Customer Reviews

Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is informative, disturbing, infuriating....and fun. The authors address the gamut of issues involving menstruation, from physiological causes/effects, to cultural taboos and traditions, social history and ethical concerns. The writing style at times is a little TOO breezy/chatty, but the illustrations (a lot of vintage advertisements for "femcare products") more than make up for that. Even though this book is packed with data, and offers a lot of food for thought, you can sail through it in one sitting. Even a casual reading will give you insights into this pivotal, and still largely hidden, aspect of women's lives. Some examples:

--References to menstruation are still largely euphemistic; the best one listed here is the Danish phrase, "The Communists are in the funhouse!"

--Way back in 1918, Sears, Roebuck used to sell vibrators. With attachments.

--Primates (like us) and some species of bats and shrews are the only mammals that really mentstruate.

--Lysol douches were popular from the 1920's until the 1960's. Lysol, which shares germicidal properties with carbolic acid, was a highly recommended treatment for "offensive" vaginal odors. This initiated a vicious cycle, so to speak: a self-conscious, but often healthy, woman would douche with Lysol and kill off normal flora (and scald her tissues), which would pave the way for bacterial/yeast infections, which WOULD cause an offensive odor, which would compel her to douche more often. Because an abnormal body odor in a normally clean person indicates an underlying problem, women who actually did have a raging infection only made matters worse with this frequent purging.

--Menstruating women have more nightmares, and erotic dreams, then when not menstruating. Plus, they can hold alcohol better. Good to know.

--Female sexual climax has historically been frowned upon (by men), but clitoral stimulation was often performed in a doctor's office to address "hysteria," during the 19th/early 20th Centuries. Kinda creepy, no?

--The independence that resulted when "femcare products" became available was a huge leap for women in society. This advance cannot be overstated.

--Big Pharma has a big stake in women's health: there are more than 500 PMU farms in the US, where thousands of mares are kept pregnant so that their urine can be processed for hormone replacement therapies. (The foals that result from these gravid horses are usually sold to pet food companies.) Newer drugs that can suppress menstruation are also huge moneymakers, although there isn't a lot of long-term research available on the effects of such hormonal manipulation.

--Religious authorities, especially in the West, tend to be really wigged out by the idea of menstruation (with the possible exception of Jesus Himself, who in Matthew 9:20-22 apparently cured a woman who suffered from menorraghia, or abnormally excessive flow).

--Some Orthodox Jews believe that if a menstruating woman walks between two men, one will drop dead. Sort of like a superpower.

I hope that, some day in the not-too-distant future, menstruation will no longer provoke feelings of disgust and revulsion in people who should know better. I also hope that more women will move beyond seeing it as a disease or a disability, but as an amazing, if not always comfortable, attribute of our gender.

This book gave me hope that I may one day realize my dream: to open a Moon Lodge for women who would appreciate taking a week off every month. It would be kind of like a high-end spa, somewhere in the mountains, with lots of delicious food, good books, cats, and no kids or men.

Except for Lars the masseur.

My girlfriend bought this book and I decided to check it out. It was pretty fascinating for a guy like me to read about a subject that's really not too much talked about-- and the pictures and art were beautiful; definitely the kind of book to keep on display. I am a 41 year old male, possibly not the audience one might imagine for this book, but I think it was a great read, and kept me turning pages for hours.

I got this book hoping for a good read covering different cultural perspectives and some good science about menstruation. There's really little actual scientific information and while the authors repeatedly lament the lack of good studies on the subject I can't help but be disappointed that while the back cover claims "Flow answers questions such as: What's the point of getting a period?" in fact the authors only make very brief mention of a couple of theories and admit that no one knows. Not exactly their fault that the subject hasn't been throughly studied, but a bit misleading to people buying the book wanting to find out.

The cultural aspect is mostly limited to discussing how attitudes in America have changed over the last 200 years with a few passing references to other cultures. Fine if that is what you are looking for but I was expecting a bit more from "The Cultural Story of Menstruation"

Probably the biggest disappointment to me is how everything seems to revolve around the assumption of a "normal" healthy flow. While repeatedly admitting that many women have much worse experiences the authors do not seem to have gained any real knowledge of what that is like before writing this book.

The vintage ads liberally incorporated through the book dating back to the 1800's are probably the best reason to look at this book; old medical ads are always good for horror and laughs.

I wish that the authors treated "alternative" treatments for PMS problems with the same distrustful outlook they regard large pharmaceutical companies with. Being "natural" doesn't make them harmless. It shouldn't be too much of a leap to look at the discredited "medicines" whose ads so amusingly adorn the pages of this book and then look at the claims of the largely unregulated alternative treatments market and suspect that perhaps some of today's untested treatments will be viewed the same way 100 years hence.

