Earlier today I had a conversation with my girl-friend about us having a synchronized apathy despite the fact that we are 2000 miles away from one another. I decided to try to find something, anything that would stir my interest and get me out of this (probably)heat-inflicted depression. As I was surfing away in search of that "something" I came upon a site called mum.org. It is a museum of menstruation. I was mesmerized. What a great idea! This helps promote women, it enables women to connect in a way that would make them ease their pains (both physical and mental) without feeling awkward or ashamed in the end. The site also includes a brief history of menstruation. Brief because there is little solid data regarding menstruation of the women living in the Middle Ages or regarding the practices of Ancient women. Being such a delicate, taboo, intimate subject and many of them being illiterate, no real tradition could be traced down by historians. There is however an oral history (as within all oppressed cultures/minorities). While reading my way through the site I found the name of Judy Chicago mentioned and I was thrilled by the ideas behind her art. She is a feminist artist and she created great, empowering pieces such as the one I added to my blog, called Birth Project. I am particularly fond of her Dinner Party. The piece is made of a triangular table, having names of goddesses and pre-Christian women written on one side, names of early Christian women on another and names of women of the "Revolution" on the last. She personalized the ensemble by only "inviting" to her dinner party the women she considered representative. The invitees have their names written next to their plates, silverware and a possible first dish made out of some type of vulva-shaped food. The names of an additional 999 women are mentioned on a tile on the floor. I took this as a sign of respect, admiration and recognition. The rest of the representatives are not less important in the history of women, however, the limited space at the actual table obliged her to pick her favorites. Names such as Boudica, Theodora of Byzantium and Virginia Woolf are among the ladies invited for the great dinner of womanhood. I was thinking that this could be a feminist version of Christ's last supper only this would be the first supper. A supper rejoicing a suppressed sex, a supper rejoicing the cultural tradition of women, a supper where religion is a flavor, not a determining factor. A supper from which men are banned. Of course, the numbers don't fit and the construction doesn't resemble DaVinci's painting, still, this could be a hint at an all female celebration , only this time, women would celebrate life (which is more characteristic of them-through birth-than death).
