Caution: Girl Stuff

[Cadaverous Pallor]

So much to respond to! Thanks to everyone who's posted here.

My own history with the pill is that I had absolutely debilitating periods before I started taking the pill. Being in the fetal position once a month was not fun. On the pill, My mom said she had the same experience and I was kinda pissed she didn't recommend it to me earlier (though I totally understand why she didn't).

Regarding surgery vs hormones...I have never had surgery of any kind, and I don't intend to break that streak for elective surgery. I've also never had a piercing of any kind, no tatoos, and I don't dye my hair. But the hormones have been a part of my daily life for many years now and have not affected me badly. I have changed my pill type probably 4 times over the years due to insurance coverage changes and have never had a problem with any of them.

Erica is right - My doc is a family physician who does a pap. I have had probably something like 12 different doctors over the years, because of moving, switches in coverage, and I've ditched a few as well. Some were men and I've never felt that it was a problem. Perhaps seeing a real obgyn for this is a good idea, though.

Don't have time for more this morning! Back later.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Perhaps seeing a real obgyn for this is a good idea, though.

Don't have time for more this morning! Back later.

Put me in the go to an OB/Gyn camp as well.

I have the equal number of crappy GYN's, both male and female. My old GP was the best, PAPs were like rolling off a log, my last GYN in VA, it was torture. Looking for a new one now as my old GP has now retired.

So much good advice here, I can't really add to it CP

[NirvanaMan]

Wow. CM said it.

Eww, but mad props for it.

[innerSpaceman]

There was some damn pheromone that always got me incredibly horny when my last girlfriend was on her period.



The ik factor would take a back seat more often than not.

[Alex]

No ick factor, just a mess factor that frequently isn't worth the trouble.

But then that's why showers are generally large enough for two.

[mousepod]

"Red wings" is a Hell's Angels reference.

From Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga

Many wear other, more esoteric decorations - symbols, numbers, letters and cryptic mottos - but few of these had any public meaning until the outlaws began talking to reporters. Among the first to be exposed was the numeral "13" (indicating a marijuana smoker). This one is almost as common as the one-percenter badge. Others, like the patch saying "DFFL" (Dope Forever, Forever Loaded) and the Playboy Rabbit (mocking birth control) were exposed by True magazine, which also explained the varicolored pilots' wings: red wings indicating that the wearer has committed cunnilingus on a menstruating woman, black wings for the same act on a Negress, and brown wings for buggery.

...and now you know the rest of the story.

[Alex]

It's good to know that us poor suburban kids were hip to the Hell's Angels lingo.

For a while, the "why is pubic hair curly" joke and the meaning of "red wings" was the extend of my conception of oral sex.

[3894]

In matrifocal cultures, menstruation is powerful and sacred. In our patriarchal society, menstruation is disempowered and chemically suppressed. Menstruation is not "the curse".

Women's menstrual and reproductive problems often begin during periods of stress. One cause of the stress is the conflict of being female in a male-oriented, male-dominated society where there are few positive views of the feminine and little support of the female cycle. In many cultures women are highly revered, but also avoided because of their relationship to blood, which is seen as a symbol for life and death. In the past, blood mysteries were seen as the divine power of women; they formed the basis of religious rites which we enact even today in some cultures. The power of woman-say the Native Americans-lies in her ability to give life and to use this creativity in different ways. Patriarchal societies, however view women's blood mysteries as a threat to their power, and have suppressed woman and their knowledge of their menstrual power.

-Women's Blood Mysteries by Adelheid Ohlig

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by 3894

In matrifocal cultures, menstruation is powerful and sacred. In our patriarchal society, menstruation is disempowered and chemically suppressed. Menstruation is not "the curse".

So where does this fit in?

http://www.mikvahproject.com/infoabout2.html

http://www.pass.to/newsletter/take_me_to_the_mikveh.htm

[3894]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

So where does this fit in?

http://www.mikvahproject.com/infoabout2.html

http://www.pass.to/newsletter/take_me_to_the_mikveh.htm

The second article answers your question really well. Fun fact: I actually knew a woman in college whose last name was Mikvah, although it might have been spelled with a "c".

Are there women here who practice mikveh?