GladRags Gab

What about that 'ick' factor of reusables, huh?  We all know that they are far from icky and closer to FANTASTIC but do you remember a time when you didn't think so fondly of your GladRags?  Here's what Elise remembers.  ~Diana

Hard to say what changed my mind about the "ick".  It wasn't one thing and somewhat coincided with starting a compost pile, recycling, eating more whole natural foods, organic gardening, and being a Mom…all things that have to do with preserving the environment for the future, and being less self-conscious but more conscious of the world around me.  I still have my original Keeper (and so does one of my sisters who I got started on GladRags too).  I can't go back, of course.  The Keeper is so great for everything from hiking and camping to business trips.  I don't need a box of supplies, but just some negligible space in a purse or carry-on.  Thanks for great products that last and last.  Certainly money well spent.  Hopefully, I can continue the trend–my young daughter recently asked what that isle in the supermarket was for, and I told her many women use disposables they buy each month instead of the things I have…she wrinkled her nose…"oh, they just throw them away?" (maybe that will be the new ick factor some day)

- Elise 

Remember last Monday when I let y'all know about The Virtuous Consumer by Leslie Garrett?  Well, Garrett featured GladRags and the menstrual cups in her book, as well as a quote from me (Diana) in that book.  And Garrett, in her multi-media-ness, also hosts a radio show on CHRW in London, Ontario.  Boldly bringing menstruation and menstrual alternatives into the media, Garrett invited me (Diana, again) onto her show to orient listeners to the world of reusables.

It's about time the dialog got ON AIR!  Take a listen here. And be patient - there's some music before the menstruation talk and commercials. 

Then it's all about that great period talk!

~ Diana

Take a few minutes to read E.McKibbon's beautiful words.  She tells us of the various transformations she has undergone in how she thinks about her body, menstruation and nature.  There are some great insights here - grab a cup of coffee. ~Diana 

I'm writing to say that I love your products. But I also appreciate that you give people the opportunity to talk about the wrongly- tabooed subject of menstruation, for long ago, it was something to be respected and honored.

I use your Sea Pearls tampons and your GladRags. I have never been a woman who thought periods were disgusting or a hindrance to my life-quite the opposite actually. When I was in my early teens, I looked forward to starting my period, and when it came at 14, my mother took me to our local gourmet market. She bought me a special sandwich, a piece of chocolate cake, a bouquet of flowers, and my first box of pads. I felt so special and womanly.

A few years later, I went on the pill. My period lightened significantly and only became a symbol of not being pregnant. I didn't think too much more of it than that. However, as I got into my early twenties, I became much more aware of nature. I surfed, I hiked, I lay on the beach and listened to Mama Ocean's waves, and I began to have an intuition that being on the pill was not for me.

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Avid GladRags enthusiast Jenny Rose shares with us the story of the rag bag and her personal account of struggling with endometriosis (and a cyst named Janice) and the relief that she has found in GladRags.  Read on for some great takes on the 'Rag ~ Diana

My grandma Lucy, knitter and canner extraordinaire, sometimes mentioned the "rag bag” that she and her sisters shared.  In a household of women, it was a known secret – kept under the bed and well-stocked in a family of many teenagers close in age.  I don’t know if she and her sisters designed and sewed their own snapping pads or if the bag really was filled with rags as its name indicates (she died when I was 12), but I do know that she liked the quiet community it created in her childhood home.  While no one fought over cleaning the rags, she and her sisters did work together to find the best and most absorbent fabrics and argued over who got to use those rags when her period came around.

In my life, GladRags have been a savior.  I have endometriosis (and an ovarian cyst that I’ve carried for a year and a half and named Janice).  For me, this disease means really hard-to-control periods, near-constant bloating and pain.  Sometimes this pain translates to early-morning cowering on the bathroom floor – where my uterus seems to want to jump ship.  Disposables make me uncomfortable and self-conscious (and also wasteful), and other reusable devices are too invasive and sometimes painful.  When I discovered GladRags, well, I immediately saw a difference in my body.  Not only did I feel less self-conscious and “crinkly,” I also saw a marked reduction in pain.  Perhaps grandma was really onto something when she, too, sought out soft and cozy fabrics for her own monthly visitor!

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Even before my cycle has completed itself, I am missing it. On these last days of trickling, I feel the tide turn. I’m moving out of bleeding time.

This time, on the heaviest day, I was at home with the kids all day. Tired from a recent rush of work and a few nights of hot, humid, not-so-great sleeping, I welcomed this rainy day with an indulgent long sit on the couch. I set no agenda for the day and put nothing on my list of what must be accomplished. I let myself lounge, let us all watch TV, eat snacks, read while they napped. Usually, it is so difficult to let a day be. Usually, I must get us out to the library or I must get the bathroom cleaned, or email five people. Oh, glorious heavy flow when we just were. This is what I am missing already, though the blood is not completely gone. I’m missing the deep settling into my body and my life with no other expectations put on them. I could keep this philosophy if I tried, but menstruating makes it so easy, I’m menstruating, that’s what I’m doing. And it feels like enough.

I’ve rinsed the pads, washed out the soaking pot and used the opportunity to clean the tub at the same time. See, I told you I’ve switched gears—I’m cleaning the bathroom. I’m wrapping up the washing and drying and folding and moving on to the next part of the cycle. Luckily, it will all come back around.

