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timepiececlockAt first I was feeling not sure if I should write about this in my journal. A few months ago I did, but I made it friends-locked.
Well fuck that, this is my journal, and I have always felt perfectly happy to inform everyone around me when I'm in physical pain. Why should this be different?
I am in pain.
Hear me! Feel my pain! Chances are it's yours too.
I'm not even going to cut-tag this. I'm a bad, rude woman.
.
So I was sitting in the bathtub listening to my radio stations "Top 104.9 alternative albums of all time" holiday coutdown (I can believe Jack Johnson's on this list, Ugh), feeling sorry for myself, when I started to think.
What do I know about myself today? What are certainties that no person, no man, no corporation or law or religious leader can convince me of otherwise?
I know my blood is red, like everyone else's is. What does it matter what my skin is, if my blood is red?
I know that today, I am not a mother.
I know that some day I could be, if I wanted.
I know I am not alone in the world. In fact, there's 3 billion + people like me in the world.
Then I got to wondering, how many women out there are going through exactly what I am, this very moment? How many women can feel the muscles (fantastic muscles that no one can see) moving, exercising, and exorcising inside them at that very moment?
I tried to calculate it in the bathtub, but I couldn't make my brain do the math without a calculator or some paper.
But here's what I figured.
If every woman averages 6 days menstrating every 28 days, then they go through 13.04 cycles and bleed 78.2 days each year.
There are approximately 3 billion women in the world, and 365 days each year.
Approximately 49,315,069 women bleed their lifeblood out of their bodies on any given day of the year.
That means that, at any given moment it's possible that as many as 50 million women could be having menstral pains at this moment.
Hey, I'm not only not alone in my pain, but there's tens of millions out there who, as I type these words, understand me on a fundamental, biological level. I don't even have to speak their language, they just know.
And even if they can't feel it anymore, they remember after a lifetime.
Yeah, I'm feelin' womanly today.
So, can any of your fabulous women who got this far in reading tell me anything about sea sponges? I read some interesting stuff about them as an alternative to tampons. I'll admit the idea of draining blood into a public bathroom sink has a certain anti-societal-rules appeal to me.
Well fuck that, this is my journal, and I have always felt perfectly happy to inform everyone around me when I'm in physical pain. Why should this be different?
I am in pain.
Hear me! Feel my pain! Chances are it's yours too.
I'm not even going to cut-tag this. I'm a bad, rude woman.
.
So I was sitting in the bathtub listening to my radio stations "Top 104.9 alternative albums of all time" holiday coutdown (I can believe Jack Johnson's on this list, Ugh), feeling sorry for myself, when I started to think.
What do I know about myself today? What are certainties that no person, no man, no corporation or law or religious leader can convince me of otherwise?
I know my blood is red, like everyone else's is. What does it matter what my skin is, if my blood is red?
I know that today, I am not a mother.
I know that some day I could be, if I wanted.
I know I am not alone in the world. In fact, there's 3 billion + people like me in the world.
Then I got to wondering, how many women out there are going through exactly what I am, this very moment? How many women can feel the muscles (fantastic muscles that no one can see) moving, exercising, and exorcising inside them at that very moment?
I tried to calculate it in the bathtub, but I couldn't make my brain do the math without a calculator or some paper.
But here's what I figured.
If every woman averages 6 days menstrating every 28 days, then they go through 13.04 cycles and bleed 78.2 days each year.
There are approximately 3 billion women in the world, and 365 days each year.
Approximately 49,315,069 women bleed their lifeblood out of their bodies on any given day of the year.
That means that, at any given moment it's possible that as many as 50 million women could be having menstral pains at this moment.
Hey, I'm not only not alone in my pain, but there's tens of millions out there who, as I type these words, understand me on a fundamental, biological level. I don't even have to speak their language, they just know.
And even if they can't feel it anymore, they remember after a lifetime.
Yeah, I'm feelin' womanly today.
So, can any of your fabulous women who got this far in reading tell me anything about sea sponges? I read some interesting stuff about them as an alternative to tampons. I'll admit the idea of draining blood into a public bathroom sink has a certain anti-societal-rules appeal to me.
