How much can you trust the information you’re pulling off a pad wrapper? Mirjam Guesgen finds out. Those with menstrual cycles may be familiar with Libra’s Odd Spots – mini-facts you can read while spending more than the reasonable amount of time on the loo during that time of the month. According to Libra’s marketing … Read more
Perimenopause and its big sister, menopause, can seem like the cruellest of jokes after a lifetime of hormone-related struggles. Ensemble‘s Rebecca Wadey felt overwhelmed and panicked, until she started talking, and listening, and realised she wasn’t the only one. 2020 has been a confusing mess. I pride myself on my ability to cope with stress, … Read more
At 40 years old, filmmaker Rachel Judkins decided it was finally time to confront her hang-ups around talking about her period. It’s easy to imagine that everything you could say about periods has already been said. About Bloody Time!, an entry in this year’s collection of Loading Docs short documentaries, holds up a mirror to … Read more
From ads showing actual *gasp* blood to the mainstreaming of sustainable period products and commitments to addressing period inequity, it was a big 12 months for menstruation. When I first got my period at 13, I was petrified. I was scared to tell anyone and used a wad of toilet paper until I mustered the … Read more
Summer reissue: A lot of knowledge has been lost about traditional Māori attitudes to menstruation, but some extraordinary Māori women are making sure it’s not lost forever, writes Leonie Hayden First published 17 April 2019 Like a bolt of lightning out of the blue it sometimes occurs to me that a thing I’m doing, or … Read more
Catch up on On the Rag. Based on the podcast of the same name, Alex Casey, Michele A’Court and Leonie Hayden set out to jelly wrestle with every issue under the sun. The hilarious, stressful, hidden world of menstruation Hold onto your tampon strings, the first episode of the On the Rag webseries is here! … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Robyn McLean, co-founder of The Hello Cup. This week on Business is Boring is one of the co-founders … Read more
While sometimes you have to laugh at the bad advice and medical professionals ‘hooning their fingers next to your girly bits’, vestibulitis, a form of vulvodynia that affects the nerves of the vagina, is no joke. I’m standing in the health and beauty aisle at Countdown, staring at the wall of “feminine hygiene” products and … Read more
Madeleine Chapman celebrates the girl truths of Netflix’s hit show about puberty, Big Mouth. Girls are horny too. Girls are angry too. How to have an orgasm. The episode titles of Big Mouth are literal and accurate. Girls are horny too! Girls are angry too! How to have an orgasm! Big Mouth follows a group of … Read more
A new study has found that nearly 50% of New Zealand girls are getting their periods before high school. Experts say it is time for our education system to step up. Nearly 50% of New Zealand girls will have their first period before they begin secondary school, and 6.3% while they are still at primary … Read more
Alex Casey takes a look back at the period ads of the late 90s and early 2000s, with the help of advertising guru Jill Brinsdon. These days I can time my targeted ads for menstrual products like clockwork. Period trackers, bleedable underwear and menstrual cups all flood in on Facebook and Instagram several days before … Read more
A lot of knowledge has been lost about traditional Māori attitudes to menstruation, but some extraordinary Māori women are making sure it’s not lost forever, writes Leonie Hayden Like a bolt of lightning out of the blue it sometimes occurs to me that a thing I’m doing, or feeling, is a product of colonisation. When … Read more
In our new Q&A series, The Lightbulb, we ask innovators and entrepreneurs to tell us about how they turned their ideas into reality. This week, we talk to Hello Cup’s Robyn McLean on what sparked the move into menstrual cups. Since launching in December 2017, Hawkes Bay-based start-up Hello Cup has helped introduce menstrual cups … Read more
Alex Casey combs through the most furious complaints made to the ASA about sanitary product advertising. In preparing for the period-themed episode of our new webseries On the Rag, I found myself watching a lot of old tampon, pad and liner ads. Remember the one where the lady uses a pad to clean up spilt … Read more
Based on the podcast of the same name, Alex Casey, Michele A’Court and Leonie Hayden set out to jelly wrestle with every issue under the sun. First up: periods. The Spinoff apologises for an error in the above video: Jill Brinsdon was the first female creative director in New Zealand, rather than the first female … Read more
How is Facebook not just eroding our privacy, but changing our lives – and not just our lives? Most of us know tech platforms such as Facebook and Google track, store and make money from our data. But there are constantly new revelations about just how much of our privacy has been chipped away. The … Read more
On Monday, a UK journalist published a piece in a national newspaper about her experience of ‘free bleeding’ – and a whole pile of men told her exactly what they thought about it. Free bleeding, if you don’t know (and I didn’t until this week), is the practice of not using any devices like tampons … Read more
A new study shows that menstrual cups and cotton tampons may not be as safe as people are being led to believe. Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles explains. Diva, Fleur, JuJu, Kiko, Lunette, Me Luna, Mooncup, My Cup, Sckoon, Tāti, Wā, Yuuki. All cutesy names for the same thing: the menstrual cup – a “cup” people insert … Read more
Inspired by the past month’s new stories, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are joined by special guest Alice Snedden to dive deep into period chat. With help from their legendary sponsors at BON Lifestyle, of course. With Michele still elbow-deep in beignets in New Orleans, comedian and half of Boners of the Heart Alice Snedden joins … Read more