Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross

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The other night while I was drifting off to sleep, one of my hands slowly crept down to my genitals for a nice good-night fondling. Things were warm, moist, business as usual... I fingered myself looking for any mucosal morsels I might bring back up to my lips for a midnight snack.

Sleepily my finger found its way back up and into my mouth. Is that- could it be? It was tangy, tart, metallic. A new taste. I never thought I'd sample my own menstrual blood one day, but here I was licking it off my finger and finding myself not unpleased. For the first time in a long time it felt like I was checking something new off my sexual checklist. (If I had known I was bleeding I probably never would have tried it, I suppose because I just never had any inclination to. I like knowing now for myself that there's nothing disgusting about it.)

It was dark. I was warm, intoxicated with sleep, cuddling the dog. No way I was getting up to go to the cold, bright bathroom to insert a silicone cup into my vagina in the middle of the night. No way was I putting on a pair of underwear and sticking an uncomfortable piece of bleached cotton to it. Recalling Christina's article about what her period meant to her, I got up, grabbed the darkest, rattiest towel from my closet, laid it across my bed and crawled back under my sheets.

Never before have I fallen asleep on my period while completely nude and free from anything to stop the flow of menstrual blood from my vagina. It was liberating. It was eye-opening. I can do this whenever I want! I don't have to control my period 24 hours a day. I've trained myself for years to get up and "fix the problem" whenever I felt a leak, but here I was, leaking and spurting and just rolling over and going back to sleep. It felt like the entire world was my pad and I could gush wherever and whenever I wanted to.

Amazing. And I wasn't having cramps. Not even a hint of a cramp to come. It must be my lucky period. I woke up refreshed, with my hips and thighs and fingers painted in my own blood. The stains on my towel looked like I had stabbed someone, which amused me. 30 seconds in a warm shower and I was ready to start dressing for work.

The specifics:
I didn't have time to do anything with this bloody towel other than stash it under my covers and go to work. When I came home the bloody spots had hardened and were a bit crunchy but I just folded it the other way (stains inside) and slept on it that way the next night.

Today I threw it in the wash tonight along with my work uniform. I wash my uniform usually every other or every third shift so cleaning the towel shouldn't be terribly inconvenient. I have been considering hand washing certain things instead of wasting so much water doing laundry all the time but air drying towels is terribly annoying.

Right now my flow is heeavy so I've been wearing my cup 24/7 (although it still leaks at night). Probably towards the end when it lightens up I'll start taking it out at night again and just let things flow naturally.

I think I might also invest in some reusable pads because that's just the kind of crunchy granola dyke I am. And I like the idea of flowing onto an actual fabric instead of gross, mass-produced, uncomfortable disposable pads.

If you've never slept totally nude, and tampon-free while menstruating, I urge you to try it. I at least dare you to not wear a back-up pad. You might end up liking it.