Calling the Moon: 16 Period Stories from BIPOC Authors

Time for some Goodreads dumpster diving.

I loved this book. I thought it was really insightful and very diverse. I’m not BIPOC myself, I’m white, but this book helped me peek into the lives of girls & women who are BIPOC.

I might be a bit biased here because I have an absolute hatred of periods and dislike the thought that someone becomes a woman when they have one.

Learning about different cultures was a little interesting, but not enough to make this any more enjoyable.

Nooo! Bodily fluids aren't gross and funny! That's what moids want you to think!

I am a contributor to this anthology. So of course, I think it’s a wonderful and important collection of stories, not to mention groundbreaking, following the footsteps of Aida Salazar’s THE MOON WITHIN. My story is a little different from the others, in that it is rather fierce (showcasing a powerful protagonist who speaks out against the practice of shunning women when they are on their period). The other stories are more celebratory. However, all our stories have a common theme: empowering menstruators and breaking the silence and stigma associated with menstruation.

At least she didn't rate it.

Calling the Moon is a collection of stories challenging the societal reluctance to talk about periods, told by authors of color. Excellent and important concept, even if I didn't like everything about the way it was done--with the exception of one story about a seemingly-nonbinary kid, the rest of the collection was pretty heavy on "this is what happens to WOMEN!" sentiments ; I don't recall there being any disability rep; and I felt there was a bit too much "periods are wonderful/a blessing/a source of wisdom!" and not enough acknowledgement that for many of us who menstruate, it just plain sucks in so many ways. But at least we have a book that talks about periods at all, which is significant and helpful.

I continue to be confused by all these stories about characters who get their periods while not yet having any breast growth, body hair, growth spurt, acne, etc. Seriously, it felt like most of the narrators in this book went out of their way to mention their flat chest. As far as I know, this is not the typical order for puberty--periods are supposed to be one of the last changes (which makes sense evolutionarily). Yes, there are certainly people who experience puberty in many different ways, but why is this specific atypical variation overwhelmingly dominant in books? My only guess is that maybe authors think it makes their characters seem younger or more innocent somehow? Which opens up a whole different issue--are we normalizing periods at the cost of de-normalizing or even sexualizing the rest of puberty? Hmm, I'll need to think about this more.