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-05 07:38 pm (UTC)I don't know nothin' 'bout no sea sponges, but I beg of you not to be squicked about the unacceptability of GIRL-BLOOD over plain old blood-blood. (It's okay if you feel rebellious about it. Heh.)
It reminded me of a story a friend told me, years ago. For the first time in her life, she was sharing an apartment with a boyfriend (whole new experience for both of them). Well, my friend tended to get nosebleeds now and then, so one day she had one and blotted it up and applied ice and whatnot, wadded up the tissues, and placed them in the wastebasket.
Well, her boyfriend came unglued. He was all, "Oh my God, that is so gross! Can't you take care of your 'monthly visit' better than that? I shouldn't have to... I mean, it's all horrible...."
He finally calmed down enough so that she could explain that it wasn't Mysterious Evil Girl-Blood, just plain old ordinary nose blood. And then he was okay with it.
Perhaps one ought to dispose of any bloody trash in a manner that won't startle someone else, but blood is blood is blood. If you leave the sink clean for the next user, I say BFD.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-05 07:51 pm (UTC):big grin: Wait... let me go make an icon of that. Since it was given to me, I can now freely claim it as a title. ;) I'll make variations for others too.
He finally calmed down enough so that she could explain that it wasn't Mysterious Evil Girl-Blood, just plain old ordinary nose blood. And then he was okay with it.
A weird and silly distinction, when you think about it But not surprising at all.
If you leave the sink clean for the next user, I say BFD.
:giggle:
When I was on my third or fourth period (seventh grade) I left a bloody pad rolled up and sitting on the bathroom counter next to the toilet.
My mom pointed it out to me and said my brother had noticed it. I forgave my brother that, because any bloody wad of tissue is gross when left on the counter. In the garbage though, there's no reason to discriminate.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-06 12:36 am (UTC)*coughety cough cough*
(Scarleteen rawks my sawks!)
Re:
Date: 2003-07-06 02:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-06 02:48 am (UTC)And how! I am the Queen of Cramps, successor to a long line of Cramp Queens. My mother jokes that God must be a man; the existence of menstrual cramps and child birth pains are evidence thereof.
Then I got to wondering, how many women out there are going through exactly what I am, this very moment? How many women can feel the muscles (fantastic muscles that no one can see) moving, exercising, and exorcising inside them at that very moment?
Here I am, to be counted, Sister Moon.
That means that, at any given moment it's possible that as many as 50 million women could be having menstral pains at this moment.
Imagine if we could harness all that energy...A renewable resource...
Yeah, I'm feelin' womanly today.
And more power to you! I don't know about you, but the moment the killer cramps are over, I feel waaaaaayyyy powerful. Powerful and womanly and energetic and giddy (but a little tired, too, 'cause those contractions take a lot out of you). As a witch, I find that that power and energy translates into my spells as well.
I can't say anything about sponges - I had no idea they were an alternative! (Learn something every day.) But speaking of tampons....I recently saw a GYN, someone I hadn't seen before, new town and all, and during the exam she asked me if I what I used. I answered - pads - and she gave me this funny look and continued the exam. Later she said she "didn't think [I] would have any trouble with tampons". It was very strange. Is there an assumption in the medical sphere that all young women automatically use tampons? I don't, and I've actually never tried one. It was almost as if she were pushing me to start using tampons!
Of course, this was after our minute discussion of my sexual history - aka there is none - which I think surprised her greatly. At 23, and especially in a university town, I may be the oldest virgin she's ever dealt with.
Has anyone else ever had a reaction like this? Tampons vs. pads war?
BTW check out the links to scarleteen.com. It's an excellent website.
LJ
Re:
Date: 2003-07-06 03:03 am (UTC)I felt all giddy for a while after that post (I was even inspired to spend money), but now the cramps have coem back in amilder way and I'm jsut stting at my computer kinda hunched over and lethargic.
I answered - pads - and she gave me this funny look and continued the exam. Later she said she "didn't think [I] would have any trouble with tampons". It was very strange. Is there an assumption in the medical sphere that all young women automatically use tampons? I don't, and I've actually never tried one.
