Seach for the Stain

Because part of my duties at the Independent involves managing online content, I have to search for images that can accompany the articles we post. Starshine, one of our columnists, has a piece up today on menstruation. Let me tell you, that's a subject that does not lend itself to a family-friendly Google image search. In attempt to search for something in line with the spirit of Starshine's article, I tried searching for "red stain" and then "menstrual stain."

Nothing.

At least nothing I'd like to remember seeing.

Finally, I tried a Google image search just for "menstrual."

The following is one of the first images to pop up.


The word to describe this evades me. Is there such term as "a-cute-gusting-art-ariffic"? The Flick page I found this on links to the artist's site, which explain the image as being from a menstrual calendar — a product I had no idea existed until today — that women can use to chart whether they have a regular period or not. A few words on the matter:

This is a 28 day / 4 weeks calendar that helps you keep notes of your menstrual cycle.

If you have a regular flow, you'll soon notice a vertical line in your calendar marks. If you have a 26/27 day cycle, then you'll notice a diagonal towards the left, and if your cycles are larger than 28 days, then that line will lean towards the right.

The site also is divided into clear-cut sections labelled the all-too-appropriate "HOW" and "WHY" and well as the presumably under-clicked "ORDER." But hey ladies — if you're in the market for a means to graph your period activity in 2006, I just provided you with a necessary service.

For the rest of you: my deepest apologies.