Menstruation

Professor Ana Gabriella Sardinha and her team have been developing The Menstrual ConSCIENCE Trail game to teach Brazilian young people about menstrual cycles.

For all the body positivity of our modern era, we still don’t hear many public conversations about periods. In many parts of the world, people are and have long been cut off from resources and education about periods: and the more marginalized the person, the more cut off they’ve usually been. Let’s have an honest discussion about what periods are, some of the unique challenges that transmasculine people who menstruate can grapple with, and how to address them.

Other people had to have been struggling with this, right? There was no way I was the only one. But if that was true, then why didn’t I – or anyone else I knew, for that matter – know about it? Why had I wasted years of my life pushing people away, feeling miserable, and not even understanding why? I’m going to make sure that nobody else has to go through what I did.

A short, fast, sex ed summary about periods and the menstrual cycle.

Only a small percentage of Latinas in the U.S. use tampons, despite their cultural prevalence—what gives?

Ah yes, the unexpected period gambit. Also known as the "I am not wearing white shorts until I hit menopause" phenomenon. I know it well, as do most people who menstruate. The image of the spreading, red stain on your pants (inevitably in front of the people who pick on you and/or the person you're...

I'd say you have a few good options. Menstrual suppression isn't really a one-shot deal like you're thinking unless you are already using a hormonal method of contraception you can suppress with, like the birth control pill or the Nuvaring (in which case what you do is take pill packs or rings back...

Toni Weschler is the author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement and Reproductive Health, which is pretty much THE book for people who want to chart fertility, and the book I used to learn how to do it well in my 20's. She also wrote a great book about menstruation and charting for teen women, called Cycle Savvy: The Smart Teen's Guide to the Mysteries of Her Body. She's an amazingly dedicated and energetic person who also just happens to really, really like chocolate croissants.

Looking for an alternative to tampons or pads? A user asks about menstrual cups, and we give her -- and you -- the scoop.

What's charting? It's a person taking and keeping notes about their menstrual and fertility cycles. Charting your cycles doesn't have to be about natural family planning. Even if you're not trying to become pregnant, or aren't looking to use charting as a primary method of birth control, there are a bunch of reasons charting can be a big benefit to you.