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my sis and i played our nintendo64 for the first time today in years. when we tried plugging in the controllers, one of them didn't work. and we literally started to cry. sisterly bonding that was such a large part of our childhood. thankful we're emotional.

lalobalocaart-deactivated202001

ALTERNATIVAS LUNARES: Eco-Feminist Mxnstrual Products

by La Loba Loca (IG: @lalobalocashares)

When I first got my moon, I was putting on new pants. I remember I was at my parent`s room showing off my new pink jeans. Then my sister`s face got all weird and she screamed something to my Mama. The next thing I know, I was in the bathroom and my Mama was giving me pads and acting all neurotic. She was telling me to calm down. I was calmed down. For some reason bleeding felt ‘natural’. The first mxnstrual products were pads, my Mama never talked about using tampons. There seems to be this anti-tampon thing in my family. She did mentioned 'trapos’, she said back in the day people would wash and re-use their trapos. I was way too lazy to do that. In my teens I would be all white-mainstream-feminist pissed at my Peruvian family for being 'non-feminist’ and not letting me use tampons. Later, probably by the time I was 20, i learned that there is nothing feminist about tampons and I started to understand that although the anti-tampon thing was based on judeokkkristian beliefs of virginity, I was very glad I never used tampons. Disposable pads were sucky enough…. no need to figure out how a ball of chemicals and bleached cotton and rayon inserted into my vaginal canal would make my pussy feel.

Disposable pads are nasty as fuck. NASTY. Yet, most of mxnstruating bodies are presented with either disposable pads or tampons to deal with our cycle. I could go on and on about the horrors of commercial pads and tampons, from the chemicals used in their production to the disgusting impact they have on the environment. I could also talk about the menstrual product companies that blood shame and that are owned by mostly white cis dudes. I could do all of that but there are already plenty of articles about that. I just want you to know that disposable pads:

1)made my blood smell horribly HORRIBLY

2)made me think that I bled a LOT more than I actually did

3)made me itch so bad… my vulva as well as in my inner thighs

4)gave me vaginal imbalances

5)made my vulva and vagina feel weird… i felt confused and annoyed at my body

As bleeding people, we need to start advocating for alternatives for moon products. This is mi granito de arena, a list of alternative moon products that I have used. There are more out there, there are some disposable 100% organic cotton tampons and pads as well as reusable tampons and probably a hell lot of other stuff that i still don’t know about. In this piece i have also added some pictures of my blood and what i do with it in the hopes that one day we are able to live in a society where people re-learn that mxnstrual blood is just another bodily fluid.

BLEEDING EVERYWHERE: this might not be the most practical method for everyone but it is great. sometimes i just don’t wanna catch my blood and i want to bleed everywhere! some people sit on towels during their moon or squat on bowls to catch their flow. sometimes i just let the blood get on my sheets or underwear

THE CUP: there are different brands and they are made with different materials. i got mine for free from whole foods, i liberated it years ago. you can buy yours from $25-$45 dollars online or you can go to a fancy health food store. the cup works by catching the blood, therefore you get to see the contents of your flow perfectly. the cup is also great to measure the amount of moon blood you are shedding, some of the cups have measuring numbers on them! another benefit of the cup, is that it lasts for years and they are very easy to clean. you can wash them with warm water and (some of them) boil them when you think is necessary. I don’t always use the cup, sometimes they make me crampy and sometimes I don’t want to have a cup up in my vaginal canal. I love to have this as an alternative though, it is GREAT for biking and sports. However, I would not use it for yoga… my cup moved and bled on the floor of this horrible gentrifying yoga spot in echo park once. the cup might also be a great alternative for people that use boxers or baggier underwear. the only downsize of the cup is that it might be hard to learn how to put it in properly and the removal takes some practice. there are plenty of videos and tutorials in the google world though, so definitely try this one out! here is a link with more info on cups and useful links to compare brands. I really like the moon cup and keeper company, you can get their products on their site HERE, go to the left-upper hand side and click on 'order a keeper on moon pad’.

