Frank Female Writers Put New Spin on 'Period Piece'

Warning: Reading this may cause queasiness and catharsis. Women are firing up their best (or worst) lodged-tampons stories, yeast-infection remedies, and bloody-period sex tales for America’s commiserating pleasure. “Oversharing is in,” Rebecca Traister declares in Salon. “It’s not so much ‘too much information’ as it is the next, necessary step in personal-is-political, enlightened honesty about the female body.”

Blogs like Jezebel are leading the movement of frank talk, which can be “self-promotional, potty-mouthed and kind of sweet,” Traister says. This “new graphic femininity” is “about breaking certain silences,” “letting loose with long pent-up questions and anecdotes and curiosities and fears. It can be liberating, and poignant. It can also be irritating and crass. All at the same time!” (More women stories.)