BLOODY ARCHITECTURE

Part of the BLOODY BEAUTIFUL programme by affect lab.

This event took place on January 18 2024 at the Independent School for the City in Rotterdam.

Bloody Beautiful Gossip Session #4: Bloody Architecture was a gossip session where we highlighted the relationship between menstrual stigma and the built environment. 

In this evening we aimed to situate the experience of menstruating bodies within the context of a wider feminist approach to the built environment. This event highlighted the ways in which stigma, taboo, and the imposed invisibility of menstruation influence the way bodies interact with the built environment. By questioning how this imposed invisibility has been designed (traditionally by able-bodied cis-gender men) into our public spaces, we also aim to challenge it, engaging with the appropriation and use of space as a political act. 

Architect Molly Hughes discussed her project Taboo in the Loo which explores the design of women’s public bathrooms in London. In her research she has outlined the awkward encounters which take place as a menstruating person using a public toilet and identifies architectural interventions that could improve the overall experience. Mayim Frieden introduced their research about the role that urban design, planning, and infrastructure plays with regard to enforcing or sustaining gender inequities towards trans and gender fluid people, and the way that queerness can be used to expand the notion of spatial practices. Tammy Sheldon, co-founder of Neighborhood Feminists was our third speaker. With her organisation Tammy has actively worked on building awareness and long-term solutions through collaboration, activism and advocacy. Neighborhood Feminists have implemented menstruation stations, where anyone can access free period products, across a variety of public spaces in Amsterdam. They also published the first-ever quantitative research study on period poverty in Amsterdam. Dymphie Braun served as the moderator of the evening.

About BLOODY BEAUTIFUL

BLOODY BEAUTIFUL is a movement of lesser heard stories about menstruation and menopause. Our goal is to creatively propagate new public narratives about the topic in a gender-forward way. 

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