changes in how your breasts feel). By doing this once a month, you will get a better idea of how your breasts feel when they are healthy. Should any changes occur, you will be able to get a more thorough exam from your doctor.

2. Don’t panic if you feel lumps in your breast. Breast lumps (cysts) are common during the menstrual cycle. With regular self-exams, you may notice that you develop lumps in your breast that go away after a certain period of time.

3. Breast pain is usually a sign of hormonal changes, not cancer. Many women experience pain in one or both of their breasts due to hormonal changes related to the menstrual cycle or menopause.

4. Outward signs of breast cancer are not usually apparent. However, a few common signs that may be detectable include a palpable lump, dimple in the breast, an area of the breast thickening, change in the shape or size of the breast, nipple scaling or discharge, increased warmth of the breast, or skin puckering on the breast.

5. Both mammograms AND clinical breast exams are important. While mammograms are important screening tools, they should not be the only screening tool that you take advantage of. An annual breast exam by a physician is imperative in order to detect forms of breast cancer that will not show up on mammograms.

6. Exercise is important for reducing the risk of breast cancer. Regular exercise helps in reducing estrogen levels, which is essential for lowering the risk of breast cancer.

7. Soy supplements increase risk of breast cancer. Soy-based foods have been touted as healthy food choices, and it’s true that soy foods such as organic edamame and organic tofu are just fine for your health. However, soy supplements contain concentrated amounts of isoflavones, which work like estrogen once ingested into your body. This can increase your risk for breast cancer.

8. Watch your weight after menopause. Maintaining your weight, no matter what age you are, is important for your overall health. However, maintaining a healthy weight becomes even more important after menopause, since studies have shown that overweight causes a dramatically increased amount of estrogen in women who are past the menopause stage, which can cause cancer growth in the breasts.

9. The risk of breast cancer increases in women with dense breasts. Breasts that are dense have cells that grow and divide at a much faster rate than less dense breasts. As a result, there’s a higher chance that cancerous cells will develop. While it’s not likely that you’ll be able to tell if you have dense breasts, your doctor will be able to perform a mammogram and clinical breast exam to determine breast density. If your doctor does find that you have dense breasts, it is important to get breast exam testing, in addition to mammograms, on an annual basis.

10. Build up your cancer-fighting arsenal with fresh produce. The antioxidants and other nutrients that are found in fresh fruits and vegetables will help you to reduce your risk of breast cancer. In particular, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage are powerful veggies that will help you combat breast cancer.

In Honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, guest blogger Valerie Johnston has presented 10 facts to keep you aware. Valerie is a health and fitness writer located in East Texas. With ambitions of one day running a marathon, writing for Healthline.com ensures she keeps up-to-date on all of the latest health and fitness news.

Toxic Shock Syndrome… it’s a big deal. Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) occurs when a common bacteria creates a toxin that is then absorbed into your bloodstream. Tampons are often the culprit, possibly because they overdry the vagina and cause micro-tears where the bacteria can easily get in.

One of the scariest things about TSS is that often it can masquerade as another malady. Because its symptoms such as sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, and high fever can be indicative of many illnesses, women with TSS may not realize what it is until it’s too late.

Over half of the incidences of TSS are tampon related. The effects of untreated or late-treated TSS can range from mild to severe, anything from gangrene, short term memory loss, loss of hair or nails, continual infections, loss of energy for weeks or years. TSS can be fatal; this is serious business!

If you suspect you or someone you know has fallen ill due to Toxic Shock Syndrome, urge them to remove (and save, if possible) their tampon. Get them or yourself medical attention IMMEDIATELY and inform the doctor that you have been using tampons.

A huge thank you to everyone who purchased an Empower Kit through GladRags.com — your donations are making a difference! Read on to hear from Patty how cloth menstrual pads can help empower women in Africa.

I just returned from Uganda and had a wonderful time. The new uniforms and sanitary kits were well received. Hussein stood in front of the village parents and gave a speech about the importance of girls and education and about the GladRags cloth menstrual pad kits – some of the parents got embarrassed and Hussein was really funny addressing their embarrassment. Amazing that a school in rural Uganda has a more “open” community about talking on girl’s issues than we do here in the states!

