One of my favorite aspects of writing about feminism and gender for BlogHer is the ability to speak with incredibly cool women. I interviewed activist Calpernia Addams, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, and now, Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, the editor of My Little Red Book. Last year, I read a hilarious story about how one blogger learned how to use tampons. (Sadly, it is no longer posted.) As I laughed, cringed, and celebrated the author's ultimate triumph (she got the tampon in and won the gymnastic competition! yay!), I thought how great it would be if there was a collection of these types of stories. My Little Red Book fills that important hole, so to speak.

As the book's home page explains:

My Little Red Book is an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages from around the world. Whatever a girl experiences or expects, she'll find stories that speak to her thoughts and feelings. My Little Red Book aims to provide support, entertainment, and a starting point for discussion for mothers and daughters everywhere. Royalties from sales of the book are being donated to charities promoting women's health and education. Let the dialog begin!

A book that aims to de-stigmatize menstruation and puts its money where its mouth is by supporting international organizations working to improve the lives of women? Is that not the coolest thing ever? How could I not want to meet the brains behind the operation, who incidentally is doing all this great work at the ripe age of 18 years old? When I called her for a quick phone interview, I was giddy. (So giddy that I forgot to make sure that my recorder actually had functioning batteries, but Rachel patiently waited on the phone as I bumbled around my apartment looking for replacements. Way to go first impressions...)

Suzanne: You started collecting first period stories when you were 13. How did the book project come about?

Rachel: My first period was really a disaster. Between waterskiing and being alone with my widowed grandfather and not wanting to tell anyone, it was just a bad equation all around. When I was too embarrassed to tell, and I ended up alone in an aisle full of incontinent diapers at a store, I realized that I needed to tell someone. So I told my mom; she told everyone in my family, and I thought things would just keep getting worse until my great aunt told me her first period story to comfort me.

Suzanne: She's the person in the book who got her first period while fleeing the Nazis?

Rachel: Exactly. That story put it all into perspective for me. She had never told anyone before she told me. I don't know why 50 years after the event that she felt compelled to tell it, but I'm glad that she did. She died a year ago, actually, so I'm so lucky that I heard it in time. Basically I wanted to tell everyone her story, and I was surprised that she didn't! I was like, well, if you're not going to tell people, I'm going to tell people! She said, OK, you can do that. Every time I told someone, they would tell me their story. So I started collecting oral histories of the women in my family to pass it down to my children. I think it's really empowering to know this hidden history of your family that no one talks about. For me, as a 13 year old, it was really great for me to see the older women in my family. I never really pictured them my age before, and hearing their first period stories really did that for me.

The more stories I heard, the more I wanted every girl to be able to know the stories of her family. In order to do that, we need to make a paradigm shift in the way we view periods. I wanted to make a collection of stories that would shed light on periods and help girls realize that they are not alone, that it's something you can talk about. I was collecting stories on the side, and I had something like 45 stories, half of them from women that I never met, but who referred to me by someone else. I took it on as a senior project, kept working on it, and then sent it off to an agent, not thinking that anyone would take it, but she did! She connected me to writers that I admired. There are 95 stories in the book, and I know, personally, 15 of them.

Suzanne: That's really exciting! And empowering, too. You'd think that getting your period wouldn't be stigmaztized any more, but you gave women a voice and a way to share their stories. You also have a nice cross section of people in the book, from different countries, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and age groups. For a lot of people, I think this was the first chance they had to say what happened to them.

Rachel: I think it is also the first time a lot of women had had to reflect on their experience because a lot of people don't think that it is an experience that is worthwhile to talk about. People don't really bother bother thinking about their first period, but there's a lot to be gained from that type of reflection. There's one contributor who talks about how first periods and the way you react to to them reveals a lot about your character. I asked Rachel Vail what her first period revealed about her, and her initial response was, "I don't think it did. But I guess it showed that I was curious, and always into writing, and the notion of being in a transitionary phase and wanting to stay in it. And that's exactly who I am today! Whoa!" I heard her realizing it while she was saying it outloud. It was really cool.