I think people assume that tampons are preferred. I use pads. I do use tampons if I'm going to go swimming, but that's pretty much the only time if I can help it. Tampons aren't difficult to use, but I could never forget that they were there, like I can seeing contacts. I always knew there was something up inside my vagina; it's a constant niggling feeling in teh back of my awareness that makes me---not uncomfortable, per se, but unable to really relax. I know it's there, and constant thinking about it is annoying, so I just use pads.
Of course, this was after our minute discussion of my sexual history - aka there is none - which I think surprised her greatly. At 23, and especially in a university town, I may be the oldest virgin she's ever dealt with.
I had a weird conversation with a doctor about non-existant sexual history when I was fifteen, because I had a yeast infection. She asked me twice when I said I was a virgin. As if it's something I wouldn't be sure about. :snort: Either I'
no subject
Date: 2003-07-06 03:26 am (UTC)First I laughed....and then I grimaced. You poor thing. Relax, take a warm bath (although I noticed in your userinfo that you're in San Jose, so that might not be the best option....), take your pain relief medication of choice, take a nap....and...er...it's 3am here on the West Coast......
(Of course, I haven't got a great excuse, either.....)
I think people assume that tampons are preferred.
Well, as I said, I've never used one and don't really have the need for it either. I'm not athletic, and while I do swim on occasion, it's not very often. And when I'm bleeding? I'd probably drown if I were still cramping, and I can abstain from jumping in the water for the remaining couple of days, even in this July heat. And prior to this year, I lived in Oregon, and had no real access to a heated pool, so it was a real effort to go swimming anyway. So...why waste the couple of dollars on a box of tampons that will just collect dust anyway?
I personally like pads, I have no trouble with the so-called "diaper" feeling that some *coughtamponuserscough* women report, and it's what I was raised on anyway. No big deal.
Tampons aren't difficult to use, but I could never forget that they were there, like I can seeing contacts. I always knew there was something up inside my vagina; it's a constant niggling feeling in teh back of my awareness that makes me---not uncomfortable, per se, but unable to really relax. I know it's there, and constant thinking about it is annoying, so I just use pads.
Well, then, I guess I'm fine with pads.
I had a weird conversation with a doctor about non-existant sexual history when I was fifteen, because I had a yeast infection. She asked me twice when I said I was a virgin. As if it's something I wouldn't be sure about.
Hee! This reminds me of when I was about 20 and I saw a GYN with my mom. The GYN, after the exam and discussion etc etc, felt it necessary to remind me several times that despite the fact I wasn't having regular periods - the reason for the visit; at the time, I was going 2-3 months without a period and then making up for it with a *heavy* bleed and those queen-sized killer cramps, but for various reasons we decided not to do BC pills at that time - that despite the fact I wasn't having regular periods, I could still get pregnant and get STDs etc and I still had to remember to use BC and so on and so forth.
I kept wanting to giggle - and I finally did on the way home, even my mother was a little amused - because I *did* know all this already and it felt really, really redundant, in addition to the fact that I wasn't sexually active, to this day still am not and have not been, and have never been in a "situation".
Yes, it's true. I'm 23, a virgin, and I've never been on a date. Ever. Even in a group.
LJ
continued
Date: 2003-07-06 03:04 am (UTC)Re: continued
Date: 2003-07-06 03:30 am (UTC)Just out of curiosity, since I've always wondered and have never bothered to look it up, what exactly is a yeast infection, its symptoms, and so on? All I really know is what they say in the TV commercials for the medications...
LJ
Re: continued
Date: 2003-07-06 10:24 am (UTC)Re: continued
Date: 2003-07-06 03:55 am (UTC)Glanced at your userinfo again (at this early hour of the morn, can't keep anything straight in my head) and found out that you're almost exactly one year younger than my youngest brother. Puts things into perspective.
All I can say is that I'm glad and kinda proud to see you posting with this kind of intelligence at your age. Wow. Good for you!
Applause.
Just remember: you're way more intelligence and capable already than a lot of people twice our age. Take pride in that.
And go to sleep, for heaven's sake! [channelling my mother]
LJ