{"id":4250,"date":"2015-08-08T22:57:17","date_gmt":"2015-08-09T03:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/?p=4250"},"modified":"2015-08-08T23:06:05","modified_gmt":"2015-08-09T04:06:05","slug":"can-someone-please-buy-the-girl-a-menstrual-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2015\/08\/can-someone-please-buy-the-girl-a-menstrual-cup.html","title":{"rendered":"Can Someone Please Buy The Girl A Menstrual Cup?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

Does anyone know Kiran Gandhi? Have you even heard of her? She ran the London marathon back in April to raise money for breast cancer.<\/a> It wouldn\u2019t be too newsworthy except that she decided, in what she says was a last minute decision, to run it while her period blood ran down her legs.<\/p>\n

She was making a point.<\/p>\n

Raising awareness\u2026<\/p>\n

Because of course she was.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nobody wants to actually solve problems any more. They all want to \u201craise awareness\u201d<\/em> and become mini-celebrities at the same time. I suspect it\u2019s more about the notoriety and the appearance of doing something that is attractive. In our social media obsessed world, it\u2019s much more important to look<\/em> like a good person than to actually be<\/em> one.<\/p>\n

If someone actually knows Kiran, can you pass a message along to her for me? That would be great. Thank you.<\/p>\n

Kiran, (I\u2019m assuming that since I\u2019ve seen your period that we\u2019re on a first name basis)<\/p>\n

Can I just talk to you a moment, ex-marathon-runner to marathon-runner? You seem like a nice person. (Actually, that\u2019s not true, you seem like a nutcase, but your family loves you enough to turn out to cheer you on as you ran the marathon. They even has special t-shirts made. That has to count for something, right?)<\/p>\n

Can you walk me through that moment when \u201coh crap, I\u2019m starting my period the night before my race\u201d became \u201cF it all! I\u2019m gonna let that sucker flow!\u201d for me?<\/p>\n

Because it doesn\u2019t seem like \u201craising awareness\u201d was your first thought. According to what you\u2019ve said, your first thought was \u201cI don\u2019t want to have to figure out running 26.2 miles with a tampon.\u201d I don\u2019t know what brand you\u2019re using, but \u2013 A) maybe you need a new brand, or B) you might want to look into menstrual cups<\/a>. (If I can run, lift weights, and box jump at an all day CrossFit competition with one in place, it will work for marathons. Trust me.)<\/p>\n

It kinda seems like at some point during your warm-up or while you were pounding out all of those miles (which is a lot of time to think these things through) you decided to turn your personal un-hygienic decision into a Fight for Woman-kind!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, the stigma attached to menstruation is a huge problem for Third World girls and women. The same way that amoebic dysentery and respiratory infections are huge problems for poor people all over the world. But, honey, we don\u2019t go around with poop running down our legs or snot dripping down our faces in order to help those people. How does sitting (or in your case running) in your own filth help them?<\/p>\n

I mean help them in a concrete and practical way, because creating a media circus about a problem without telling people how to help is just grandstanding narcissism. In other words, you let your period blood run down your legs while you ran, exposing yourself to I-don\u2019t-know-what-kind-of-infection, and for what? So that millions of people around the world could click on your picture and stare at your crotch?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s pretty much the definition of un-helpful.<\/p>\n

While you go and take a shower (please, please, please take a shower), I\u2019m going to fix this whole mess for you. How\u2019s that for a deal? Good.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dear Blog Readers,<\/p>\n

While Ms Gandhi was repulsive in her approach to getting us to help the women of the Third World, she was right that they do need help. The truth is that menstruation can be an insurmountable hurdle to education and employment when poverty is so dire that tampons and pads are a luxury.<\/p>\n

Instead of walking around bleeding in public, let\u2019s do something real about this. Days for Girls is a charity that provides Feminine Hygiene kits to women in 75 countries around the world. Go check out their website <\/a>and learn how you can help through donating money, helping to sew the kits, or distributing them to impoverished communities (which may be closer to you than you think.)<\/p>\n

Providing a girl with\u00a0 safe, clean, re-useable methods for managing their periods could help change their lives. We take these things for granted, but they really are an incredible luxury to many women on Earth.<\/p>\n

As for Ms Gandhi, if anyone has her address, I\u2019d be happy to send her a Diva Cup <\/a>so that she\u2019s ready for her next race.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
A personal hygiene kit from Days for Girls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Photo credits-<\/p>\n

menstrual cup By Ruby Cup (http:\/\/www.ruby-cup.com\/) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

Personal hygeine kit from Days for Girls (now go donate to them)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does anyone know Kiran Gandhi? Have you even heard of her? She ran the London marathon back in April to raise money for breast cancer. It wouldn\u2019t be too newsworthy except that she decided, in what she says was a last minute decision, to run it while her period blood ran down her legs. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCan Someone Please Buy The Girl A Menstrual Cup?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Does anyone know Kiran Gandhi? Have you even heard of her? She ran the London marathon back in April to raise money for breast cancer. 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