SEA SPONGES: i have used my sea sponge a couple of times, it is not the best option for me. i coughed and sneezed a couple of times with the sponge inside and some of the blood came out… the sponge got squeezed! the cool thing about the sea sponges is that you can trim them and costume their size. when i learned about the sponge i tripped out and started researching about what other mxnstrual products people have used over the centuries. i learned that people have used wood, papyrus, wool, moss and many other organic natural products to catch their moon. the synthetic commercial that we are presented with are very new, disposable products only started to be made in the 1940s. You can find plenty of info on the internet, there is even an online Museum of Menstruation. although i like the idea of having a sea sponge as one of my blood catching products, i am a little concerned about the harvesting of sea sponges. while there are some stores that offer 'organic and sustainable’ sponges, how do i know they are actually sustainable and organic? do they provide a fuking Life Cycle Analysis of a sea sponge? there are some sources that state that the harvesting of sea sponges is sustainable because it promotes sea sponge growth. i have also heard that the harvesting of sea sponges is very detrimental for sea eco-systems, who knows really? i got a bunch of sponges a while back, so i will use them but i am not sure if i will get more after i go through them. they usually last for a couple months and they are compostable!

MOON PADS: moon pads are pretty much my favorite way to mxnstruate. they wrap around your underwear just as platic/commercial pads do. one of the many differences are that they are reusable, so you just wash them and use them again and again. they can last for years and they are usually pretty affordable. they are made with different materials and colors and patters. once you start using reusable cotton pads, you start realizing that the smell and volume of your blood is different from when you used commercial pads. they are WAY more comfortable than commercial pads, i have two friends that used reusable moon pads during their bike tour Los Angeles-Guatemala! some people that sell their products make their pads with velcro or metal snaps or different types of fabrics, make sure you check the materials people use in case you are allergic to metal or any other synthetic material. my moon pads are made with cotton flannel and plastic snaps. moon pads are awesome! you can also support crafters making moon pads in the interwebs or in your own friend circle. i make moon pads and sell them online, if you wan to support QWOC hustle check out the moon pads i make at lalobaloca.bigcartel.com

****10% discount for the first 3 ppl to purchase $20+ that use the code LALOBALOCAART****

Personally, I love my moon. I love it and I think one of the reasons why I have come to enjoy my moon is because alternative moon products are not only fun but also very educational…I get all nerdy with my blood. I study it and try to figure out how my diet during cycle has impacted my moon experience. I get all exited at using different blood catching products for different days. I also love to see how the Moon cycle impacts my body and moves fluids inside of me. It’s fascinating.

If we were all taught to listen to our bodily cycles and were given mxnstrual education since an early age, society would be a better place. people would know how to prevent cramps naturally, how to control their sexuality and avoid having sex with semen donors during ovulation time, how to work with their natural body’s energy, how to honor Mxnopause…!

Our bodies’ cycles are fucking deep. CONSCIOUSLY BLEED. Look at your blood, smell it, taste it, experiment with it, fucking OWN it.

stay healthy in this unhealthy $i$tem yall

-by La Loba Loca. Gay.Queer Peruvian Muxer, tumblerista, body-powered tattooist, D.I.Y. fine artist, Justicia Reproductiva advocate, Abortion Support/Doula in training and over all interested on autonomous health. Check me out at lalobalocaart.tumblr.com and check out my goodies at lalobaloca.bigcartel.com!

Would you like to SUPPORT La Loba Loca’s fundraising to continue her Queer BirthWorker education? Click HERE. AWESOME PERKS FOR THOSE THAT DONATE!

singbutkeepgoing

*important*

lalobalocaart-deactivated202001

Bleeding In the Woods: tips on using the menstrual cup

What do you do when you are in the woods and you know you are gonna bleed? What do you do if there is little access to clean water in the camping area and you cannot wash your rags/moon pads? What do you do if you want to avoid creating more waste and using the commercial pads and tampons? The answer: the mxnstrual cup!

