Shall we try again?
2015 was supposed to be the year of the period. Here we are 10 years later. Shall we try again?
Lily is a certified FAM teacher, herbalist and public health professional. The big idea behind this Substack is we deserve to know ALL the options when it comes to our reproductive health choices. Here we aim to fill in the gaps.
When I think about my cycle I feel…
dread.
Uncertain.
Sad.
Exhausted.
Upset.
Annoyed.
At peace.
I wish I learned…
more
pain management
how to actually use a tampon.
more
others' experiences
more
about discharge
more
more
These are real responses from grown women who happened to wander into an art auction when I was collecting survey data for a local nonprofit that teaches women and girls about body literacy.
I am in a liberal college town and the year is 2024.
What has happened to us? What has happened to our periods? Why are so, so many women dissatisfied, uneducated, and disempowered when it comes to something so normal and natural and intrinsic to us?
2015 was the supposed ‘Year of the Period.’ Kiran Gandhi ran the London Marathon letting her blood flow free (1,2), menstrual cups finally went drug-store mainstream, advocacy swelled on social media and in the halls of lawmakers. And yet, 10 years later— like many things— the problems persist.
Basic health education and body literacy feels doomed in the short-term, and we’ve just reinstated the very president whose misogynistic remarks (3) added kindling to the 2015 period advocacy era.
Beyond our periods themselves, we are struggling with inadequate and harmful contraception.
In the paraphrased words of naturopathic doctor and author of The Period Repair Manual Lara Briden:
Our contraception landscape is a relic of the 1950s when birth control was illegal, we believed smoking was fine for our health, and there was no internet. Things have clearly changed since then. (4)
The medical establishment has done a great job pushing pharmaceutical options, but those are not working for many of us.
Nearly HALF of women have switched contraception methods due to dissatisfaction (5), and let’s be real, how many of you or your girlfriends have settled for the ‘least crappy option?’ ✋🏿✋✋🏽
I started 3 Generations Wellness because I believe we should know ALL the options when it comes to our ovulation cycles, contraception choices, and fertility.
Because in a world where so many women are chronically ill, sick with autoimmune disease, depressive symptoms, and otherwise burned out, coming back to the basics is essential. Periods are essential.
In 2015, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) formally recognized the menstrual cycle as a vital sign of health and recommended that physicians inquire about cycle patterns at each preventative care visit (6).
Despite the medical recognition, our cycles are still being shamed, repressed, and largely ignored. Agency includes….
Adequate education that teaches the role our primary reproductive hormones (estrogen and progesterone) play in our overall wellbeing.
Learning the alternatives to pharmaceutical birth control, so we can make the best choice for us and our bodies.
Learning to read our cycles, so we can navigate the process of conception—whatever our journey entails—with more clarity and less stress.
Learning to read our cycles, so we can catch health concerns early and be proactive.
Learning to read our cycles, so we can enjoy sex without fear of pregnancy.
Here at 3GenWell I’ll be writing about cycles and cycle tracking, plus herbs and self-care. This work is deeply personal to me. It’s what I wish I knew when I was a teenager feeling disconnected and unsure about my body. It’s what I wish I knew in my early 20s swallowing Plan B. It’s what I wish I knew when I settled for painful, heavy periods, convinced the copper IUD was the ‘least crappy option.’ It’s what I wish I knew just a couple years ago when I didn’t think twice about fertility, assuming my good health meant quick conception was practically guaranteed.
To have more agency, we need to act from a place of information and self-study. It is not about what we choose, but HOW we choose it.
It’s about whether our choice is coming from a place of confidence, agency, or fear.
Your choice may be to use pharmaceutical contraception. It may be to use a natural sympto-thermal tracking method, it may be to use a convenient device you wear to bed. All of that is OK.
This work of regaining agency is active. It can also be fun and creative. After all, our periods are a sign of fertility, which is a sign of creative power. Power that can be directed at birthing much more than just babies.
Exercise: What’s your period story?
Grab a journal and pen. If you want to try this and feel rushed, set your alarm and give yourself just 5 minutes—write the first thing that comes up—don’t overthink it. If you’re feeling more spacious, try 10 or 20 minutes.
What did you learn about your period at a young age? What were the stories, beliefs, and norms that influenced you? What ideas came from your mother, sister, friends? What came from school, the media, or elsewhere? Were they generally positive, negative, something else?
What choices have you made relating to your period? How old were you? Did you choose, or did someone else?
When you think back over the choices you’ve made related to your period, what do you notice? What has driven those choices?
Where are you now? What words come up when you think about your period?
Are you using contraception? If so, are you satisfied, dissatisfied, or something else?
If your period could talk, what would she tell you? What wisdom would she share?
Is there anything else reading this essay sparked for you? Anything you want to do, share, takeaway?
Take a few deep breaths before going on to the rest of your day.
Note: I’m not a doctor. I don’t provide medical advice, I cannot diagnose or treat or give you health protocols. What I can do is teach, coach and share information.
References:
(1) https://medium.com/endless/going-with-the-flow-blood-sisterhood-at-the-london-marathon-f719b98713e7
(2)https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/12/31/460726461/why-2015-was-the-year-of-the-period-and-we-dont-mean-punctuation#:~:text=Business-,Why 2015 Was The Year Of The Period%2C And We,social attitudes about the period.
(4) Briden, Lara. The Period Repair Manual: Every Woman's Guide to Better Periods, Hormones, and Health. 1st ed., Lara Briden, 2015.
(5) Moreau, C., & Wynn, L. L. (2007). Contraceptive discontinuation attributed to method dissatisfaction in the United States. Contraception, 75(5), 391-396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2006.12.007
From the underbelly of the internet, came the claim that the 'free bleeding' idea originated from trolling by 4chan. Whatever the case, 'free bleeding' did not empower, but the understanding of cycles that you teach Will empower women from many backgrounds. So your 3GenWell has been recommended at weedom. Wishing you success and blessings.