BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
800 million.
That’s exactly how many people around the world are menstruating today.
It’s not exactly a rare occurrence. So why does talking about menstruation feel so awkward? Why is it a topic that’s still so taboo? And what would happen if we started approaching it more openly?
Classically trained musician Brooke Prendergast is confronting these questions through her new initiative Musicians Who Menstruate. Specifically, she’s aiming to build menstrual cycle awareness in the music industry to make it easier for artists to have healthy conversations and assert their needs in the workplace.
In this interview, Brooke tells us about her own journey as a musician who menstruates, including how tracking her cycle has changed the way she thinks about her creativity. She also tells us about the importance of menstrual cycle awareness in our community — a reason she’s writing a book on the subject, too.
Disclaimer: This interview is of a general nature and does not provide formal or tailored health advice. Please contact your GP for a personal healthcare plan.
Brooke, you’ve started a really interesting — and perhaps a little confronting — initiative, which we can find through Instagram. Tell us what Musicians Who Menstruate is all about.
The cycle of hormonal changes experienced by people with wombs means the way we take in the world constantly shifts throughout the month. There are four distinct phases of the menstrual cycle, and each brings different strengths and needs. This has implications for the way we create, learn, and communicate.
I’ve made it a habit to ask questions like: ‘What would it look like to be musician outside of patriarchal institutions and systems?’, and ‘How can I approach practice in a way that makes the most of the creative resources provided by my body?’
So Brooke, how did these ideas start to come together through your own journey as a musician who menstruates?
I often felt like I was failing as a musician because I couldn’t be consistent with my practice in the ways my education insisted. As I learnt more about the menstrual cycle, I began to question whether the linear systems of progress and the ‘same thing every day’ practice methods were the only way.
Since I began tracking my cycle, I’ve realised that the effects of progesterone and estrogen are untapped resources for creativity, analysis, reflection, and collaboration.
We have different strengths and needs throughout each phase of the cycle, and this isn’t addressed at all during our education — especially not in any practical way that could help us with our productivity, self-care, and relationships, including the relationship with ourselves. I want to provide that education to musicians, build a like-minded community, and share my cyclical approach to life as a musician.
On Instagram, you’ve shared this concept of menstrual cycle awareness. Why do you think there’s limited awareness of how our cycle works? When it is discussed, it’s often framed around the singular concept of PMS, which is just one stage of the cycle that can affect the body or energy levels.
Thanks to my patriarchal education, I’ve lacked an awareness outside of ‘bleeding’ or ‘not bleeding’ for about 18 of the 20 years I’ve had a menstrual cycle – and I am far from unique in this experience. As my self-awareness grew during my early to mid-20s, I developed a sense of my luteal phase, the cycle phase associated with PMS. I’d get my period and realise: ‘Oh, it makes sense that I’ve been so irritable and upset!’
Rather than listening to the cries of my mind and body, however, I ignored my needs and responded to the internalised voices of patriarchal [society]. I tried to be productive in consistent, predictable, and unchanging ways — and I beat myself up every time I failed. I wish I knew then what I know now.
Menstrual cycle awareness teaches us to track our cycles and pay attention to the clues our minds and bodies are giving us about what we need. When we’re able to meet our own needs in this way, we not only improve our physical and mental health, but we can also harness the different strengths we have in each phase of the cycle.
When we begin tracking our cycle, we start to notice things about our bodies and minds we’d taken for granted — such as fluctuations in productivity and creativity. Through your own personal experience, what have you found to be some of these more surprising and positive outcomes that can come with identifying the different stages of the menstrual cycle?
The realisation that I can schedule aspects of my practice around my cycle has been transformative and there are so many positives, but the most important outcome is that I now allow myself to rest, guilt free, when I bleed. Rest during this phase enables me to reflect, reassess, and release, so I can make the most of the next cycle.
One of the biggest surprises, however, was discovering that my luteal phase — the PMS phase — is actually a great time for productive practice. During this phase, the brain is neurochemically primed for detail-oriented tasks. So as musicians, [it may be] the perfect time for analytical listening and figuring out tricky technical passages. I used to waste those heightened powers of analysis and problem identification on things like criticising my appearance or over-analysing social interactions.