Wow. I can't finish this book. First, the lackadasical "folksy" tone became grating on my nerves halfway through the first chapter, but I figured I'd press on and give the authors a chance to deliver some insight into the social issues surrounding female reproduction and menstruation. The insight never came, though. There were plenty of irritating misuses of facts, however, and a supremely annoying tendency for the authors to beat the dead horse of the birth control pill, all the while making snide remarks about the "less enlightened" people from the ancient Babylonians to our grandparents' generation to Native Americans and male gynocolgists. The constant tone of "OMG those [insert generation/nationality/historical figure] were so stupid!" got old really quick. I finally had to throw in the towel after the authors alleged, without offering any sources to back up the ridiculous claim, that "British columbian Indians" would leave their menstruating adolescent girls in the wilderness for 3 or 4 years.

Uh, I would love to see your documentation for that, ladies. Hell, I'd love to see ANY documentation that went into the writing of this book. The glee with which the authors make these bizarre claims and then fail to either explain or discuss them just did not speak well for their credibility. I realize not everyone wants to wade through footnotes and academic jaargon, but the lack of analytical thought in this book was pretty galling.

This book had a lot of potential, because a cultural history of menstruation is definitely a fascinating subject, but an 8th grade student could have done a better job writing it.

This is a very interesting and informative book. Not for women solely, but for anyone interested in learning more about a subject that there's definitely a lot more to be learned about.

My boyfriend picked up my copy of this book and started rifling through it. "This is a really good book, I am going to read the whole thing," he said.
I agree, excellent book. Educational, fun, and also the book itself is coffee table ready in appearance. I definitely suggest checking this one out.

Informative and funny, FLOW is a guide for all women who have had to sit through the requisite "growing up" videos in grade school and fuzzy advice from their mothers. I even learned a thing or two!

But aside from its educational value, the book puts a pop culture twist on this oft-taboo subject, making menstruation accessible and open to conversation. Plus, vintage ads! Who doesn't love vintage ads? A great conversation starter for all the women (and men!) in your life.

FLOW is fascinating, funny, informative and, at times, shocking - in a good way. But there's an added benefit to the book. My 11-year old (pre-adolescent) daughter - who has heretofore been embarrassed to discuss ANYTHING in the realm of body change - picked up the book and flipped through it. She then decided that THIS would be the week's "nightly reading" book. Incredibly, it became a fantastic springboard for conversation and my formerly reticent daughter has been bubbling over with facts - and questions. In looking to de-stigmatize a subject that too many people find awkward, FLOW, is a book well worth reading - for ALL ages!!

This book is amazing. I read it cover to cover in about 2 weeks, and it only took that long because I teach full time and am in grad school. The main point of this book is that women's periods (and related processes such as menopause) have historically been viewed as dirty, wrong, or even diseased (this is not, of course when they're being ignored which also happens way too much), and such views have been used to explain and enforce why women are inferior, create feelings of shame and embarrassment, and make a LOT of money for various pharmaceutical and feminine care companies (often with little consideration of the affects on women's health or safety). However, the authors argue that these ideas (and the feelings they create in both women and men) are not only often outdated, wrong, and disturbing, but even possibly dangerous.

The information is the book was eye opening to say the least. I realized that many of the questions I had were shared by countless women, and I have a much better understanding of my body now. Many topics were addressed that I was not even aware of, and I have been studying this sort of thing for a while. I am so glad they talked about feminine care items, issues with mass produced items, and possible alternatives. Am I going to rush out and change how I do things? Probably not, but it's nice to have information that's current and presents both the positives and negatives. The amount of information in this book is astounding. On this basis alone, I have recommended it to every friend I have (even some of the men!). That the authors present this information with humor and honesty was very refreshing and kept me interested (this is not a dry, boring textbook!).

Is there an agenda in this book? YES! Arguably, there are several. Still, the most basic one, that women need to stop feeling dirty or embarrassed or ashamed, by a completely natural process which we pretty much all go through is one that I think almost every woman can support. The idea that women's needs should be addressed in a style that is most healthy for women (and maybe even the earth) instead of what will put the most money in the pockets of big companies is another one I think we can all get behind. Even the authors admit that some of the "pro-menstruation" stuff out there is a little much, but just because some of it is not your cup of tea is not a good enough reason to dismiss it all.

