Economizing for a Reason Moon Cup: the menstrual cup by Morella Contreras Ruvinskis

Almost 100 years have past since Lenora Chalmers mentioned the menstrual cup in her book The Intimate Side of a Woman’s Life. Already in 1867, there were models of this alternative technology for dealing with menstruation. More than 100 years have passed, and hardly any of us have heard of Lenora or learned about the menstrual cup that has, since that time, been modified and increased in use in recent years. What we do know is Kotex, Donnasept, and Always, which have been the popular way of receiving our menstrual flow, but they have never shown us an alternative and continue working against the health and well being of women and of the planet.

The menstrual cup has gone through many versions, but the most recent ones are made with hypoalergenic silicone and rubber. They are bell shaped and they are put in intravaginally during menstruation, allowing them to collect the menstrual flow, in contrast with pads and tampons which absorb it. There are many advantages to the cup: it’s comfortable, it doesn’t have bleach or pesticides, it is reusable and lasts a long time. For the sanitary pad and tampon companies, the menstrual cup is a threat that takes from their large profits, since a woman who choses a menstrual cup is one less consumer for up to ten years (the duration of the cup).

The women that opt for a menstrual cup do not only find the advantages that were previously mentioned, but also we begin a process of experiencing our menstruation in a way that is very different from what we have been trained to believed for our whole lives. One of the biggest changes is the ability to see and live with our body and its processes for ourselves, in a different way. With the menstrual cup, we begin a dialogue with our bodies that is difficult to achieve with other methods because the message they send us is that there is something “dirty” that needs a “diaper or sanitary napkin” that ends up being a piece of trash somewhere in the world. This normal ritual is a way of dealing with the “smells” that they told us we should be careful about, to “maintain our womanly image.” By using the menstrual cup, we prevent the use of the chemicals and pesticides involved in making these products.

With the cup, a woman can learn what her body carries inside and realize that blood is a living fabric that is not the same in the morning and night or from one cycle to another. Seeing it, measuring it, and feeling it allows us to connect with our energy and our emotions towards our physical processes. The cup is a tool for action. With it, we can take account of the exact quantity of the menstrual flow, appreciate its changes, and evade that a part of us end up in a landfill and instead in the nearby earth or underneath a beautiful tree or a flower in our garden – or wherever we decide.

You can get more information about this product by contacting Morella Contreras Ruvinski at the email: mammalia974@gmail.com, phone: 32-211-1850 or 7-938-9517