There is a teacher at the schools that meets monthly with older girls to talk all about their personal issues – like a mentor – really cool. We are encouraging the girls who got sanitary kits to pick a younger girl at the school to mentor and take under their wing in order to help them be more comfortable with talking about girl issues.

Thank you for all your support and feel free to continue contributing if you would like to – we can’t express our appreciation enough to all those who support One School at a Time.

Patty Gilbert, Co-founder of One School at a Time

The Keep it Real Challenge is a 3-day internet event hosted by Miss Representation and other social organizations to hold magazines accountable for poor self-image among women and girls. Today’s challenge is to share a blog post about why showing real, photoshopped women in magazines matters. Read on as GladRags employees weigh in, and share your own thoughts about Keeping it Real in the comments!

Tracy, 26:

I’ll admit it: I love a good lady magazine. I’ve had a subscription to at least one women’s mag — from Teen People at age 12, to Cosmo at 17, to Allure at 21 — for most of my adult life, and I still read Glamour religiously.

When I read that 3 out of 4 teenage girls feel depressed, guilty, and ashamed after just three minutes of looking through a magazine, the Keep it Real Challenge really hit home: I don’t feel better about myself when I read a magazine.

As a teen, I struggled to reconcile my own experiences with my body with what I was seeing in the media. My self-esteem has improved vastly since then, and I no longer feel like a miserable outsider who was somehow doing “being a woman” incorrectly. And although things have changed for me, I still don’t feel like the powerful, beautiful woman I am when I’m reading the latest fashion magazine — because no one in the pages looks like me.

So lady mags, from a long-time reader and fan of everything from your embarrassing stories to your do’s & dont’s, I’m asking you to Keep it Real. Keep it Real for the teenage girls who don’t feel like they fit in, and are turning to you for  guidance. Keep it Real for your readers of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Keep it Real for women.

Shauna, 29:

I’ll admit it:  I’m afraid of having The Talk with my daughter someday.  Not the birds and the bees talk — I may blush, but I’m pretty sure I can get through that one without sounding like a gibbering idiot.  What I’m afraid of is the talk about body image and unrealistic standards of beauty.

I mean, How exactly do you explain to your daughter that while it’s damaging to be obsessed about weight and to starve yourself to be thin, it’s okay to care about your health, and taking care of your body?

Unfortunately, this is where my own ingrained double standards rear their ugly heads. I’ve caught myself simultaneously thinking “I need to lose those last five pounds of baby weight” and “I kinda like the look of myself with some honest curves”.  Not to mention “I really don’t like the perfectly-unblemished-skin overly-makeupped look” and “Man, I wish my pores weren’t quite so enormous”. If I can’t even make up my own mind, how do I explain it to a young and impressionable someone else? And how did I start thinking like this in the first place?

So if anyone thinks of a clear and elegant way to explain all this to a child, please let me know. In the meantime, I’m asking magazines for women and girls to Keep it Real: pictures of people in magazines should actually be of real people.  If you’re going to photoshop every picture, why pretend you’re taking pictures of a real person at all?

Alyssa, 25:

Sometimes it is easy for me to forget that the “ideal” woman is still represented so poorly in the media because I’m so disconnected from it. Surrounding myself with women who represent all different shapes, sizes, ages, and races who are proud, loud, and so awesomely positive about themselves and each other it’s easy to forget that this is not the reality for everyone. We are being lied to, forced to navigate our life experience being told what we need, want, and should be. It’s important to me that magazines Keep it Real so that everyone has the opportunity to live surrounded in truth. It is out there, after all. It will set us free.

What do you think about the Keep it Real challenge? What does Keeping it Real mean to you? Let us know in the comments!

26 young women and girls were completely attentive at a recent class at their rural school in Uganda. The topic was menstruation and the facilitator was Hussein, program manager for One School at a Time.There had never been a class like this one before and the subject was both interesting and relevant. Some of the girls were already menstruating and some were not. One girl commented “menstruation is a problem because it comes when we are not prepared.”