I’ve also noticed I feel so much more confident and enthusiastic at rehearsals during my ovulation phase, so if I ever have to pick a date to record an audition or put on a concert, you can be certain I’ll be ovulating that day.
Your page is designed specifically for musicians who have this experience. In what way do you feel the music industry supports the needs of people who menstruate — and what support do you feel is lacking?
Firstly, it’s important to acknowledge that the foundations of classical music culture have been built on the interests and experiences of those who don’t menstruate. However, to answer this question, I need to make a detour.
Medical, fitness, and nutrition research has a long history of excluding people who menstruate due to the extra variables posed by their hormonal changes, while paradoxically applying the same health recommendations to everyone. To cut a long story short, data from the scientific study of non-menstruating bodies [may therefore inform] the workplace policies applied to all employees.
I’m a big supporter of period leave and think every person who menstruates should be entitled to it, regardless of whether they have a chronic pain condition or not. Those who suffer with severe monthly pain should absolutely be able to stay home from work without using their sick leave, but real equality goes deeper.
If a paid menstrual leave policy was adopted throughout the music industry, it would be a great first step towards supporting musicians who menstruate.
How might a musician begin to assert their own needs at work? As your initiative shows, these discussions surround menstruation and the body can still feel ‘taboo’ or uncomfortable, despite being a natural process.
There is power in numbers, so I believe musicians who menstruate would benefit from asserting their needs collectively. This starts with encouraging your colleagues to track their cycles, having open and honest conversations, and being supportive of each other.
Talk about your menstrual cycle like you would talk about your sleep because both involve hormones, and both impact our wellbeing and productivity. The key is to educate yourself so you can have informative, perspective-changing conversations with colleagues who are uncomfortable with the topic.
How would you encourage musicians to start tracking their menstrual cycle, particularly if they’re hesitant — or even if they’re sceptical or unaware of the changes that happen throughout the entire cycle, not just their period?
I’d let them know they have nothing to lose by exploring some of the great period tracking apps out there. MyFlo is one of my favourites because it not only lets you know what’s happening with your hormones, but it also gives you advice on how to support your needs in each phase.
Even if you’re sceptical about your menstrual cycle being an untapped creative resource, tracking your cycle provides important insights into your health and has the added bonus of fertility awareness. Pregnancy is only possible on five to six days out of each cycle, so whether you’re trying to conceive or avoid pregnancy, knowing where you are is extremely useful.
Of course, you’re not a medical practitioner yourself — and similarly, most musicians who menstruate have not formally studied the body. Yet, everyone who has this experience still needs to understand what’s happening to their own bodies in their daily lives. What do you think are some great resources that can help musicians on this journey of self-education and self-care?
Gabrielle Jackson is an Australian journalist and editor who published a very important book in 2019 called Pain and Prejudice: A Call to Arms for Women and Their Bodies. I feel this book would be a great place to start because it examines the way medicine has ignored women’s health issues throughout history and to the present day.
The history of medical ignorance and neglect has led to a revolution in women’s wellness technology, also known as the Femtech industry. There’s a growing number of Femtech products that empower people with periods to take charge of their menstrual health, and their websites tend to be treasure troves of important information we were never taught at school. Along with the MyFlo app I mentioned above, I recommend checking out the blog on the Flo Living website.
Another book is The Optimised Woman: Using Your Menstrual Cycle to Achieve Success and Fulfillment by Miranda Gray. I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s on my list of books to read.
Last but not least, is Lucy Peach — a West Australian folk singer and an inspiring example of a musician who works with her body, rather than against it. She has a TED talk, online courses, a live theatre show called My Greatest Period Ever, and a beautiful book called Period Queen, which is full of practical advice for cyclical living.
Do you have anything else you’d like to add about Musicians Who Menstruate, and how it can empower musicians?
I believe that redefining the relationships we have with ourselves, with our instruments, and with music in general, provides an opportunity to recover from the trauma, reclaim our power, and challenge the status quo.
To join the Musicians Who Menstruate community, visit Instagram. Brooke is in the process of writing a book called Musicians Who Menstruate.
Images supplied.
