I realise the carrots feature is top of Google's search results for 'radical menstruation', but I don't think it's representative of the movement in general. So without the clarification in your comment, this post does seem to just read like "menstruation = gross".

Thanks, Bil. Well, I've never attended a radical menstruation workshop and I haven't even got as far as using the likes of a mooncup, so it's not like I get to be spokesperson. But I'd say that the environmentalism is one big part of it. It's more than that, though - it's about how tampons can be bad for women and put them at risk of TSS, so these alternatives are healthier too. Or about how this huge industry exists to discreetly deal with the 'problem'/'embarrassment'/etc of menstruation, and how girls are taught to feel shame about their bodies. Or about how, at least in some countries, menstrual products are (or have been) taxed because they're seen as a 'luxury', while (men's) shaving products haven't been because they're apparently a 'necessity'.

(I think that the stuff about fertilising carrots & roses were both in the same link - the first one you posted doesn't seem to mention either.)

I *do* happen to use a divacup, and I love it. It's about environmentalism, yes. It's also about not letting the patriarchy of our society inform me of how I should feel about some things my body does that are, actually, pretty darn cool when you get down to it. And it's about not buying into the large corporations that tampax and kotex all are.

whoa. fertilizing carrots with cow shit is okay but women's blood isn't? i'm kind of offended by that. my blood is grosser than animal shit?

and hey. using reusable pads IS RADICAL. i mean, bil, did you READ either of those articles you linked to? past the part about the carrots i mean? think about how grossed out you are by women's blood then think about how no one talks about periods except to say how gross and embarrassing they are. think about what that's like to grow up with. imagine if everything you ever heard about semen was that it was something to be ashamed of and hide at all possible costs, instead of lauding it parading it around the way most of society currently thinks of male sexual organs. then think about the ridiculous amount of money women waste on uncomfortable plastic asswads full of toxic chemicals that pollute the earth when they could spend $50 at lunapads (or even make their own) and then be done with it. but no one knows about it. it's this total taboo subject; even among a lot of women who ascribe as radical feminists it'd be too embarrassing to bring up. i'd really like to see an analysis that shows the 25+ cents less that women make per dollar PLUS all the money they spend on pads/tampons throughout their life compared to men's salaries and grooming needs. then i'd like to see reusable pads, sponges, and cups included in sexual health education materials. that would be radical.

also i'm sorry but don't knock reusable pads as "too gross" until you try them. i thought they'd be kinda gross but they are WAY less gross/messy and WAY more comfortable than pads/tampons. plus they're cheap and they come in nice colors. and (granted mine are red, but blood stains brown, so) they don't even get stained.