Period Sex is a track from the new album by M(h)aol, Attachment Styles, which will be released on February 3rd, 2023, by Tulle Collective. The album has already established itself as one of the most uncompromising and unconventional post punk albums of the year with a couple of its first singles, and this new release is unquestionably heading in the same direction.
Period Sex celebrates periods and how it's still such a controversial topic, even for those who would regard themselves progressive. It's a work which people would either love or find extremely uncomfortable.
Singer Róisín Nic Ghearailt says of the song: “Prior to writing the track I’d had a lot of eye-opening conversations around period shame with people of all genders and from all walks of life, and I wanted to write almost an anthem for everyone who had ever had a period or loved someone who had one. It felt like a hugely powerful thing to be in a position to create a song as a band that was unequivocally sexy. I’m a cis bisexual woman in a queer, sapphic relationship. Periods and period sex are a part of my reality, and my girlfriend actually helped me with the lyrics in the first verse.”
Bassist Zo Greenway produced the video on a strict budget to give an accurate representation of female desire. It was impacted by experimental filmmakers like Carolee Schneeman, Barbara Hammer, and James Bidgood. The main source of inspiration was the mature portrayal of period sex in the film The Souvenir Part 2 by Joanna Hogg, while Georges Méliès' underwater world served as another big influence.
Zoë comments: “At the end of the day, it’s just a bit of blood, isn't it? It’s just a biological process that 50% of the human organisms on earth go through every month and there shouldn’t be any shame or taboo surrounding that. You know bats also menstruate? It’s just science that people menstruate, I don’t think anyone should ever feel embarrassed about it, about seeing blood on sheets or underpants or things like that.”
