some folx have interpreted the name of this lil’ experiment, the rag, as exclusively referring to the physiological process of menstruation. a process which is dependent on a person’s biology, hormone functioning, and organ availability. this was not my intent, and i am deeply sorry to anyone who has felt excluded by this. the rag is also a colloquial term for a newspaper of “low” quality, a diy project of participatory media. this is what I was primarily invoking in my choosing of the name, as the rag holds space for the stories that are not told or welcome in the mainstream. where the idea of expert is interpreted only as it relates to your own lived experience, to your truth. we are all experts in this work, while we are also very much not experts at all because we cannot be experts of anyone’s truth except for our own. this concept of participatory media, coupled with what is traditionally interpreted as a derogatory reference to the process of menstruation, felt like a full fuck you to the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy* that the rag seeks to disarm, disrupt, and dismantle by making our stories known.