Our Red Book

Starred review from August 1, 2022
“Like periods, these histories are not tidy or neat,” writes Nalebuff (Stages) in her introduction to this powerful collection. Contributors include members of Nalebuff’s family, as well as activists, artists, and other visionaries. Ma Xiao Ling describes the secretive nature surrounding getting one’s period in China during the Cultural Revolution, Mariana Roa Oliva reflects on the relationship between menstruation and gender, and Judy Blume recalls wishing her period would come. “You’d think that a fourteen-year-old girl, desperate to get her period, would have a clue what this is. But I don’t,” she writes. A section on “menstrual justice” features Gloria Steinem’s essay “If Men Could Menstruate,” which argues for “federally funded and free” period products, and a conversation about “the intersection of menstrual equity and climate justice.” Nalebuff interjects frequently with commentary and anecdotes, artfully linking stories together (“At the time that the essay was published, it was viewed as satire. After all the above conversations, reads pretty differently,” she notes of Steinem’s essay). Bold and candid, these missives go a long way in breaking through what one contributor calls “the taboo of bleeding.”

August 1, 2022

Nalebuff (editor of the anthology My Little Red Book) collects yet more personal stories about menstruation from writers, experts, community leaders, activists, young people, and other visionaries, some solicited in interviews and others by submission. These short essays, graphics, and poems comprise a variety of perspectives, cultures, and gender identities, and they're grouped based on the respondents' experiences and their responses to Nalebuff's questions. Beyond addressing the onset of periods, contributors also touch on menopause, gender dysphoria, religion, menstruation complications, and their experiences helping their children navigate their first periods. The respondents' feelings toward their periods are complex. Some celebrate them and believe that menarche is a transition to adulthood. Others view their periods with shame and apprehension and feel the burden of responsibility that it brings. The collection includes contributions from activists who raise awareness about the reality of periods for incarcerated people, the intersection of menstruation and climate change, and access to menstrual products and reproductive health education. VERDICT A vibrant collection of stories evoking joy, dread, loss, and celebration that will resonate with many.--Rebekah Kati

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2022
Nalebuff leaves no menstruation scenario uncovered in this diverse collection of true tales that greatly expands on her seminal My Little Red Book (2009). Here writers, activists, artists, experts, and Nalebuff's family and friends share their experiences in essays, interviews, and artworks. Judy Blume remembers what it was like to be 14 years old without having had a period yet. Gloria Steinem adds a postscript to her reprinted 1978 Ms. essay, "If Men Could Menstruate," thus introducing a new generation of readers to lines like, "Men would brag about how long and how much." Other contributors include an artist from Singapore who uses her menstrual blood to make paintings of mushrooms, brooms, rain, and uteruses, an incarcerated trans male, an activist who runs the London marathon while "free-bleeding," and a girl who bakes her friends red velvet "period cakes" to celebrate the first time they menstruate. Nalebuff, who teaches writing at Yale, is ever present, but she wisely lets her subjects, ranging from young girls to a 91-year-old woman, tell their stories in their own words. Eye-opening and empowering.

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