I love what you wrote about breast pumps, Rachel.  I feel the same way about
ads for Tampax.  The message is that you should continue your athletic
endeavours ---tennis, swimming, etc even though you have your period and
that menstruating is a bother that can be eliminated by a smart/modern
product.  Even though I have worked in the field of women's health for the
past 30 years, it never dawned on me that there was something wrong with
this message until I went through perimenopause in my 40s. I probably would
now be another hysterectomy statistic except that I realized that my
flooding periods could probably be minimized in the same way that a
postpartum woman can minimize blood loss---going to bed and resting during
the bleeding time.  

 

I began to realize that the Tampax ads were all wrong.  Young women should
really be encouraged to go to the "Red Tent".  In other words, pay attention
to the wonderful monthly changes, moving in and out of society and the
demands of everyday life as the moon rhythms dictate.  Notice when you want
to be sexual and notice when you don't.  Seek the company of other women
with the same ovulation pattern at certain times and be replenished rather
than constantly giving or expending.  Allow others to serve you and serve
others in equal measure throughout the monthly cycle.  The Tampax ads are
the beginning of the female denial of the primal self (or maybe it starts
with the Barbie doll ads, who knows).  I do know that my generation tore
around like crazy all month long without any recognition that our bodies
were undergoing amazing monthly changes.  I'm just happy that, eventually,
I was able to hear myself lecturing new mothers about the importance of
staying in bed and resting during the 14 days of lochia after birth.  I'm
lucky that I was able to take my own advice in perimenopause-I cancelled
everything and went to bed when my period started and the flooding turned to
normal flow)  I still have my uterus in my body at 61 years old, no thanks
to the folks that market Tampax.

Gloria Lemay, Vancouver BC

http://www.glorialemay.com/blog

 

<< 

 

Liz Brooks pointed out in her talk at VELB that breast pumps are not cove=
red by the WHO Code.  That is no reason for us not to hold pump companies to
= the same standards as what the Code sets: that marketing materials consist
exclusively of facts, and that the products not be marketed aggressively =
at consumers, as though every mother needs to purchase her own Freestyle or
Symphony pump in order to breastfeed.

 

Rachel Myr

Kristiansand, Norway

>> 


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