TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE

Menstrual fluid (known as menstrual ‘blood’) is an under-researched body material with rich potential for speculative exploration in bioart and biotechnological development. This material has recently been explored by bioartists and biodesigners, WhiteFeather Hunter, Jiabao Li and Lera Niemackl. We present, through what we call BioFeminist inquiries, individual projects by each artist that manipulate and utilize menstrual fluid as a medium for creative work via scientific methodologies. These projects include the explant and culture of tissue and cells found in menstrual fluid – towards stem cell characterization, genetic modification, immortalization, and differentiation. With little going to waste, the fluid that the cells and tissue are isolated from is also being used, for extraction of serum for tissue culture nutrient media and also for establishing the first stable menstrual blood proteome. These various biotech methods have supported the production of creative works (objects, photo, video, and olfactory art) that instigate critical discussion of the potential of menstrual fluid and who might retain or possibly co-opt its biopower, if instrumentalized. If society moves towards harvesting menstrual blood to potentially cure diseases or grow organoids for research, or even eventually grow organs for donation, what new body politics does this individual ‘superpower’ create? We are currently banned from abortion, in many instances. Will this superpower likewise be banned? Or, will menstruation be one more avenue for exploitation? Would the ability to access one’s own stem cells and grow tissues, even in the private sphere of the home, create advantages for menstruating people? Would this capability tilt the balance of power for menstruators within dominant science paradigms? These stem cells and serum have implications for regenerative medicine, if science can overcome the ‘ick’ factor associated with such a taboo body fluid. As artists and designers work with replenishable body materials, we propose navigating the biopolitics of stem cell research by considering additional notions of gender taboo through BioFeminism. We pose these questions to menstruators, as we pose them to ourselves: How do we feel about donating period blood for scientific research if it contributes towards building much-needed new knowledge? Would we feel comfortable with our genetic material being grown into tissue in a lab for implantation elsewhere, possibly patented for profit beyond our control? How do we discern what kinds of research are being done? As we will discuss, the DIY aspect of research and creation is important, to know exactly what is being done, by whom, how, and for what reasons. Following this discussion, we present a newly forming collaborative initiative between Hunter, Li and Niemackl: differentiation of the still under-explored menstrual stem cells into cell types that will form contractile and neuronal tissues. Spinning off of the recent discovery that snakes have two clitorises (despite previous descriptions by male scientists of them having none), we embrace the snake – symbol of the demonization of female sexuality – in an initiative to bioengineer human clitoral prosthetics. By exchanging various laboratory skills and experiences, we aim to 3D-bioprint differentiated menstrual-derived cells into contractile and neuronal clitoral-like tissue forms.