Want to learn more? Here are some resources for you to explore, including some that are just for fun.

Books

Anthropology:

Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation, Thomas Buckley and Alma Gottlieb, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo: Menstruation by Karen Houppert. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1999.

The Curse: A Cultural History of Menstruation by Janice Delany, Mary Jane Lupton, and Emily Toth. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1988.

Fiction:

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. New York: Bradbury Press, 1970.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. New York: Picador, 1997.

Health resources:

The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls by Valorie Lee Schaefer. Middleton, WI: Pleasant Company Publications, 1998.

Growing Up: It's a Girl Thing: Straight Talk about First Bras, First Periods, and Your Changing Body by Mavis Jukes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.

Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era by Judy Norsigian and the Boston Women’s Health Collective. New York: Touchstone, 2005.

The Period Book: Everything You Don’t Want to Ask (But Need to Know) by Karen Gravelle. New York: Walker Books for Young Readers, 2006.

Essay

"If Men Could Menstruate" by Gloria Steinem. This hilarious and provocative essay, which originally appeared in Ms. Magazine (Oct 1978), first taught me to see periods with a sense of humor and as something worth proclaiming. An updated version of this essay appears in My Little Red Book.

Websites

beinggirl: a site where girls can track their periods, ask questions, and share funny stories.

Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health: an online museum with historical resources, ad archive, and a great selection of jokes.

Vinnie's Tampon Cases: a company with a good sense of humor that sells cool tampon cases.

How Menstruation Created Mathematics: a strange, but true discussion on menses and the origins of counting.

Movies and videos

Superbad (the dance scene)—periods and dirty dancing don’t always mix.

The Period Dance: the best Tampax ad out there. Watch it below.

Egg, Blob, Blob: a funny animated introduction to menstruation.