Destigmatizing periods for thyself…

Menstruation. Let’s talk about it.

I mean really talk about it because those of us with periods deserve to have candid, honest and open conversations about the cycle that our bodies go through approximately every month. We deserve to voice the regularities and the irregularities; the pains and the joys; the ethereal and the terrestrial; the numbness and the too much-ness. Without shame, embarrassment or even hate. Learning and talking about this important function of our bodies is key to understanding it and ourselves more, and subsequently stepping into our power. At VAGUE we’re big advocates for stepping into your power. 

Keeping all of that in mind, we decided to turn the gaze of self-care in the direction of our periods. With the help of the incredibly insightful, and practical book Period Power (Maisie Hill, 2019) we took on a small research project - emphasis on the smol -  where we tracked our cycles measuring specific variables, the most important one being our emotions. 

Karina and I did this over a course of two months and have put our findings together in a video that also features some of the general discourse on periods around the world, views on periods in indigenous tribes; the four seasons of your cycle, and how to identify when you’re in a particular season. In the words of Nella Rose, we did the doing tings.

It’s an open invitation to come join us as we hold space for our people-dem who menstruate. Ultimately we wanted to take this natural phenomenon (because it really is phenomenal) that’s often seen as a bloody mess (pun intended) and flip the script to see the patterns, create some order, some insight, and encourage you to show yourself some grace. You deserve it. You are worthy in all the ways you choose (and do not choose) to show up.  

P.S. We’ve made the tracker available to anyone who wants to add it to their self-care regimen. Look at us, spoiling you!