PERIOD Podcast

Kate Blazar, CEO and founder of Animosa and the Go With Your Flow Pack, tells us about her new product and Kickstarter. Find my show notes at kateclancy.com/period10 and the Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gowithyourflow/the-go-with-your-flow-pack-a-menstrual-disposal-ki

This is a bonus episode of PERIOD podcast about the US Presidential Election. For a full transcript and show notes go to kateclancy.com/periodbonuselection.

Dr. Roxana Hickey joins Kate to talk ladybugs – or rather, the vaginal microbiome. Check out the show notes at kateclancy.com/period9!

Kate interviews Dr. Felisa Reynolds about their shared experience of a workplace bathroom, and Dr. Jessica Brinkworth about the health consequences of crappy menstrual hygiene.

Kate interviews musician Kiran Gandhi and inventor Heli Kurjanen about having periods in public.

Kate interviews the founder of Periods for Pence, now Periods for Politicians.

This episode was a ton of fun to put together. I was lucky to get to interview Lali DeRosier, a seventh grade science teacher and awesome science outreach advocate. We talk about what kids know, and what cultural conceptions of gender make kids not realize they know… like the several times Lali has had to convince boys in her classroom that girls poop.

Then, I talk to Talia Oakley, a sex health educator. We also talk about what kids know and mis-know… and my daughter makes an accidental appearance.

I interview four mothers and their kids -- and my own kid -- about what a period is. We discuss how kids come to understand privacy and secrecy, bodily functions, and growing up.

I interview Dr. Alma Gottlieb about what periods are, culturally – what they mean to us, what they do to us, how they fit or don't fit into the dominant cultural paradigm. Dr. Gottlieb shares insights into menstrual taboos, in the United States and cross-culturally. She also talks about what it means that 20-25% of the reproductive-aged women you meet are menstruating, even though they are hiding it. What does it mean to hide something fundamental about yourself for a quarter of your lifespan from menarche to menopause?

In my first full episode, I interview Dr. Elizabeth Rowe about her research on menstruation, and why we have periods. Dr. Rowe shares broad evolutionary insights about why people menstruate, as well as quirky tidbits about how researchers have studied periods over the years. Learn how scientists discovered how much monkeys menstruate, and which region of Europe seems to enjoy wringing out sanitary products.

Next week, I'll interview Dr. Alma Gottlieb, a cultural anthropologist who also studies periods, to look at the other side of the menstrual pad on matters periodic.

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