The discussion then became a brainstorming session on how the girls could be better prepared. Everyone agreed that it would be helpful to count the 28 days between cycles, (noting plenty of variation) and then acknowledged that sanitary pads and nickers (the Ugandan word for underwear) would be needed. Hussein asked, “who needs pads?” and every single girl raised her hand.
Menstruation is one of the reasons that girls drop out of school in Uganda. Parents often can not afford to provide sanitary pads and so, reluctant to be humiliated at school, girls choose to stay home. They miss valuable class time and some eventually just drop out of school completely.

One School at a Time is fundraising now to purchase 100 Empower Kits ($22 each) for each older girl at our two partner schools in Uganda. The kit contains 5 re-useable pads. These pads are culturally appropriate (Ugandan girls are familiar with washing their menstrual rags and re-using) and will provide enough sanitary supplies to last each girl for at least three to five years. By donating a kit, you provide these girls with security and confidence and most importantly, an opportunity to stay in school. Join with us in this beautiful endeavor!

Vanessa & Debby – image copyright Sean Molin 2011

Please introduce yourselves! Who are you?

We consider ourselves to be researchers, teachers, authors and advocates for the vulva. However—because that title is a bit long—our business cards say that we are researcher scientists at the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University. We come from different disciplines but have both focused our research on understanding how women think and feel about their vulva/vaginas. In fact, we both did our dissertations on the vulva/vagina. We met at a conference in 2008 and were thrilled to be able to work together. We have since conducted a variety of research projects that we are very excited about. However, this book has been one of our proudest moments as it has allowed us to reach a more diverse audience. In short, we strive to be revulvationaries (we just made this word up but we like it)!

Tell us a little about Read My Lips:

The book still feels a little like a dream. When Vanessa first came to Indiana University, Debby and Vanessa sat down to create a ‘dream list’ of projects that they wanted to work on together. This book was at the top of the list. We are thankful that our publisher (Rowman & Littlefield) took a chance on us and we are so grateful. We think that Read My Lips represents our eclectic, quirky backgrounds. In addition to science-backed sex and health information, there are stories, quotes, quizzes and crafts (yes—we said crafts!) As researchers, we are proud to say that all the research is empirically-validated (and sometimes conducted within our own labs). However, while based on science, we wrote Read My Lips envisioning we were talking to our very best girlfriends. In a certain way, those who read RML are just that—dear friends through a love/appreciation/interest in the vulva.

What inspired you to write this book?

We have talked with A LOT of people over the past several years about vulvas/vaginas including colleagues, students, friends and family. While some are uncomfortable talking about it, most have been thankful for the opportunity to discuss/ask questions about a topic that is too often ignored. So, we wanted to write a book to give people accurate information and open conversations about the vulva/vagina. We wanted to write a book that would have something for every generation of women (and those who love/came from them).

Who should read this book and why?

We like to say that this book is for “anyone who has a vulva, loves someone with a vulva or has come from a vagina.” In other words, we are hopeful that it has a little something for everyone. Unfortunately, the vulva/vagina remains a topic that few people feel comfortable discussing. So, a lot of the information out there may not be accurate. However, the reason we wrote Read My Lips was not only to correct misperceptions (although we are certainly happy when it does); it was to provide readers a guide that would help them celebrate and learn to love their own and/or their partners’ bodies a little more.

What surprising facts did you discover when writing the book?

How much we had to say about vulvas! We talk about vulvas all day long but we nervous that we wouldn’t have enough to say to fill 300 pages. We were (very) wrong. It turns out we actually had to edit down the book once we were finished. Also, we interviewed 1000 men and women before we wrote the book. We weren’t necessarily surprised—but we were delighted—about how those responses helped us to continuously change our thoughts, feelings and beliefs about vulvas. We learn something new every time we talk to someone about their experiences such as how some women have come to love their vulvas and vaginas, sometimes in the face of very difficult situations.

Anything else?

We are thrilled to be able to donate a book in partnership with GladRags as we share the belief that women should care for and celebrate their bodies in ways that make them happy and healthy!

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