Bloody Barbecue & Photo Solicitation

My period started just over a week ago (on October 4th) and behaved very oddly; no cramps AT ALL (I might have had five seconds-worth of sensation that made me think I might get cramps), no big chunks, a very slow start . . . and a weird color. Instead of being purple-red or brown-red, it was orange-red. Almost like barbecue sauce smeared on my panties (normally a more plum colored or blackberry syrup color on the not-totally-RED-red days).

I've never seen anything like it.

The only thing I can attribute this to is that I started taking iodine supplements a few weeks ago because I suspect I have a sluggish thyroid. I've not had time to research it thoroughly, but haven't found anything anywhere describing orange period blood as a side effect of taking extra iodine.

I really feel the need/desire to start soliciting more flow photos just to create a library of what women's menstrual fluid REALLY LOOKS LIKE instead of still relying on vague, subjective descriptions for us all to try to figure out what is normal as though we live in fucking prehistoric times. Actually, I'll bet women knew more about what other women's periods looked like in prehistoric times. Now we do such a good job of hiding it we have no fucking clue. Of course, if I did this I'd have to make sure people know how to set the white balance on their cameras otherwise it would do no good color-wise (though would still be useful in documenting the amounts, consistency, etc.).

Periods & Pain Sensitivity

It's just an off-hand remark with a non-period pic, but Dacia's started right before she got work done on her tattoo and she thinks that's very bad timing.

I seriously believe that in preparation for your period, your blood thins. I don't know if I've ever read that being the case or not, but before my period starts my nose starts getting bloody (I don't get bloody noses, my boogers just get blood in them) and my gums are more likely to bleed. Maybe an increased susceptibility to bruising goes along with that?

Any women who've noticed something like that or anyone who can provide links backing this up (or directly refuting it) please comment. I also wonder if Dacia bled more while she was being needled or if it just HURT more.

FOUND: Period Panties in the Street

You might enjoy reading this post I made about period-stained panties I found.

Sorry about Auto Play

I'm really sorry about that vlog (video blog) I made here that is coded to automatically start playing. Trust me, it causes me more pain than you since I probably visit this blog more than anyone else. I *hate* hearing my voice shouting, "HEY, EVERYBODY!!" and then struggling to find the pause button.

The thing of it is, I can't seem to figure out how to fix the code (if I can) without having to re-render and re-upload the entire thing. I know I *should* but I seriously can't justify the time it might take so I just promise I will try to make sure it doesn't do that on the next one (it's new software so still getting the hang of it). I actually *thought* I did do it properly (I would NEVER purposely set any noise to automatically play) but who knows. Better luck next time, and my sincere apologies for the intrusiveness of my voice.

What Failure Looks Like: Exhibit B

As many of you know, we've been trying to get pregnant for over a year now which means that every time my period starts it's a reminder that I have failed to get pregnant.



I took that picture of my cozy period panties with fresh new blood, pussy stains & hours old blood back in December after a particularly sad start (we'd hoped we'd conceived near Thanksgiving when I'm sure I ovulated; my period started after I'd been SO SURE I was pregnant and had spent time lovingly decorating our Christmas tree, thinking it would be the last Christmas we'd have without kids and looking forward to sharing a tree with them in the future.

After the initial disappointment, though, I remembered how much I love my period. It felt like my body was comforting me with warmth and color and proof that I'm alive and working properly inside. Cuddling up in bed with my period and two hot water bottles (one for my crampy abdomen and one for my feet) was the perfect treatment to feeling shitty about not being pregnant.

If I can't be pregnant, at least I can have my period. That's pretty nice.

Read more about how I feel about this on my (in)fertility blog with Exhibit A.

Hunky Dory

It always chaps my hide when people refer to the flesh that comes out of women during their periods as "clots". Here's a look at what I'm talking about:

WARNING: if you are squeamish about flesh and blood, don't watch this video.





Click here to see one photo exhibiting a chunk with more clarity. To read more about what the flow is made of, click here.

Feminine Hygiene Song

Here's a little ditty delivered via YouTube about ads for products aimed at cleaning up women's bodies: Feminine Hygiene Song.

