As Mummy Buzz, I read a lot of copy and am seldom lost for words. Or at least I was. Until I read about Casey Jenkins, a so-called 'craftivist,' a feminist performance artist from Australia with a penchant for spooling the yarn. Except she doesn't knit in the way you or me or even your great aunt does: she knits from. her. vagina.
According to an article in the Huffington Post, Jenkins' latest work, entitled Casting Off My Womb, involves a month of vaginal knitting.
"I'm spending 28 days knitting from wool that I've inserted in my vagina," Casey explains just so there is no confusion. "Everyday I take a new skein of wool that's been wound so that it will unravel from the centre and I stick it up inside me... and then I pull out the thread and knit."
Jenkins' aim: to nix the taboo surrounding the female genitals. A vulva is just a vulva, she longs to remind us. It's "just a bit of a body. There's nothing that is shocking or scary... nothing that is gonna run out and eat you up."
Jenkins, who describes knitting as occasionally "arousing," plans to knit throughout her period because "the performance wouldn't be a performance if I were going to cut out my menstrual cycle from it."
While we at YMC are all in favour of demystifying female genitalia—right, Jen Warman?—we're pretty sure Jenkins is tying herself in knots with this project. Wonder what her family and friends will make of their Christmas presents this year.
Care to chime in: off her rocker or cutting edge art?
When you think of birthing devices, you probably get a bit squeamish. You're not the only one, but bear with me. A 'revolutionary' gadget to assist with labour has been devised by none other than an Argentinean car mechanic, who "based the idea on a party trick." True story.
No, Jorge Odon isn't any kind of obstetrics expert, though he does have five kids of his own. And the father's previous patents had to do with his chosen field: car mechanics. Yet the proverbial light bulb went off for Odon after he saw a YouTube video on how to remove a "loose cork from inside an empty bottle." The solution—which involves inserting then inflating a plastic bag—somehow translated to childbirth.
Of course when Odon shared his idea in those early days, most people thought he had a few nuts loose. But his wife's obstetrician responded encouragingly. So Odon went ahead and registered the patent and built a prototype using his daughter's dolls.
"When he showed me the trick [with the bottle] I thought it was crazy—crazy but interesting," said Dr Javier Schvartzman at the Buenos Aires Centre for Medical Education and Clinical Research. The two paired up and by 2008, the project had been presented to the World Health Organization.
According to an article in the BBC, developments in birthing instruments are few and far between, with such interventions only occurring in one of every 10 births. And the outcomes for forceps and ventouse are far from perfect.
The best part of Odon's device: it's cheap and simple and could be especially useful in developing countries where difficult births can prove fatal, while in developed countries it could lower the rising rate of Cesarean deliveries.
"Jorge was there, as well as several midwives and obstetricians. There were people filming. It was something truly spectacular," said one woman who volunteered to test the Odon. "I had no pain whatsoever. It was very quick and I got to enjoy watching the birth of my son. The first time, I hadn't managed to see it, given my desperation! This time around, I could enjoy it. And it wasn't necessary to get an episiotomy."
If all goes well, in two to three years' time, the device could used by OBs and midwives near you! Amazing that it took a mechanic to come up with a modern birthing device.
What do you think of this invention? Would you use it?
Hey, four-eyes! Yeah, that's me. It used to be that glasses weren't cool, but you might think differently after hearing about little Noah Fisher. When the four-year-old found out he needed glasses, he was pretty bummed.
Would kids at school laugh at him? In a bid to help boost his confidence at his new look, his mom Lindsey invited friends to post pictures of themselves in glasses on her Facebook page.
But according to an article in Elite, the South Carolina mom had no idea the outpouring of support her page would receive.
On 'Glasses for Noah,' she explained that Noah was having a hard time adjusting to his new glasses before asking her friends to lend their support: "Let’s show Noah how awesome glasses really are by posting some pictures for him to see you in your glasses!”
Then that magical thing happened: the good people of the Internet responded in a BIG way, and the pictures came in thick and fast.
This is all I have to say in response:
Dear Noah,
If you have a gander at the sidebar there, you'll see I'm bespectacled, too. Even though I was much older than you when I got my glasses (I failed my driving sight test at 16!), I totally get where you're coming from. But you just keep rocking your look, little man; it's what makes you you. And anyone who says differently is probably jealous and in any case completely undeserving of your friendship.
Love, Mummy Buzz
If your child needs glasses, go on and visit Noah's page for inspiration!
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