Look what came in the mail yesterday
Hi friends! I’m writing a year-long series of articles about periods for 2016 and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Like blood, not like punctuation! Each month is going to have a different theme (food, language, anatomy, and so on) and there is just so much I just don’t know. As a white person. As a cis woman. As a queer woman. As a mostly able-bodied person. My experience is so limited. While I can teach myself the relatively-objective things like how the uterine cycle works, I don’t want to rely on books written by old white dudes to talk about cultural aspects of menstruation. Instead, I want to highlight you, dear queer and trans readers, as primary sources and people who experience periods in all different ways.
I’ve got all kinds of questions and am hoping that you want to participate. If you want to write something brief, I want to publish it! If you want to be interviewed, I want to talk to you! If you want to make art, I want to show it! If you have ideas to share, I want to amplify them and credit the sh*t outta you!
Here’s what I’m looking for specifically:
- Do you have some kind of special knowledge related to periods? I’m talking medicine and science, library stuff, doula wisdom… ANYTHING. You’d be an ideal candidate to be interviewed or write a little piece.
- What’s your favorite period-related or period centric media? I’m talking books, movies, zines, poetry, visual art, or anything else. I’d love to just be pointed in the direction of good stuff, but I’d also like to hear about anything you have a connection to.
- Speaking of media, how did you learn about periods? Did your parents give you a book (I’m a product of The Care and Keeping of You). Did you watch a horrifying movie in school? Maybe all you had was the back of a kotex box. Were you obsessed with period media or did you feel alienated and unrepresented by it?
- Do you speak another language very, very fluently? What is it? What words in that language are related to periods? How about slang? Do you have any idea where those words or phrases come from?
- Have you ever synced up periods with someone? Did something fantastic or frightful happen?
- What was your first period like? Did people celebrate with you? Did something mortifying happen? What are your best menarche stories?
- Have you experienced menopause? Would you share your joys, sadness, or other reflections (funny, serious, anything) with me?
- What do menstrual taboos look like for you? Do they revolve around sports? Sex? Food? What do you think about the total taboo-ness of showing period blood in advertising and other media. Are there any religious or cultural taboos you’ve experienced?
- How do you envision the future of menstruation to look? How will we collect fluid? How will we talk about it?
- Would you like to interview an elder in your life about blood-catching products they used? I’m going to be talking to my mom and grandma, but I want to hear from the important people in your life.
- Let’s talk about food. Do people in your community have traditions or taboos about menses and food? Maybe someone baked you brownies during a really bad period. Or maybe you’ve been told you can’t make pickles while you’re bleeding. Tell me about it.
- One last one: the moon and nature. If you’re one of those people who relates best to your period via nature, I’d love to know how. Do you have theories about the moon and your blood?
If you’re a person who has, had, or will have periods and is queer and/or trans, I want to hear from you in whatever way suits you. I want to compensate everyone for their work, so we can negotiate what that means for you. I make body products, sew, grow plants, cook, do calligraphy, woodworking, digital design, papercrafts, and teach all those things, so I can almost guarantee there’s something for you. I’d especially like to highlight the experiences of people of color, trans people, disabled people/people with disabilities, and Deaf people. Whether you’re a writer or a talker, send me 1-3 sentences about any topic you have thoughts about. I’ll get back to you so that we can talk about whether your piece looks like a paragraph you write, a drawing or photograph, or an interview that I have with you over the phone or gchat.
In the interest of both accessibility and signal-boosting, I’m willing to credit you however you’d like or keep you totally anonymous. Ideally, I’d like to get whatever email, website, other other links you want featured and a picture of each contributor so that I can draw a picture of you kinda like these posters I made (although obviously without the IDNYC business):
If you want to participate, please send me an email at paperrroot@gmail.com, a tweet at @laurrrrita or send me a facebook message at https://www.facebook.com/laura.wooley. Sooner (before November 1, 2015) is better, but that can mean that you just send me a quick message saying “I want to participate but don’t have time to send you something longer yet!” If you’ve got doubts or questions or suggestions or want to see the first post to get an idea of the tone of the series, feel free to send those my way too.