Yes, it's totally offensive -- almost as offensive as the products mentioned and the way they're portrayed. For once the comments actually have a couple interesting viewpoints. I left a comment saying, "I can see how it's funny and it's not a comedian's job to be sensitive or politically correct, but as a woman watching it just adds insult to injury; not only do we have these fucked-up products and ads shoved in our faces, but we also have to put up with men expressing their disgust and contempt for our bodies and emotions."

While I consider the guy's delivery entertaining and mildly witty, on a personal level what I feel inside watching him sing and express that shit is pure venemous hatred. I think the REASON I feel hate is because the song itself is an ugly expression of hatred. That's part of effective comedy, I think: to get as many people in the room feeling that they're joined together in hating another group of people. Like, oh yeah! I can totally relate to your feelings of hatred and disgust! In this case, for women's apparently smelly, nasty cunts and our supposed delight in talking about them, buying special products to treat them, and shoving it all into grossed-out men's faces until they want to hurl.

Question: do you know how many women in this world are still washing grown men's shitstains out of their underwear and off the sheets with the men oblivious to the trail of feces they leave on everything? You won't see any commercials about it, but I know there are more women putting up with the human grossness and childish shamelessness/ignorance of men's bodies than there are men who wash our bloodstains out of our panties. And why do most women get yeast infections? Because of MEN and their dicks. Because of shame (I must scrub it and bathe it in perfume!). Because of ignorance, poor labeling and lack of options (glycerin/sugar in almost all popular lubricants). Seriously, watching this video gives me a deep desire to make men feel at least a small portion of the shame women have foisted upon them from every fucking corner. Not because I think people should feel ashamed of their bodies or bodily functions, but because you shouldn't get off scot free when you perpetuate and disseminate shame-bringing messages.

Of course I realize I know nothing about this comedian personally and understand that telling a joke is sometimes an experiment in perspective, not necessarily an accurate expression of personal opinion; he could be a really swell guy. Still, my immediate gut level reaction is hatred. I don't think it comes from nowhere; I think it's a natural defense mechanism when you hear someone snarling insults at you, making barfing sounds as a reaction to thoughts of your genitals and saying they don't want to hear about you and your ilk's experiences. Shut the fuck up and get a hysterectomy. Oh, I know he said the ads should get a hysterectomy, but I have heard a man talk about how cool he thought it was when his wife got cancer and had to have a radical hysterectomy at a relatively young age because then *he* didn't have to deal with her disgusting periods anymore! My apologies if I take offense when people act like our organs are disposable bits of rancid garbage only there for men's amusement or annoyance. If I sang a song about amputating peckers I don't think anyone would get a big chuckle out of it.

Seriously, you don't think we get sick of hearing about your dicks? Someone should point out that we hear more about your cocks around the clock than you hear about our "feminine needs". Give me a break, you're sick of hearing about our twats. If we talked about them HALF as much as you talk about your precious wieners it might then be a little excessive. Hell, if we talked about our twats half as much as YOU talk about our twats you might then have something to complain about. But we don't. So watch your own fucking mouths.

All ranting aside, on a rational level I understand why many men are nauseated by and afraid of women. All I have to say is that sometimes the feeling is mutual. If you are a man and that sentiment bothers you, complain to your fellow men to stick a sock in it next time you hear them ribbing each other good-naturedly over their last experience with "stinky fish taco", etc. They're the ones generating the ill will -- it's not coming at you guys out of nowhere. Men have a choice; they can stop being insulting shitheads or they can keep congratulating each other over their insulting jokes about our bodies and hormones and suffer our wrath in return. If you think it's all very funny, fine. But don't expect me or other women to giggle along with you like it's all perfectly harmless fun.

Cheerfully Padded

We did manage to get a shoot in on the first day of my period after my cramps subsided, and I'm so glad because I *love* upskirts and I know that maxi pad fans will really like this gallery of 122 pictures:





I'm in love with the colors in these pictures, especially the luminous creamsicle upskirt shots that boost my mood just to look at them: