2017 Reading, Week 1: Moon Time

As you may know, one of my New Years Intentions for 2017 was to read at least one book every week.

In order to hold myself accountable for this, I have decided to post a little bit about each book that I read on my blog.

The first book that I read is called Moon Time: Harness the Ever-Changing Energy of Your Menstrual Cycle by Lucy H. Pearce. In case the title and subtitle don't give it away, this is a book about understanding and embracing the monthly cycle that approximately half of the human population goes through in their lifetime, the menstrual cycle.

This book. Right here. 10/10 would recommend.

It's a relatively short book, but it's got a lot of information that we don't learn in school and that society seems to want to keep from menstruators. It's almost as if the world is not prepared for those who menstruate to embrace the power within them [because anyone who can bleed for 3-7 days a month and not die is obviously pretty powerful, right?] and harness it to change the world outside.

The book starts with a good biological explanation of what happens to the body during the menstrual cycle and then looks at how society treats humans who menstruate. Like many other books on the topic, it is good at pointing out the flaws that much of today's society exhibit regarding the treatment of menstruation; it is also good at pointing to different ways to work with the changes that the menstruating body experiences, for those who are not interested in using commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals for this.

One of the major things that I learned from the book is that birth control pills are highly over-prescribed in our society, and that many individuals who go on the pill do not get all of the information about it beforehand. I, for one, definitely did not know everything I should have known before I went on the pill in high school. While I am not sure if I believe everything negative about birth control pills that the book talks about (after all, tons of doctors tell you on a regular basis that birth control pills are completely safe, and I do have a good deal of trust in doctors), there are some things that I feel should be discussed more before putting humans on birth control, especially those that are young.

Overall, I think that this is a great book to read if you're interested in knowing more about your menstrual cycle in an intimate way, rather than just the clinical treatment that you get when you look it up. It does a great job of filling in some of the gaps that society has allowed and encouraged in the education on menstruation. It also has some fun activities and ways that you can embrace your menstrual cycle and plan your life around it in order to better use the varying energy levels that you are likely to experience throughout your cycle.

This is a book that I asked for and received for Christmas, and I elected to read it as my first book of 2017 because I wanted to enter the new year with a better understanding of my own body. I also selected it because my menstrual cycle began (i.e. my period started) on the first day of the new year, and it seemed fitting to read something related to moon time (the author uses "moon time" as a phrase for "period") while in my moon time, ya feel?

At the end of the day, I would recommend reading it, and taking from it what suits you the best, allowing yourself to read, acknowledge, and understand the different perspectives that are offered in the book, whether or not you elect to take all of the advice given.

Even if you are not a menstruating human, there is a lot to learn from this book. If you are a non-menstruating human who values the menstruating humans in your life (e.g. mother, sister, friend, partner), I would recommend reading this with one or more of those humans and discussing it as you go in order to better understand how the menstrual cycle affects them and your relationship with them.