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Sunday 30 November 2014

Menstrual cups

19:46 Posted by Unknown , No comments


I need to write about something light. Sometimes I feel I am too old school to try certain things. So I take my time, and it means I usually take longer than other people and I presume that is why I hardly ever appear to be acting in accordance to the age I have. From the very moment I understood myself as a person, and that also took a little while more than usual, I decided I would do things in my own time, not in the frame of others. It clearly does not work if you conceive of yourself in capitalistic terms, but if you take profit out of the equation, you realize it actually is liberating, and you then feel good about yourself.


The whole introduction above is just to illustrate my difficulties in starting new things, like creating new habits. I've been struggling to eat better these days, but I realize I have so many deeply entrenched bad habits that eating well is something that would require a gargantuan effort on my part, and I don't know if I am quite ready for that. Isn't it crazy that we are not really ready for things that would greatly improve our lives? There you go, sometimes we just aren't, and there is no point in fighting hard to prove otherwise. On the other hand, if we never fight our comfort zone, we will never reach there and it makes me angry that we need to think in such terms, but it is just true that certain things will only improve with practice. I am not, for obvious reasons, talking about the lives of the workers that never seem to get any better, regardless of how much hard work they put in whatever they are doing. 


Then there is this new trend, which is using menstrual cups instead of pads and tampons. I run a blog with a few Brazilian friends of mine, and one of our most popular posts is about said cups. They are what every modern, environmentally conscious girl seems to be doing right now. I reckon whoever designed that might be floating in an Olympic-size swimming pool filled with money. That idea seems unappealing to me, though. Anyway. There is this cup, and there is me, and the thousands of excuses I have been giving myself in order to avoid it. But you know, we women who bleed, we hear about things. And we want to try them. Because trying new things is what keeps you feeling awesome and a little less preoccupied with your decaying cells and all privileges you are slowly losing due to a clock that won't cease gulping all your milliseconds away. 


I want to try this cup. The main challenge I think I will face is the second day of my menstruation, that one which looks a lot like I am about to drown in my own blood. Because no matter how much my friends assure me that it won't be an issue, I just don't seem to be able to come to terms with going out and having to take that thing out to empty it in some random toilet. In my mind, I go and take it out and throw the blood away. Then, what am I supposed to do with a dirty cup in my hands? Just reinsert it into my vagina? I don't know if I feel comfortable with that idea. I would need to rinse it off somehow and I just cannot picture myself getting out with a cup that will be probably dripping blood and washing it in some sink where other ladies will be probably washing their hands and they would gape their eyes in horror and I don't even wanna think about what would happen next.


I could get two cups, I reckon. That would save me the hassle of having to worry about washing it before I can tuck it in again. Yes, I think I am comfortable enough with two cups, even though I will have to carry a dirty one in my bag. But why is it that we feel blood is so dirty? What's so inherently wrong about touching your body, touching your blood? And why is it that we should spare others the view of our very red fluids? Why can't we all bleed together? 


Well, I've seen some pretty cool art done with menstrual blood. Google it, you might even want to try making some art for yourself. I will probably do that if I get to wear the menstrual cups :D


  

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