Michelle

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (my former employer of years gone by) has recently developed Lybrel, an oral contraceptive.  What makes Lybrel different from other combination estrogen and progesterone oral contraceptives is that Lybrel is taken 365 days a year.  No more of those sugar pills that give your body the necessary break from the outside hormones that it needs to have a monthly period.  Lybrel stops menstruation from occurring at all, which according to many doctors is a perfectly safe option.  According to Dr. Kurt Barnhart, Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Research for the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at UPENN in regards to Lybrel clinical trials, "It is our hope that based on these findings physicians will begin to more readily initiate dialogue with their female patients about continuous therapy — helping to eliminate the misconception that periods are a medical necessity and to emphasize the safety and viability of menstrual suppression."  Wyeth contends that women experience an increased quality of life due to not menstruating.  You can read an article about lybrel here: article

Wow.  Every day I am floored by the growing disconnect between the average woman and her body.  The natural cycles, which seem to have been working for the female body for thousands of years is all of a sudden deemed unnecessary by the medical elite.  We all know why we menstruate.  In the typical situation, each month the body prepares for the possibility of pregnancy by delivering an egg from the ovary to the uterus.  In preparation for the egg, the uterus builds up a nutrient rich lining.  When the egg is not fertilized, the lining sheds, hence menstruation.  It is a natural cycle, the ebbing and flowing of hormones.  Personally, I become suspect when medicine attempts to eliminate a natural function that serves its place in the balance of our bodies.  If it ain't broke, why fix it?

In addition, I wonder about the motivation behind the new drug.  Bleeding is gross and bad and we should feel bad about it right, so let's just make it not happen?  Are we going to get to a time when all women who are not trying to get pregnant medicate themselves so that they don't menstruate?  Will it become even more of a taboo to be a bleeding person?  I mean, it is already something that people have a hard time talking about and most of us do it.  What happens when most women don't?  Will those that chose to still bleed become ostracized and will menstruation become even more of a shameful activity? 

-Jodi Nan 

Last week I wrote about having lunch with our neighbors at Bitch Magazine. The section on their site where they talk about their name really strikes a chord with me. I've had more than a few not-so-pleasant conversations with people who find the name GladRags offensive. They can't quite make the leap and see that we are taking the derogatory slang term for menstruation "on the rag" and turning it on its head. The dictionary definition of "gladrags" is one's finest clothes or party clothes. And that's the positive light in which we view our cycles and the products we make. Therefore, we take a demeaning term and take the sting out of it.

Over at Bitch Magazine, they discuss this issue much more eloquently (they are in the writing business after all) and I'm pasting an except below. But I hope you'll go to their site and read it in its entirety. It's an important thing for all women to hear.

"The writer Rebecca West, back in the day, said, "People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." We'd argue that the word "bitch" is usually deployed for the same purpose. When it's being used as an insult, "bitch" is an epithet hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and don't shy away from expressing them, and who don't sit by and smile uncomfortably if they're bothered or offended. If being an outspoken woman means being a bitch, we'll take that as a compliment, thanks."

 Well said, neighbors. Thank you.

 -Brenda

Bitch Magazine moved its offices to Portland recently. They are located about a mile down the street from the GladRags office so we took them out to lunch to say welcome. They are a great bunch of women doing important work. I encourage you to take a look at the magazine and to check out the writings on thier blog. I especially love their mission page.

-Brenda 

I have to admit, I have never been a kid person.  I never really saw myself as a parent, most of my friends didn’t consciously chose to have kids, and I am the youngest of the majority of my extended family.  I enjoy being the baby and have never felt like that needed to change.

So my sister has a bun in the oven.  As well as 2 of my close friends, added to another close friend who had a kid less than a year ago, and another who is trying.  All of a sudden, I am surround by breeding.  To say the least, it is freaking me out.

Now, as a consumer, a responsible one at that, with this new baby craze sweeping through my world, I am inspired to research new green baby products.  I love to shop, I admit it.  And this is giving me something new to shop for.  Let me correct that, I love to research products, yet rarely buy them.  I am an e-commerce analytics tease (many abandoned shopping carts).  Back to the main issue here, eco baby products.  Adorable.

Here are a few links to get started with:
GreatGreenBaby
EVO
allthingsgreen.net  

And don’t forget that Gladrags Night Pads can be used for post-partum!

There are tons of other companies out there making amazing new responsible baby products.  Comment if you find more!  I will pass them on to the sister…

-Jodi

I had a “remember when” moment today. Remember when the gym teacher came into the classroom and took all the boys with him (he was invariably a man) and the school nurse came and took all the girls with her (the school nurse was invariably a woman). Ooooh! We were going to learn about our bodies! Woohoo!

This experience was somewhat mortifying for a youngster who was raised in our sexually repressed society. I mean, why else would they make the girls and boys be separate? Obviously there was something that us girls were to talk about the boys shouldn’t hear and vice versa. For the record, I still am not positive what the boys talked about.

But us girls learned all about our periods. We learned that once a month one of our ovaries would release an egg and if it wasn’t fertilized (by some act that we won’t actually talk about), then the lining of our uterus will shed, causing us to bleed. Sitting there all, embarrassed and sheepish, we were taught that - no really, our bodies weren’t broken if they bled. However, it was this somewhat clinical, rather gender separate experience that I believe causes young women to be embarrassed about the changes in their bodies. Girls will stealthily put a tampon (hopefully organic) in their pocket without anyone seeing. Boys pretty much pretend that the whole thing isn’t happening. And why should they acknowledge it, they weren’t made to watch with period video with all the girls, so they can claim ignorance. If we remove this taboo about menstruation at a young age, maybe our children won’t be so freaked out by it when they are adults?

Anyway, I digress. Recently, this video clip was brought to my attention by former GladRagger, Sara (Green Light Design). The video is a 1940’s Disney/Kotex production called The Story of Menstruation. It is a delightful look at how our bodies change with the onset of puberty and things to remember when attempting to avoid cramps and stay healthy and happy. This is just the sort of video that I watched sitting with all my female classmates, most definitely embarrassed of my body. Alright folks, grab some popcorn and Dots candy and enjoy The Story of Menstruation (see below)!

 -Jodi