Periods Gone Public

Taking a Stand on Menstrual Equality

By: Jennifer Weiss-Wolf

Narrated by: Teri Clark Linden

The first book to explore menstruation in the current cultural and political landscape and to investigate the new wave of period activism taking the world by storm.

After centuries of being shrouded in taboo and superstition, periods have gone mainstream. Seemingly overnight, a new, high-profile movement has emerged - one dedicated to bold activism, creative product innovation, and smart policy advocacy - to address the centrality of menstruation in relation to core issues of gender equality and equity.

In Periods Gone Public, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf - the woman Bustle dubbed one of the nation's "badass menstrual activists" - explores why periods have become a prominent political cause. From eliminating the tampon tax, to enacting new laws ensuring access to affordable, safe products, menstruation is no longer something to whisper about. Weiss-Wolf shares her firsthand account in the fight for "period equity" and introduces listeners to the leaders, pioneers, and everyday people who are making change happen. From societal attitudes of periods throughout history - in the United States and around the world - to grassroots activism and product innovation, Weiss-Wolf challenges listeners to face stigma head-on and elevate an agenda that recognizes both the power - and the absolute normalcy - of menstruation.

©2017 Jennifer Weiss-Wolf. (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. “If Men Could Menstruate” by Gloria Steinem reprinted with permission. “The Red Cycle” selected poetry reprinted with permission. “Tampons For ALL” by Chirlane McCray reprinted with permission. “The Pioneering Period Policy: Valuing Natural Cycles in the Workplace” by Alexandra Pope reprinted with permission.

Excellent Information, Performance Lacking

SOOOOOO MUCH I did not know. Such a fabulous education. Thank you so much Jennifer! Ideas for impacting the community, history, global testimonies from how women in other countries are dealing with the issue, and some interesting information about the history of media and marketing menstrual products. Highly Recommend! But maybe you should read the book I stead of listening. I hate to criticize another artist, but I had a very difficult time listening to this audiobook. Sentences were read and inflected in strange ways— very robotic sounding—, and I had to spend several minutes just getting used to the narration every time I started listening. Maybe this just isn’t the narrator’s best genre? I appreciate her effort though.

Interesting, a bit dogmatic, and missing European perspective

It was interesting enough. It repeated itself a lot. I think it was too big of jump to assume what Trump meant in his statement, but the author repeated it over and over again as if doing so made her assumption correct.

I remember as a kid that in 1988 while running track in 7th grade my coach at my school said a few years prior tampons were used for nosebleeds because they were deemed not safe for their original school purchased use (the schools bought so many), but that wasn’t mentioned in the book. I think incidents like that set back the free tampon moment more than the author cared to research or mention as if free tampons are a new idea that they hadn’t tried before in schools in the early 80s and been burned.

But overall it is a nice book.

I wish it had more of an international perspective for the economics of free tampons. I would have liked to hear more about it from a pan-European prospective. Are say Germans or Ukrainians contemplating or already supplying free tampons? That would help explain if it would be sustainable in the US over the long run. Don’t get me wrong, it is a really nice helpful goal.

After listening to this book, I wonder if unsafe dioxin-tainted tampons could have contributed to my mom’s death from ovarian cancer at age 49 in the year 2000. She was one those 42% of women that the author quotes as preferring tampons. I wonder what percentage of Europeans prefer tampons, but then again there is that international perspective that is lacking some.

There was one chapter in the beginning of the book that was almost exactly like a web page on the internet. It is hard to tell from an audio book of due credit was given — I hope so.

The chapters about pad production in India were very interesting and fun to listen to.