Biomenstrual: More-than-Human Design of Menstrual Care Practices

Abstract

Biomenstrual is a Research through Design project for imagining, designing and practicing menstrual care beyond the human body. Drawing from feminist posthumanist theories that address the multispecies entanglements and ecologies our bodies form part of, we use design practice to research how caring for one’s menstrual health might extend to caring for the environment and the planet’s wellbeing. Motivated by existing practices of using menstrual blood as a fertilizer, and by the current landscape of unsustainable disposable menstrual products, we designed biodegradable menstrual pads and speculate on the practices and tools that are part of this fabrication process. We introduce and imagine a cyclical process where the biodegradable absorbent materials in menstrual care products are gathered, assembled into pads, used and discarded together with the body’s materials (menstrual blood, mucus and tissue) not as waste, but as fertilizer and compost, nourishing the soil and the species the biomaterials were first obtained from. In this pictorial, we present this design process, including the resulting biomaterial experiments, recipes, tools and speculative scenarios of decomposition. The project is taking place in Nordic ecologies where we are working in close relation with the local species of sphagnum moss and gluten extracted from wheat, which we have used as superabsorbent materials in the menstrual pads. From our own kitchens turned into biomaterial engineering and design labs, the Biomenstrual project probes the relationships between lab-based experimentation and cooking and crafting in the home, drawing from the figure of the witch, the empirical and resourceful woman attending to both her own body and the bodies of other species.