Episode Eleven: Body Modifications

Menstrual art!

Here is an article about a menstrual art project that spanned five years and involved Chilean artist Carina Úbeda Chacana collecting her own menstrual "rags" over that time period. (Period!) Weirdly enough, the most comprehensive article I could find on the project (in English) was actually on the Daily Mail's website. Click on the image below to read more!




Here's an interesting article on some other menstrual art projects... Before you click for the link, maybe try to work out what this image's link is to menstruation....

 

What do you think? Art or gross or gross art?

Music from the show

Here is all the music we have featured thus far, with a few bonus tracks we didn't have time to play!

Episode Ten: Everyday Sexism

A video about how sexism concerns men:





The story of the Everyday Sexism project




Some links on the topic:

The website of Everyday sexism.

On the Everyday Sexism project(Guardian article)

On Nick Griffin's reaction to the Nigella/ Saatchi incident and a tabloid article on the subject.

On making your legs hairy to detract attention.

The Bechdel test website.

Sexism in politics (Guardian article)

The "I NEED FEMINISM BECAUSE" project


Some points that Very Loose Women discussed on the topic of sexism outside of the show


"The very acceptance of these things as norms is sexist. Women are taught, as young girls, to accept their position in society as weak, subject to male domination. They are taught to be flattered if considered beautifuul (their value as a sexual object is prized over everything else). This is why commenting on a politician's dress is inherently sexist as the implication is that it is in some way indicative of their sexual value. The expectation is that women should prioritise men / finding a spouse, and this is implicit in many of the conversations women are depicted to have in films / TV etc - the reality is that when confronted by this image of women daily (bombarded by media which reinforces this role for women), many women conform to those expectations. The fact that women behave in a stereotypically female way is arguably a product of nurture as opposed to nature. These assumptions about what 'men' and 'women' should be are bollocks in my view."


"Commenting on male politician's dress: Sarkozy's heels (his height), Sarkozy's jogging wear ("le President bling-bling") But I agree with everything you said. And obviously women's dress is more frequently commented on that Sarkozy's. Also this is what I mean when I say I am incapable of producing good retorts for antifeminist schpiel that I know is wrong in my gut but can't formulate it in words. This morning I did a poor job of convincing this guy he was being a twat. I'm also afraid of antagonising antifeminists because I know that as soon as I step too far in one direction they stop listening."


"My feeling is that it's all fairly obvious that not everything is black and white, that sometimes women attack men, that some women are awful. I like to use words like "twat." Some women like S&M. It's not a one size fits all way of interacting as humans. BUT there are clear overarching problems - many more women are raped than men. 5% of those rapes are prosecuted. 25% of women will suffer domestic violence. We don't know the context of the Nigella/Saatchi relationship but we do know that her throat was grabbed and she cried in a public restaurant and that is distasteful if not categorically abuse. Men are more aggressive than women in most societies and proportionately more likely to suffer from violence from other men. A lot of sexism/misogyny is based around entrenched cultural attitudes- e.g fgm, honour killings, and other socio- economic factors which lead to gangs and gang rape initiations, or violent teenagers. Across all society are problems like alcoholism which can cause violence. At the other end of the scale, a similar example is - door holding open and other acts of chivalry designed to make women feel special. Some women hate it, others love it. The reason the media has 'femail' sections etc and so many mags commenting on womens bodies is that people buy it. In this case- women. No one knows the roles genetics and environmental stuff plays in creating a male and female mind with allegedly different skills. As a women being a CEO is incredibly difficult/unlikely. Why? Is it hormones, is it a skill set? Is it becauyse men don't like it. Is it because women have a better sense of work life balance? Is it maternity leave? The fact is, the upper echelons are ruled by men."

Episode Nine: Menstruation

We played an extract from this 1947 Walt Disney film:




We also played some of this Mooncup versus Tampon rap battle:




We didn't have time to play Christian Drake's poem, Bloodbath:




And it came in like the barking of dogs in your belly,
the lunatic dogs that bark every full moon on the dot.
The clock in you unwound, the little room collapsed,
and the blood trickled out in a thin red ribbon,
licking the white sheets.
They call it a period, but it’s really a run-on sentence
babbling on all week. It’s the definition of womanhood
reduced by repetition to the tedium of tampon commercials,
punchlines, and the day-long math test of cramps
shooting through you like swimmer’s stitches
while you’re in the middle of the river.
And I watch you fight to swim to the other side
of the bed, kicking, gasping hard between gulps of chamomile tea.
But when the blood is calm, it is beautiful
as a bone-handled knife. It dreams, and as it dreams
it drools like a baby. It’s the drip-drip of a faucet
as we go to sleep, it’s a bee beating itself against the glass.
It’s a presence, not like a ghost but like a memory
in your skin, changing the pitch and timbre
of your body to my ear as I pull my fingers across
your belly and you find my lips in the dark like a magnet
and I slip my fingers through your hair as gently as thoughts
and you say,
“Baby, not tonight. I’m on my period.”
And I say,


Baby, I will make love to you until we look like a war zone.
Give me the sweet murder of your body
until they string up crime scene tape across the bedroom,
because period sex is awesome.
I will love you like surgery and I will transplant your heart.
I will love you like a horror movie,
’cause it’s about to be a bloodbath in here.
Because I need a hot transfusion of your love, type A-positive
because you can’t B-negative when I’m giving you my O, O, O…
I want to surf your crimson wave,
and invite your Aunt Flow for a threesome.
I want to reverse your curse, because the Red Sox are in town.
I want to make this a “special time.”
I want to put my submarine in your Red Sea
and hunt for Red October, and do not hesitate
to ask me to go snorkeling down there.
Because if I’m going to order the finest steak,
I’m going to eat it rare.
Yeah, because I crave the taste of blood,
and I want your nerves raw like a bullet wound valentine.
And whether it’s hard or sweet, we’re going to leave
skid marks on the sheets
and handprints on the walls.
So throw that tampon in the air like a cotton Sputnik, just lob it,
’cause in the end, I want to be bloodier than John Wayne Bobbitt.
Your time of the month has perfect timing
because you open like the elevator doors in “The Shining.”
I like some ketchup when I’m dining,
but I want to taste copper like I’m dying.
So let the woman in you make a man out of me.
Let’s get unclean. Because this lovemaking is no less perfect
than the moon rising in you, and this lovemaking is the gospel music
made by the rhythm of flesh and blood and flesh and blood,
and this blood is the closest I will ever be to making love
to your insides, sailing through your veins and arteries.
This blood on my skin is the photograph I take
when I visit your heart

Episode Eight: Hair

Episode Seven: Housing

An episode in which we spoke of accommodation disasters, squatting and protest groups.


Here is a video by one of the protest groups:

Episode Six: Women and Comedy

This show was with guests Caspian and comedian Rosie Wilby who also hosts the Resonance LGBT show Out in South London.





We mention Mae Martin a couple of times...



...as well as Josie Long

Episode Five: Teen years

Episode Four: Virginity

Episode Three: Body as Protest

Episode Two: Internet Dating

Episode one: Religion

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We were in Time Out!

Very Loose Women in 2006

We started making this show at University. Our shows were four times as long and our voices four octaves higher.