Book-It '10! Book #36
The Fifty Books Challenge, year two! This was a library request.
Title: Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim
Details: Copyright 2009, St. Martin's Press
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Go with the Flow!
In this hip, hilarious and truly eye-opening cultural history, menstruation is talked about as never before. Flow spans its fascinating, occasionally wacky and sometimes downright scary story: from mikvahs (ritual cleansing baths) to menopause, hysteria to hysterectomies-not to mention the Pill, cramps, the history of underwear, and the movie about puberty they showed you in 5th grade.
Flow answers such questions as: What’s the point of getting a period? What did women do before pads and tampons? What about new drugs that promise to end periods-a hot idea or not? Sex during your period: gross or a turn-on? And what’s normal, anyway? With color reproductions of (campy) historical ads and early (excruciating) femcare devices, it also provides a fascinating (and mind-boggling) gallery of this complex, personal and uniquely female process.
As irreverent as it is informative, Flow gives an everyday occurrence its true props - and eradicates the stigma placed on it for centuries."
Why I Wanted to Read It: The title alone delighted me.
How I Liked It: A beautifully laid out, fun book with slight flaws (the text can flip around the full page reproductions of advertisements and the phrase "Funnily enough" is used at least five times) that are outweighed by the many attributes. Beautiful, hilarious, horrible, and fascinating reproductions of vintage advertisements for all sorts of treatments for menstruation are featured and dated. The authors pose good questions (Why are tampons and related material are considered "luxury devices" and are thus subject to sales tax? When did menstruation get so vilified? Does your vagina really smell awful? Is PMS real? Why is anything involving the female genitalia so censored? And more!) and examine menstruation advertising memes and trends. Granted, the history is more rooted (as the authors point out, the history of menstruation is firmly entrenched in the industries that sought to "treat" it) from the late nineteenth century onward, but it's richly illustrated (both literally and figuratively) in the book, complete with consideration and fascinating dissection of underlying themes inherent therein. This book is a must read for any owner of a uterus.
Notable: Under the chapter "OUTSIDE THE BOX" which deals with, essentially, products relating to menstruation that have been sold throughout the years, from the practical (the menstrual cup) to the eco-friendly (natural sponges and reusable pads) to the bizarre (a hormone replacement therapy album) to the downright cute. I can't be the only one who wants one of these!
Tampon Plushie created 2008 by Amanda Adams
Like most books nowadays, Flow has a website and a link to an Etsy page devoted to the book where you will find similar items to the above (but not exactly-- dammit!) and some downright squirmifying ("Celebrate your own beauty with a beautiful Vagina pendant accented with a filigree bush and hung on a medium-length chain. Each piece is an original, one of a kind hand sculpted image of its owner to remind her that regardless of what the world and the people in it may tell her: she is beautiful. After purchasing you can e-mail 2-3 photos of your Yoni to [address]").
Title: Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim
Details: Copyright 2009, St. Martin's Press
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Go with the Flow!
In this hip, hilarious and truly eye-opening cultural history, menstruation is talked about as never before. Flow spans its fascinating, occasionally wacky and sometimes downright scary story: from mikvahs (ritual cleansing baths) to menopause, hysteria to hysterectomies-not to mention the Pill, cramps, the history of underwear, and the movie about puberty they showed you in 5th grade.
Flow answers such questions as: What’s the point of getting a period? What did women do before pads and tampons? What about new drugs that promise to end periods-a hot idea or not? Sex during your period: gross or a turn-on? And what’s normal, anyway? With color reproductions of (campy) historical ads and early (excruciating) femcare devices, it also provides a fascinating (and mind-boggling) gallery of this complex, personal and uniquely female process.
As irreverent as it is informative, Flow gives an everyday occurrence its true props - and eradicates the stigma placed on it for centuries."
Why I Wanted to Read It: The title alone delighted me.
How I Liked It: A beautifully laid out, fun book with slight flaws (the text can flip around the full page reproductions of advertisements and the phrase "Funnily enough" is used at least five times) that are outweighed by the many attributes. Beautiful, hilarious, horrible, and fascinating reproductions of vintage advertisements for all sorts of treatments for menstruation are featured and dated. The authors pose good questions (Why are tampons and related material are considered "luxury devices" and are thus subject to sales tax? When did menstruation get so vilified? Does your vagina really smell awful? Is PMS real? Why is anything involving the female genitalia so censored? And more!) and examine menstruation advertising memes and trends. Granted, the history is more rooted (as the authors point out, the history of menstruation is firmly entrenched in the industries that sought to "treat" it) from the late nineteenth century onward, but it's richly illustrated (both literally and figuratively) in the book, complete with consideration and fascinating dissection of underlying themes inherent therein. This book is a must read for any owner of a uterus.
Notable: Under the chapter "OUTSIDE THE BOX" which deals with, essentially, products relating to menstruation that have been sold throughout the years, from the practical (the menstrual cup) to the eco-friendly (natural sponges and reusable pads) to the bizarre (a hormone replacement therapy album) to the downright cute. I can't be the only one who wants one of these!
Tampon Plushie created 2008 by Amanda Adams
Like most books nowadays, Flow has a website and a link to an Etsy page devoted to the book where you will find similar items to the above (but not exactly-- dammit!) and some downright squirmifying ("Celebrate your own beauty with a beautiful Vagina pendant accented with a filigree bush and hung on a medium-length chain. Each piece is an original, one of a kind hand sculpted image of its owner to remind her that regardless of what the world and the people in it may tell her: she is beautiful. After purchasing you can e-mail 2-3 photos of your Yoni to [address]").