"Menstrual feminist activist" article in The Guardian. Is my own brand of feminism a bit limp not to encompass this?

[Lio]

The 'menstrual blood as lipstick' thing made me feel a bit icky.

Menstruation feminist activists link

Am I a prude for not wanting to know very much about other peoples' periods? Or just not a very curious person?

Personally, I would not use any type of blood as lipstick, or wipe it across my face to make a point. And I don't see that providing disposal bins gives the impression that menstruating women are a "biohazard" any more than providing flush toilets implies that people are all just walking biohazards every day of their lives.

I'd agree we could do with good sex education which covers this issue, but I'm not sure where these people have been living where girls don't know about periods until they first have one, or women have never heard of ovulation.

Oh God that's horiffic!

I consider myself a card carrying feminist but maybe i'm deluding myself! This is vile!

I feel the same way about periods as I do about defaecating: it might be natural, but it shouldn't get an audience. Bleurgh.

I don't udnerstand this point of view, but then I don't really understand why women wear lipstick...

well, no mention of the added VAT on tampons and the like?! Apparently they're a "luxury item". no need to wear make-up, but can't we do something about this first?

I don;t think paeriods are shameful or revolting or any of the things mentioend in the article.

I still woldn't want to daub menstrual blood all over my face though

I agree periods are swept under the carpet and we are all too hush hush about them in scoiety. Young girls are ashamed to say they have started for fear of embarassing themselves or other people. Why is it a big secret?

Whilst I personally wouldn't smear my own blood around my mouth, menstrual or otherwise , I applaud these women trying to make a secret subject public.

OK, so it seems like I'm not as out of step with other feminists as all that. I am not ashamed to talk about menstruation, but not proud of it either, if you see what I mean. It's just a thing.

VAT is charged at a reduced rate of 5% for sanitary products. Obv not zero, but a lot less than make up, for example. I guess it's charged on toilet paper? Gave it a quick Google but couldn't find the answer.

I've just looked up the VAT on sanitary products issue - apparently the UK government agreed with the EU not to make any category zero rated if it wasn't in 1975 (no explanation why...), so they can only reduce it to 5% and not to zero.

Or rather, any less than 5% they'd have to create a whole new category for, and I don't think they're going to do that.

link here

I'm not loving the menstrual blood as lippy look

it looks like too dark a lip liner has been used. Not very moisturising either - would be a mare for dry, chapped lips that would

On the plus side - the hue would be rather complimentary for yellow teeth

and what's the the much-feared-but-never-spoken-of experience of forgetting to remove a tampon? Pah - one of my fave pub chats, that

Whats wrong with bobbi brown fgs?

there was a thread a while back about this (it was about a menarch party, actually, but it quickly went on about the politics and feminism of menstruation).

I am still not convinced that young girls are ashamed of gettng their first period because of society's attitude towards menstruation- i still think that a) teenagers are generally embarassed by everything and b) blood is simply not a pleasant experience, whatever way you look at it. I am not ashamed of having periods but i'd still rather not display my menstrual blood, and let alone have to deal with other people's (hence those handy grey bins!)

How do you forget a tampon up there? For TEN DAYS? I have a bad memory, but that takes the biscuit.

Herjazz, I once went to the doctor thinking I had rat-rot;-turned out it was a lost tampon

well i showed up in A&E once convinced i had lost a tampon- had gone to bed late and drunk and couldn't remember whether i'd removed it (in those circumstances google should be forbidden).

the most gorgeous registrar on the planet (think an asian, young George Clooney) had a good fish around for it and then declared that it was all clear. he then proceeded to ask if it had ever happened, and whether i had ever suffered from allucinations [bush]

think the most common reason is you forget you put one in at all then put another in - so the original one can remain in situ until you start wondering why that really offal drain smell is following you everywhere

ratrot - haha. And at the gorge doctor fishing around

think its one of them that until it happens to you, you think its really very daft and unlikely

oh just realised that should have been [blush}, not [bush]

I am LOLling at myself now!

and i still can't get it right!!! ok, deep breath, one more try...

Isn't this just about getting the issue out there - stimulating debate? She's gone for shock tactics - not to my (ahem)taste but preferrable to saying nothing.

I am in my forties and getting my first period was something surrounded in mystery and shame (Catholic education, ta v. much ). Friends and I lived in horror of the stray tampon or sanitary towel which might fall out of a school bag in view of a boy. Seriously, it was a big deal. Yes, teenagers get self-conscious about a lot of things but menstruation is especially stigmatised.

WTF are tampons still sold in faux sweet wrappers and with plastic inserters (because obviously no nice woman actually wants to touch her own vagina )? My neighbour's bin tipped over in some high winds and her rubbish was blown everywhere. I was not impressed that she had failed to bag up her used tampon inserters (in lets-crap-on-the-planet pink plastic) and also worried that my very young kids would see them and think they were toys (same sickly pink as most girls' toys)

LOL TheMysticMasseuse Freudian slip there i think

arf at Mystic. See its not shameful [bush]

Cmon chickenshavenolips - spill yr yarn

I'm all for challenging perceptions of abjection me - I did a little fancy dress turn once when that christina aguilara 'dirrrty' song came out. I was her - dressed in slutty outfit but with big y fronts with chocolate smeared all over them and tampons tied in my hair.

Dsis uses the ones with 'applicators', goodness knows why. She would die if she saw me rummaging around for my mooncup.