Suzanne: I was mortified, and I didn't really want to grow up, and - ha ha ha! - twenty years later, it's still the same thing! I'm in denial of adulthood! But another thing that I thought was truly amazing about My Little Red Book is that you selected all those great causes to contribute to. You talk about them at length in the book, but can you tell us how you went about finding them?

Rachel: I knew that I wanted to do some type of thing with Planned Parenthood because they are the best provider of sex ed in the US. They have a program that speaks to the mission of My Little Red Book, opening dialog and promoting healthy discussion, called Real Life, Real Talk. It is sex ed for parents, teaching parents how to talk to their kids and what attittude to take; how to be real and not intimidating and not embarrassing. They invite teenagers to attend, too.

I found out about health problems in Africa and in remote parts of developing nations around the world, I knew that I needed to support that because it is directly realted to periods and I didn't want periods to be a physical handicap for any girl. I did research on what organizations were distributing sanitary supplies. P&G is the largest provider. They have a partnership with Protecting Futures, which distributes pads to school-age girls in southern Africa. The reason that people mostly distribute pads and not tampons is because women in developing countries often don't use tampons, even though they would make life easier and create less waste, because virginity is so idolatrized. If that were changed, that would make a big difference.

The other two ways of solving the problem of drop out rates due to periods are providing clean water and private toilets because the reason that girls stay home is because they don't have enough water to clean their rags and they don't have toilets to change. Instead of just supplying pads, this goes straight to the root of the problem. The Health and Water Foundation in Kenya takes on that angle. Another solution is to not just drop off pads, because that's not as sustainable. The idea is to build pad factories using locally growing materials that are also biodegrable and eco-friendly, so you are creating industry and a sustainable distribution system.

My Little Red Book is supporting each of those strategies. [Note: The book supports several other organizations working in Asia and the US as well.]

Suzanne: Going at these problems from a few angles is smart, as what works in one place might not be as effective in another. (Pause) I'm so impressed by everything you do!!!! I really enjoyed reading your book. Do women still reach out to you?

Rachel: I'm still getting so many stories and emails. They want to share their stories, too. It's about the process, not the end result - the fact that women are writing these and wanting to put them out there. The more women that are submitting, the merrier! It's not about getting published, but talking about it.

Suzanne: The reflection is a really improtant part of it, and interesting. It's a very sophisticated feminist way of thinking. Do you consider yourself a feminist?

Rachel: I do. I don't consider myself a feminist in the you-can't-hold-open-the door for me vein, but in the way I view the world as having been constructed by men and our pillars of science, philosophy, humanities having all been written by men. I see the world through that kind of lens, so I'm that kind of feminist. I love women's literature and philospohy. I read Jezebel. Jennifer Baumgardner and Gloria Steinem inspire me when I hear their work.

Suzanne: It's nice to hear that there are college-age women interested in exploring women's perspectives and bringing women's stories to the forefront.

Rachel: Definitely feminism has changed a lot, but people are stuck as viewing it as what it was 30 years ago. That is sort of holding us back, but after having gone to India - I spent two months there - and seeing inequalities that is so palpable, there's no way I can go back to seeing the world with an unfeminist view.

Suzanne: This conversation has been great! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me about My Little Red Book. Congratulations on all the great work you are doing.

My discussion with Rachel may be over, but Rachel and the team behind My Little Red Book want to keep the conversation about periods going. Write about your first period on your blog, and post a link in the comments of this post by Friday, March 13th at midnight EST. Three bloggers will be randomly selected to receive a copy of Rachel's book. Together, we can build an online resource of period stories that accomplishes Rachel's goals.

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants. Her first book, Off the Beaten (Subway) Track, is about unusual things to see and do in New York City. She collected first period stories for a potential anthology, Congratulations, You're a Woman Now, and is psyched that the dialog is happening.