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rclairel's review against another edition
3.0
This is a fine enough summary of The Year of the Period (in 2105) as well as the injustices and expenses suffered by women everywhere as a result of the normal function of their bodies. I enjoyed the encouraging descriptions of women in developing countries who have invented creative solutions to provide menstrual hygiene on an affordable and small-scale level to their local communities and was appropriately infuriated by the lengthy discussion of taxes applied to menstrual products almost world-wide. The author repeatedly highlights the importance of providing menstrual hygiene products for free, like toilet paper, to inmates and homeless individuals, as well as employees of companies that can afford it. But, the author isn't a great writer, and the whole book could've been much more succinct. Go read Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez if you want some well-written data on the plight of women!
melissarochelle's review against another edition
5.0
Why is there no oversight on manufacturing of menstrual products? Why are women taxed? Why is it so taboo to talk about menstruation? These and more are the topics discussed in this informative, entertaining book.
ylva_chasingbutterflies's review against another edition
3.0
Periods Gone Public is a book about the recent emerge of period activism, but also about the problems that women around the world face during their periods. The author mainly concentrated on the period activism in the year 2015 which, in her opinion, is the year that made periods go public. She also shows the hardships women in other countries and cultures have to go through because of a lack of education and sanitary products. But she mentions the issues of poor, homeless or gender dysphoric women in the US. Finally, she proposes to view other problems that specifically concern women through the "mentruals lens", such as viewing "abortion as necessary healthcare".
It was really interesting to learn about the attitudes towards menstruation in other countries and cultures. It was shocking to see how many women don't have access to pads and tampons and therefore have to deal with health problems and conflicts and work and school. And it was very inspiring to read about organizations, but also initiatives of the women themselves that desire to change that. I could also understand the struggles of poor and homeless women and the injustice of "tampon taxes".
However, the parts about Western period activism were a little weird. It is impossible to miss that the author is a feminist and it was hard for me to understand why someone would cheer for people posting photos of their bloody underwear on instagram or encourage freebleeding athlets. I don't think that this is necessary or helpful for raising awareness. I also think that the part about the "menstrual lens" wasn't always logical and sometimes went a little too far. The same goes for special sick days for menstruating women, for example, which would be sexist and unfair.
Another, rather small point was that the author claimed that a woman can't know know when her next period will come. This would have been an excellent opportunity to mention NFP/FAM/cycle tracking because it is free (once you have the knowledge), you can always use it and it is empowering (and it does not only allow predicting the next period, but it can also be used for birth control and family planning). Excellent opportunity - but she didn't use it. Every book about the female reproductive organs should contain a chapter on NFP/FAM.
This book is an interesting read for anyone who is interested in period activism and I am sure feminists will love it. But I would have liked it better if she had elaborated more on the issues in third world countries and left out some of the activism things. (And, honestly, "I'm too stupid to buy tampons in advance and therefore want free tampons and pads in every toilet" is not a good argument. Your period comes once every few weeks (except for pco/pcos ladies probably) and as long as you're not near menopause, it is never wrong to have some pads and tampons at home [or cloth pads and menstrual cups, depending on what you're using]).
Disclaimer: I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion.
It was really interesting to learn about the attitudes towards menstruation in other countries and cultures. It was shocking to see how many women don't have access to pads and tampons and therefore have to deal with health problems and conflicts and work and school. And it was very inspiring to read about organizations, but also initiatives of the women themselves that desire to change that. I could also understand the struggles of poor and homeless women and the injustice of "tampon taxes".
However, the parts about Western period activism were a little weird. It is impossible to miss that the author is a feminist and it was hard for me to understand why someone would cheer for people posting photos of their bloody underwear on instagram or encourage freebleeding athlets. I don't think that this is necessary or helpful for raising awareness. I also think that the part about the "menstrual lens" wasn't always logical and sometimes went a little too far. The same goes for special sick days for menstruating women, for example, which would be sexist and unfair.
Another, rather small point was that the author claimed that a woman can't know know when her next period will come. This would have been an excellent opportunity to mention NFP/FAM/cycle tracking because it is free (once you have the knowledge), you can always use it and it is empowering (and it does not only allow predicting the next period, but it can also be used for birth control and family planning). Excellent opportunity - but she didn't use it. Every book about the female reproductive organs should contain a chapter on NFP/FAM.
This book is an interesting read for anyone who is interested in period activism and I am sure feminists will love it. But I would have liked it better if she had elaborated more on the issues in third world countries and left out some of the activism things. (And, honestly, "I'm too stupid to buy tampons in advance and therefore want free tampons and pads in every toilet" is not a good argument. Your period comes once every few weeks (except for pco/pcos ladies probably) and as long as you're not near menopause, it is never wrong to have some pads and tampons at home [or cloth pads and menstrual cups, depending on what you're using]).
Disclaimer: I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion.
katrekan's review against another edition
5.0
Had the pleasure of meeting the author on her book tour, such an incredible advocate and activist!
mwatts168's review against another edition
5.0
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS BOOK! I would not be surprised if I started to force people to read this and chucking copies of it at people, heck I could see myself citing it as someone would cite the Bible.
This book is easy to read, yet packed with information that will blow your mind, sometimes making you want to bodyslam the policymakers of this world, but sometimes it will give you hope.
This book covers literally every single aspect of menstruation and life.
I recommend this book to everyone.
Definitely a GOOD MF Read™
This book is easy to read, yet packed with information that will blow your mind, sometimes making you want to bodyslam the policymakers of this world, but sometimes it will give you hope.
This book covers literally every single aspect of menstruation and life.
I recommend this book to everyone.
Definitely a GOOD MF Read™
julianareading's review against another edition
3.0
I agree with essentially everything outlined in this book. We DO need to erase the stigma around periods and work towards menstrual equity for ALL across socio-economic status/gender/culture etc., and some of the things Weiss-Wolf talks about are definitely worth taking another look at. For some reason, though, I went back and forth on this book. Maybe it was the tone of her writing (as some other reviewers pointed out), or maybe it was the fact that I didn't enjoy the narrator of the audiobook at all. In the end I probably would still recommend giving this a read if you're interested.
queerbillydeluxe's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars...A fairly surface level examination of the public menstruation debates and issues. Points for covering transgender and gender nonconforming folks in these pages, but only a couple because it was woefully short coverage.
grannyweatherwax88's review against another edition
5.0
This book was excellent and has provided me with tons of ideas about how to become a better menstrual advocate. Jennifer Weiss-Wolf does a great job of pointing out the issues that need to be addressed and providing pragmatic solutions for them. I also appreciate the way she situates menstrual equity within broader contexts like poverty, environmentalism, homelessness, incarceration and transphobia.