Carnal Embrace

Now that I’m on the precipice of wrapping up my undergrad career, I’m left with the question: what next? I don’t mean jobs, though certainly there’s that to consider. But what happens when we step outside the campus’ feminist community, this safe space we’ve created with other like-minded women? What then?

I took Introduction to Feminist Theory in my first semester at UC Berkeley, and even then I was plagued with the issues of praxis, action, and activism. Of course it was theoretical, being a theory class and all, but what was the application of what we learned? How do you take Judith Butler’s gender/sex manifesto to the streets?

There was also The Vagina Monologues, in which I participated in 2007. Our production centered itself around a cunt community, a safe space of women. FemSex, too, posits itself in this space. They have both been life-changing and empowering experiences, but neither have shown me how to deal with the real world outside our circle.
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I recently got a DivaCup to use for my last period. I wish I had learned about menstrual cups sooner.

Monday I had a talk with my mom about menstrual cups, and her reaction was very typical: ew yuck. A few years ago, that probably would have been my reaction too. In actuality, though, I’ve found my cup to be much cleaner than tampons and certainly more so than pads.

Here’s how mine works: fold it up, insert into vag. It pops open, and then you twist it around a bit to get an air seal going on. Leave it in for 10 to 12 hours. No tampon can do that, honey. When I’m ready to empty it, I go into the shower. Reaching with a finger to press the side of the cup in to release the suction, I insert my thumb and flex my PC muscles until the end of the cup reaches my fingers. Then I pull and voila! Empty the sucker out straight down the drain, clean it, and it’s good for another use. It’s so cool to know you can store shit in your vag.

Cups can last for years, and even if you haven’t yet been hit by the green movement, you can’t deny that it’s saving you tons of moolah. I go through half a tampon box a month. So…

$8 box of pussy blockers x 6 (for the whole year) = $48
$30 cup (for the whole year) = $30
Savings: $18/yr

I’m down with that.

One side note: The cup has taught me a lot about my vag already. I’ve realized the DivaCup is the perfect fit for me because my cunt is long and narrow. It’s hard to fit more than 2 fingers up there, but I can’t even reach the end of it…and I don’t have short fingers. Also, I have to push my cup up a little further because my G-spot sticks out too much, making it uncomfortable and squished with the cup sitting alongside it. Yeah, I know, boo hoo.

For more info on menstrual cups, check out: Menstrual Cups LiveJournal Community

Vibrators actually have quite an interesting history and society has changed its views of vibrators various times throughout the years.

Hysteria
Once upon a time, there were a lot of hysteric women. Doctors diagnosed women as “hysteric” for pretty much any symptom: depression, irritability, loss of appetite (food or sex), insomnia, anxiety, nervousness, faintness or abdomen/pelvic problems. Basically, any sort of nervous disorder. These symptoms, the Greeks once believed, were caused by the floating of the uterus, just wandering around in the body. The word “hysteria” comes from the root “hystera”–the uterus.

Doctors in the 19th century called for a “pelvic massage.” Quite literally, they would masturbate their patients to orgasm (the vagina, mind you, not the clit). All this massaging was getting tiring for the good ol’ docs, and then the way of the machine relieved their poor arms.

Vibration!
Vibration machines were brought in, though they weren’t used for just lady bits. It became a health craze, and those turn-of-the-century folks were vibrating left and right–no sexual connotation, heavens no.

Soon, smaller vibrators were sold in housewives’ catalogs among sewing supplies and other wifely odds and ends. It didn’t take too long, though, for vibrators to get a bad rap. Wikipedia claims they fell in popularity due to pornography reaching a head in the 1920s, but I don’t know if that was the only reason. Either way, they disappeared from mainstream view and polite discussion until the resurgence of a sex-positive view in the more contemporary waves of feminism.

For more old-timey knowledge, check out Museum of Menstruation’s pages about vibrators.

Flight of the Conchords, you warm my feminist heart.