While I was in the woods for an action camp I got my moon, before leaving my home my mind was telling me ‘take your cup or you pads, take them!’ but I did not listen and of course I got to the action camp and I started bleeding two days in. Luckily the medic camp had menstrual cups! I noticed that other bleeders were also shedding, it was around the full moon. Shedding in the woods it is not the easiest thing SPECIALLY if there is no accessible clean water (the river that crossed the camp area was highly pollutes) and if the shitters (holes dug in the soil for pooping) are being used by 40+ people. I usually like to use my moon pads but since clean water was a problem, I was happy I had the cup. I changed the cup twice a day and used a bit of clean water to wash it and doctor browners to wash my hands before going in for the cup and before re-inserting it. It took quite a bit since I had to make sure to take out the cup and then wait to poop since it is hard to poop with the cup inside and you definitely do not want the cup to be pushed out by anal power and fall in a pile of 40+ people’s shit. I highly encourage folxs that bleed to take your cup when you go camping, specially if you are camping in a area where there is not access to clean water or 'modern bathrooms’. I was one of the last ones to leave the camp ground and while I was picking up trash I found bags of tampons and conventional pads around which was sad and nasty. It was sad because plastic trash takes for EVER to break down and it was nasty because conventional products are nasty (horrible for the environment and people). I am all for menstrual blood but we need to be conscious about it yall! Menstrual blood also carries viruses STIs and STDs. Here is a list of things you will need to do if you are going to the woods when bleeding:

-your cup & a fabric pouch to put it in -doctor browners or another good liquid soap (least chemicals the better for you but also the soil it will touch) -cantine with clean water -plan ahead! you might have to take out your cup and poop as soon as you wake up and do the same right before the sun goes down. bleeding through and getting the blood all over your legs and bedding might be cool but when you are in an area filled with wasps and bees… uuuyy, they love blood smell! also getting blood in your sleeping bag is such a pain in the ass.

-La Loba Loca (for reusable moon pads check out lalobaloca.bigcartel.com & for the online knowledge share on radical menstruation check out http://goo.gl/WzeOpb)

floralls

by Pensive Light

andreii-tarkovsky

Fresh Off the Boat - “Hi, My Name Is…”

aj-elloo

YES

wumbawoman

Why Uzo Aduba wouldn’t change her name:

My family is from Nigeria, and my full name is Uzoamaka, which means “The road is good.” Quick lesson: My tribe is Igbo, and you name your kid something that tells your history and hopefully predicts your future. So anyway, in grade school, because my last name started with an A, I was the first in roll call, and nobody ever knew how to pronounce it. So I went home and asked my mother if I could be called Zoe. I remember she was cooking, and in her Nigerian accent she said, “Why?” I said, “Nobody can pronounce it.” Without missing a beat, she said, “If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky, they can learn to say Uzoamaka.”

source

They can learn

fervidusmori

One reason that people have artist’s block is that they do not respect the law of dormancy in nature. Trees don’t produce fruit all year long, constantly. They have a point where they go dormant. And when you are in a dormant period creatively, if you can arrange your life to do the technical tasks that don’t take creativity, you are essentially preparing for the spring when it will all blossom again.

Marshall Vandruff, one of the best teachers I have ever had, on artist’s block. Said during a webinar done on Visualarium to advertise his upcoming online course on animal anatomy (via drinkyourfuckingmilk)

when i see & hear about how excited my friends are for me. it means so much. it matters so much.

realizing it’s okay to not be perfect. we all live with contradictions. people will disagree with what you’re doing for whatever reason. sometimes it’s related to their own personal life & not actually about you. remember that it’s okay to not be perfect. people’s perceptions of you are not something you can control. & so the best thing to do is to be there for you. and do what you need. - exhale - you know you, love.

refinery29

Watch: In a powerful Congresional speech, Sandra Bland’s mother called people who think they’re woke “the walking dead” because of how little we still know

The speech included a rousing call to action before the newly formed Congressional Caucus On Black Women & Girls. And her words were incredibly resonant, even if you think you know the whole story.

Gifs: Josh Begley

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