i listened to swedish radio talking about menstrual cups earlier today and it seemed a lot of people have never heard of this healthy and environmentally friendly alternative to tampons. again, people often react with distaste on the idea of using a cup that forces you to handle your own blood, and, argh, having to see it!

we wrote about marilynning before, here is another idea. consider it public service.

this very project started when me and anna discussed how beautiful the blood is when you pour it away from the cup and into the sink, and what a shame it is not to use it for anything. an old flatmate of mine watered her flowers with it, we take pictures. it wouldn’t have been possible for us to collect blood and appreciate its beauty had it not been for the mooncup, a silicone cup that collects your period blood inside your cunt. it works like a tampon but without the bleach, the constant creation of waste, the cost and sometimes infections, dryness and itchiness.

i say mooncup as that is what i’m used to it being called in the UK, but it comes with different names in different countries. in sweden it’s called a menskopp and in the states its usually referred to as the keeper.

when it comes to the 100% safe protection against stains and leakages, mooncup hasn’t worked for me, but neither have tampons or sanitary napkins (ugh, the words). i find it perfect after the initial days of heavy flow, and before it really starts, or if i’m modelling and am unsure of when my period will come. it’s perfect if i know i can’t safely change tampons often enough, as it doesn’t matter if you leave it in for longer. i’d like a bigger size for myself, but for most people i know who regularly use mooncups, the sizes available are absolutely enough. i’m a bit of a size queen.

what is your experience of using mooncups?

My vagina and I are fighting again. Maybe it’s my uterus and I who don’t get along anymore. Either way, there’s some kind of a war going on and I’m getting dragged into it. I decided to take Vagina to the hospital. Vagina does not want to go the hospital. On this particular day, I do not care. I try to reassure Vagina that I’ll refuse any personal investigation – “it’s like The Shining down there,” I will say.

I try to console Vagina by taking her to the hospital by her favourite mode of transport – “A nice little ride on Vita, that’ll cheer you up won’t it?”

“Fuck you,” Vagina said.

Ok, so Vagina clearly does not want to be patronised. I try a new tactic: ignore Vagina and just get on with it. Things start to go a little better after that – we arrive at the hospital, read some celebrity gossip magazines about the Royal Ascot (I try to amuse Vagina by pointing out the hats that look like her, but she’s blanking me) and quite quickly a nurse calls us in. I follow her into the awkwardly small consulting room and she asks me what I want – I tell he her I’m there for a Hepatits vaccination, and within seconds there’s a needle embedded in my arm. Huh. A few more seconds and she’s suddenly sitting down on the other side of the room waiting expectantly for me to leave.

Vagina is groping discreetly for the handle when I finally manage to mumble “um, can I ask you something?”

The nurse seems a little brisk, but I hope for the best. In fact, all I want is an appointment at a different but related clinic. Clearly, the pussy clinic is deeply special to the nurse: she is not letting me in there without a fight.

“Why do you want to go there?”, she demands, looking me fiercely up and down, pausing briefly to peer in Vagina’s direction. Vagina flips me the bean and retreats from the situation. She’s still muttering “fuck you” under her breath. I’ve been reduced to muttering too – I hear myself mumble “…sometimes…ba…rg….mhrr….burgg….please?”

Eh, what?

Not only has my vagina abandoned me, now my words have fucked off with her. I am weaponless against the grumpy scary doctor. She takes a step closer to me. “I can smell that on a girl you know, the second she walks into the room.” Ok, even I’m getting a little freaked out now. Vagina is absolutely nowhere to be seen.

“Excuse me?”

“That’s right, I can smell it. I don’t smell anything on you.”

Normally I wouldn’t insist that there was something wrong with Vagina. This time though, something was wrong and Doctor wasn’t backing me up. She offered to test me, but I refused on the grounds of my extreme period and lack of shower. I’d come back tomorrow I said, and get the stupid test for the problem I already knew I had.

I left pretty quickly, and after a small panic in the street outside, went home. The following morning, I returned, but had very little time. I got there super early, but in all of my non-assertiveness got queue jumped by a bunch of people and ran out of time. I glimpsed angry Doctor a few times from the waiting room, but eventually gave up and slinked out.

I haven’t been back since, I’ve just been cowering and self-medicating at home. Vagina is happy and healthy, but every now and then I think of the angry doctor, and Vagina is gone again.

Anna

johanna

seeing red performed at the RVT again. below you can see the photographs of the performance by us and by Absolut Queer.

we look forward to be back after having had such positive feedback on our premier performance. johanna’s womb is killer painful with cramp today – time to turn that into some positive energy on stage.

it’s like thirst, she explained to me.

johanna

blogpost

blood that rubyyy jones loooves.

news post

we’ve been invited to perform again at club wotever at RVT in london on friday 21st oct. for those who missed our last performance, here’s your next chance – but rest assured, it won’t be a repeat, it’ll be different.

post script – check the comments for some blog trivia!

Anna

Lysander Dove’s review on Wotever World.

Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan review on keyfyapmak.tumblr.com. Also visit Chandrika’s website NomadChan.

Wotever World wrote on fb: “Anna and Johanna shared their unique way of being both behind the camera as well as in front of it when they used us all as objects… Hot and very very sexy!”

AbsolutQueer’s photo of the rapt RVT audience.

we would love more comments on our work generally, please feel free to e-mail us on seeingred@riseup.net or write a comment here on the blog.

seeing red put down some plastic on the stage at Royal Vauxhall Tavern, London, and did its first live performance. real blood, yes, real.

the images above are the visual result of the performance, taken by ourselves on stage.

documentary pictures by AbsolutQueer.

thank you wotever and ingo inviting us to do this performance!

johanna & anna

seeing red project is not only busy bleeding, but has also been featured in Una Buena Barba, a spanish-language queer magazine with a really professional finish.

furthermore, we’re performing and showing images at Wotever Sex in London on the 16th august. it would of course be wonderful if you wanted to come and see us and support the Wotever Sex initiative. more information on the “sex as work, working sex” themed night here.