Hello,
This is an open call to all female artists/web designers/poets/photographers ECT. I am currently a fourth-year multi-media student working on a thesis that deals with rites of passage for women. The project, a virtual quilt, will consist of my own constructed multi-media squares as well as contributions by other women (maybe you?). The squares deal with either self-created rites of passage that YOU have experienced or the creation and construction of new rites.
You can explore anything that you feel is important in the development from childhood to womanhood or just the establishment of strong spiritual/sexual or physical identities for women. The rites should deal with issues that aren't rooted in consumerism, patriarchy, organized religion or female stereotypes. The expectations are for this site to assist young girls through to older women who are seeking spirituality, self-discovery or just a fun way of expressing themselves, with all the elements aimed directly and only at women, and their own cultural representations.
The site is currently under construction and will be posted next week, this is a preliminary and VERY informal introduction to determine interest amongst women in receiving the site address, and virtual press release a kit. In the next few weeks all information will be based on the University server and this will ensure a virus-free site. If you are opposed to being on this mailing list please email me here and I will gladly remove you. As for the rest of you, my next communication will be much more eloquent and feature flash animations and some very snazzy design. The site address will be available next week as I have said and it WILL be under construction, but the guidelines will be there as well as my formal thesis and an introduction to give the feel and flavor of the site.
Thank-you for you time and patience and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Michelle van Looy
Fourth year, Ryerson Polytechnic, New Media Arts
I really, REALLY enjoyed this Web site! [Thank you!]
I started looking for sites concerning precious puberty, (my 8-year-old daughter is very near starting her first period, according to the doctor - all the signs are there) and stumbled across your museum. Very interesting, and I love your sense of humor. I think it is very interesting that humor makes talking about menstruation almost enjoyable. [I think that's one function of humor and I could not have done the museum and site without it. Look at the comic strips in New this week, above.]
Anyway, what I wanted to tell you was that the only disappointment with the Web site is that you didn't include the recipe for the wonderful German pastry that you described so eloquently it made me drool here at my computer. [I can smell it coming out of the oven now, as I did on Saturday mornings in Heidelberg, Germany, cafes!] Enjoyed your artwork, too.
Have a great day - and the next time I have my period I will think of you. [Holy Mackerel!]
I was listening to a Suzanne Vega tape on the way home from work a couple of days ago and I remembered that one of her songs actually mentions menstruation, if a bit obliquely.
The song is "The Soldier and the Queen." I've put a star next to the menstruation verses. One of them might seem very tenuous, but I think the link is there considering the second. I wonder if there are many other songs by mainstream(ish) artists which mention menstruation. A new section in MUM, maybe? [If you folks send songs, I'll put them on a special page.]
Anna
The Soldier and the Queen.
(Typed from memory [!!], so there might be a few mistakes.)
A soldier came knocking upon the queen's door,
He said, "I am not fighting for you any more,"
And the queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before,
And slowly she let him inside.
He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill,
And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill,
But I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will,
Only first I am asking you why."
And down the long narrow hall he was led,
Into her room, with her tapestries red,*
And she never once took the crown from her head,
She asked him there to sit down.
He said, "I see you now and you are so very young,
But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won,
And I've got this intuition says it's all for you fun,
So now will you tell me why?"
Well the young queen she fixed him with an arrogant eye,
She said, "You won't understand, and you may as well not try."
But her face was a child's and he thought she would cry,
But she closed herself up, like a fan.
She said, "I have swallowed a secret burning thread,
It cuts me inside and often I've bled."*
He laid his hand then on the top of her head,
And he bowed her down to the ground.
He said, "How hungry are you, how weak you must feel,
As you are living here alone and you are never revealed,
But I won't march again on your battlefield."
And he took her to the window to see.
And the sun it was gold, though the sky it was grey,
And she wanted more than she ever could say,
But she knew how it frightened her and she turned away,
And would not look at his face again.
He said, "I want to live as an honest man,
To get all I deserve and to give all I can,
And to love a young woman who I don't understand,
Your Highness, your ways are very strange."
But the crown it had fallen and she thought she would break,
And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached,
She took him to the door step and she asked him to wait,
She would only be moment inside.
Out in the distance her order was heard,
And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word,
And while the queen went on strangling in the solitude she preferred,
The battle continued on.
Harry,
I forgot to tell you that I'm starting up another zine, too. This one is going to be all about menstruation and other girl-related stuff. Hopefully it will get started up soon, but it really depends on how many submissions I get. It will be called "Sita Doll." I'm working on a Web site, too, www.angelfire.com/ia/sitadoll, and hopefully that will be done by the end of this week. When you put my stuff on your page, could you also include a brief thing about how I need submissions? [Send submissions to BitRoyale@aol.com] I hope it's not too late. Thank you very much,
Victoria
Please, may I post a letter on your letter page?
I'm researching a documentary for the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] about menstruation - myths and facts and blessing or curse.
I have much information about the curse and prejudice but I am finding scant information about the blessing! I was thrilled to find medical information linking surgery for breast cancer and the menstrual cycle and the New Scientist report about differing medication levels required during the 28-day cycle, and the research about eating requirements differing during the cycle etc., but I want to hear from women who have evidence of the cycle as a blessing, for example, artists, writers, etc., who are at their most creative whilst menstruating.
I also want to meet women who practice menstrual seclusion, as with menstrual huts of the past [and of the present; women still use menstrual huts].
And anything and everything to do with research into menstruation.
Next week I am interviewing Mr Peter Redgrove and Penelope Shuttle who wrote the first book on menstruation that offered positive information, The Wise Wound, 1978. I am very excited about asking many questions resulting from the book. If you have any questions for them pertaining to the book or their second book, Alchemy for Women, about the dream cycle corresponding to the menstrual cycle, I would be delighted to forward them to them on your behalf. They are not on the net so any questions would have to have addresses!
Thank you so much for this glorious Web site [many thanks to you for saying that!] and I look forward to hearing from visitors to your site.
Ali Kedge.
ali@shortkedge.freeserve.co.uk or fflic.zip@business.ntl.com
Irregular menses identify women at high risk for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which exists in 6-10% of women of reproductive age. PCOS is a major cause of infertility and is linked to diabetes.