The authors lay all of the information to support their argument in a rather organized fashion, and the research seems pretty sound. There is a lot of information about historical views or actions, but most of them contribute to the overall point of the book. As mentioned, the humor is fun and keeps things moving. Some of the information was scary or infuriating, but in the "women need to know this is going on because it affects our health" way. A very little bit of it was down right icky, but again, mostly relevant and important. Overall, I would recommend to any woman to read (ok! at least skim) this book because I really feel there is a lot of truly important information here which I certainly have not found elsewhere. I highly suggest you read this book as I really cannot say enough good things about it.

This is a fantastic book on many many levels. Elissa Stein and Susan Kim take on the discomfort of discussing "that time of month," talk about the awkwardness and then examine menstruation in a way that is sharp, smart, serious, laugh-out-loud funny, respectful, irreverent and best of all, friendly. It's not a science book, but it's not supposed to be one, but as a 40year old dude, I know a lot more about what goes on every 28 days today than I did before reading this book.

They look at the crazy misbeliefs about menstruation throughout history... crazy and still relevant today - some of Pliny the Elder's hypotheses and attitudes about the subject can still be found today, to some extent. In the context of the mysterious uterus (once believed to be a hamster-sized organ that travelled all over the body), they look at PMS, and medical treatments for "womens problems" including the doctor treating "hysteria" with "hysterical paroxysm" (including some involving water jets that today would be blocked by Net Nanny). It's not all fun and games, though, because the treatments also include hysterectomies and the fatal results of hormone-replacement therapy for post-menopausal women (once believed to be a benefit, the human trial of hormone treatments was stopped in 2002 when it turned out to significantly increase health problems across the board).

My favorite favorite favorite parts of this book discuss the role of marketing and advertisements for feminine products and how these have "educated" us over the years. Commercials with mysterious blue liquids! White swimsuits and beach images! The book is filled with gorgeous copies of print advertisements from the last century, from when Kotex was first advertised (convenient way to sell off bandage material from WWI), to images of freedom and freshness (white swimsuits and all) from the 70's and 80's to today. These are fascinating to see, especially with Stein and Kim discussing these ads and the attitudes of the times.

As something that really should be in a note for the paperback edition, when Apple's iPad was announced, the internet exploded with menstrual humor, but most hilarious of all was the official demo video that practically, unintentionally use much of the imagery from the last few decades of femcare advertising. I guess the marketing guys at Apple never paid attention to those campaigns.

Fantastic book - five stars. Really, it's a must-read, an excellent excellent book.

While the rest of the book is informative and fun, they totally take the prayer for men thanking God they're not women completely out of context.

The prayer in question has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with menstruation.

What the prayer is about is the fact men are required to pray. See, womens' roles are seen as so much more important to the welfare of the household and the world in general that they are excused from the required prayers. They can say them if they want to, but unlike men they are not required to interrupt they're work for them. The men are simply saying "Thank you God for making me a man, therefore giving me more required prayers then women."

Plus one could say the "no touching for two weeks" bit is very feminist. Judaism is the first - and probably still only - religion that forbids a man to rape his wife. In fact, sex is all about HER and HER pleasure, never his. Rabbis have sat down and figured out, according to career, how many times a year a man must sexually pleasure his wife. If he doesn't do this, it's grounds for divorce. Even long after she no longer can bear children, he's still required by Jewish law to have sex with her and make her happy in bed! What other religion allows a woman to say "NO!" to sex with their husbands? Not to mention being forbidden to touch each other yet still be within site of each other must increase their desire. Like seeing a really rich piece of chocolate cake for hours, but not being allowed to eat it until a certain time.

Let's not forget that according to Jewish beliefs a child gets his or her soul from their mother, while their father just provides their physical form. That is why even though my last name is Russell, I am a Jew according to Jewish law - because my mother, and her mother, and her mother on down were all Jewish. Being Jewish is inherited from the maternal line, NOT the paternal. As one Orthodox Rabbit told me, because my maternal ancestors were Jewish that makes me as Jewish as "Abraham, Moses, and Barbara Streisand."

There's also other areas where I'm not sure why they *seem* to be making fun of the ads. Surely telling a woman to lift with her knees or not to push a heavy car by herself isn't a bad thing? That's just practical advice everyone should follow.

Overall I still think this is a four to a four and a half star book. I just think they need to do more research into the religious aspects and not apply a prayer that has absolutely nothing to do with menstruation to a woman's period.

Plus it would be nice when they were covering things like PMS they might've also covered Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in regards to periods.

I'd still recommend this book to everyone. Perhaps in the next edition they'll correct this one little area.