Sustainable Cycles Guest Blog
We are absolutely delighted to be hosting Sustainable Cycles as a guest contributor on the INTIMINA blog! What these women are doing is so inspiring and we are honored to be part of their amazing cause. But enough about us – let’s here from the Sustainable Cycle organizers themselves and all about their incredible mission…
Cycle Action 2017
What does your bicycle and your Lily Cup have in common? For us at Sustainable Cycles, they are both vital tools for social change! This coming spring, 10 female cyclists will ride their bicycles thousands of miles to The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research (SMCR) conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Along the route through Mexico and the US, we will meet with local women’s health and bicycling leaders to discuss the intersection of menstruation and mobility. We will demand space on public roads for sustainable transportation and will hold workshops about reusable menstrual products like sea sponges, cups, and Lily Cups. Check out and share our short video!
#HappyPeriod and Sustainable Cycles made and distributed 200 menstrual health kits for people experiencing homelessness in 2016
Conventional menstrual products are wasteful, toxic, expensive, and chained to an industrial system that is not good for our bodies or the earth. People will spend thousands of dollars, create hundreds of pounds of trash and expose their vaginas to harmful chemicals throughout their lifetimes while using them. We get it – reusables may not be for everyone, but women deserve a basic education of these products so that they can make informed choices. Simple and healthy alternatives are largely unknown and are not advertised widely. We have to educate ourselves.
Likewise, while motor vehicles can be valuable tools for transportation and logistics, there are too many cars on the road! Daily rush hour gridlock soils local air quality, increases dependence on fossil fuel, and renders the combustion engine useless but for producing noxious fumes traveling at a pedestrian pace. Sustainable Cycles is a part of a 501(c)3 non-profit called Sustainable Streets; we believe that municipalities must offer cyclists and pedestrians just as much safety and convenience as they offer motorists in the public roadway. After all, the Good Roads Movement of the late 1800s was initiated by cyclists!
Since 2011, Sustainable Cycles has sponsored 10 cyclists to ride over 16,000 miles in more than 30 states in the US, all the while smashing menstruation taboos and promoting reusable products. This year’s tour will be our second pilgrimage to the SMCR conference and our first time riding internationally. Along with our allies #HappyPeriod, The Fifth Vital Sign, and several bicycle communities along the route, our workshops will be full of people learning from each other to achieve gender equality and environmental justice.
Rain or shine, cyclists enjoy biking long distance and chatting about menstruation
Biking thousands of miles literally makes our bodies stronger, and by connecting with locals along the routes we travel, we have conversations that strengthen the women’s health movement, too. Current US politics are galvanizing people to gain more body literacy and reproductive autonomy as access to contraceptives and abortion becomes uncertain. While there is a lot of work to be done, we are inspired by the efforts of many individuals, organizations, and businesses on the right track.
Our trips lead us through very diverse political landscapes, and because of INTIMINA’s support, we are able to distribute options that most locals have never heard of before. To this day, dominant culture demands that menstruation remains unspoken, wrapped up, and thrown out. Sustainable Cycles allows us to have conversations about menstruation, starting with bicycling! It has been an incredible tool for our cause, and we are honored to be period activists.
Donate to help us provide travel scholarships to our riders! And join us at our upcoming events. We will celebrate Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28th in Austin, Texas before departing for the SMCR conference. Visit www.sustainablecycles.org to follow us on the road!
#periodposse #menstruationmatters
There will be blood!
A collective group of “lady experts” at Intimina who love sharing our personal experiences, even when they are a little too personal. We believe it’s time to start breaking down the taboos around menstruation, motherhood, and menopause, and start owning our female health.
