A Terra é uma Mulher e o meu Útero, o Universo. | Mónica Guerra da Rocha | TEDxUNIRIO

Translator: Marcela Fortunato Margenet Reviewer: David DeRuwe Good afternoon everyone. I always was one of those very curious children. You know, the ones we always answer by saying, "Because it is!

" or "Just because! " And "just because! " is never an answer.

This child kept on growing, and the questions became more and more complex. With increasingly complex questions, I found the answers in increasingly less obvious places. In Greek Mythology, Kore is the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of Agriculture.

When Kore is kidnapped by Hades, she goes into the underworld and becomes Persephone. Her mother, devastated and missing her, stops producing and turns the Earth infertile. Zeus, concerned with the hunger of mankind, talks to Hades, "Hades, allow Persephone to come back to the living world so everyone can eat.

" And so it was. When Persephone returns to her mother, we have spring and summer, the Earth is fertile, and Demeter is happy. When Persephone returns to her beloved, Hades, her mother, nostalgic, stops producing, and then we have fall and winter.

My initiation to Persephone, my first "Persephone moment," was when I was twelve years old. I came home with a strange cramp, sat down, pulled my pants and panties down, and didn't believe what was happening. I cried from sadness.

I cried from pain because I knew, from that moment on, I would never go back to endless spring. Submissive, vulnerable, "close your legs," "speak low," and "stand behind a great man so you become a great woman. " Just like the earth - unproductive, sparse.

We need to spread seeds on top of her, we need to move her seeds. That day, I cried out of sadness. A few years later, I stopped eating.

I had anorexia at age 16. I refused any type of food in my body, rejecting my own body as a woman. 90% of anorexia nervosa cases worldwide happen in women.

In these two moments, I didn't know that my greatest connections with the universe, with all beings, would come through food, observing Nature, and from my own body. Since then, I've been questioning myself more and more, and the questions keep getting more and more complex. After observing nature and my own body, I understood seven perceptions that I want to share with you today, along with a little bit about my journey of trying to understand, "Is this truth that's been recounted so many times before a truth that really suits me?

Submissive, scarce, fragile, infertile, behind a great man - or can I change all that? '' [1. We're nature and we're science.

] I wanted to understand by questioning and asking, "What is this menstrual blood coming out of me? Is it common blood? " And then I found out that, in fact, we have a layer in our uterus called endometrium, so when the egg is fertilized, this layer is loaded with nutrients and fully ready to receive it to transform that tiny seed into a being.

And if we don't ovulate this tiny seed, this endometrium is discarded, still filled with nutrients. So that little seed that wasn't fertilized inside our body can be fertilized here outside. I've started to use a menstrual cup, and to put my blood on the earth, just as my ancestors did millions of years ago.

And when I started doing that, I understood the fertility that it has. I realized we can't skip this step and that both nature and I are made of the same substance. I am but a microcosm of what happens in nature, and we're, increasingly, getting more disconnected from nature, disconnected from the natural cycles inside our own bodies.

And this disconnection makes us believe that we must plant tons of soy and corn to feed the whole planet because the land is not sovereign. This disconnection makes us look for patterns, makes us believe that the zucchinis and bananas at the supermarket should all be alike, and that 30% of the planet's production should be either wasted or lost, mostly because it doesn't fit the pattern. This standardization of the Earth was also happening in my body when I decided to stop eating.

Who'd guarantee me I'd be just like someone? Why try to be like someone on an Earth that's so diverse, with nature that's so diverse? Then I realized I am both science and nature.

This science that split from nature and resulted in thousands of women being burned in bonfires years ago, or not so many years ago, only for being nurses, healers, midwives, and cooks. [2. We're cyclical.

] My father has had a grocery store since I was eight years old, and he'd always bring a box of fruits home. I always ran to meet him and asked, "Daddy, did you bring strawberries? " What kind of kid doesn't like strawberries?

I used to be devastated when there were no strawberries! How is that possible? If my father loves me and he knows I love them, why can't I eat them all year long?

So he taught me about the fruit train, "There won't be strawberries all year, but there will be watermelon, and then oranges in the fall, and then winter roots. " When I began to observe and ask why it was like that, I understood that watermelon comes when I need hydration, and it's full of water. Vitamin C from oranges comes in the fall because I need to prevent myself from getting the winter flu.

The roots come to nourish my uterus in winter, when I need to embrace myself. I found out that nature has a silent conspiracy so I can exist in deep pleasure and unconditional love. What does nature ask from me in return?

That I plant the seeds. Nature seduces me with an amazing mango, so that I throw the seed back to the earth. To understand this, I've also understood the four seasons of the year, that this cyclicality, what happens to Demeter and to the Earth up here, also happens in a world down there.

It happens inside of me. I am spring, I am joy, I run away, feeling delighted when I'm happy, but I also fight when I'm angry. I cry and listen to the saddest song ever, and I endure my winter.

I see potential in all the steps because I'm not linear. Because I'm Persephone, not Kore anymore. [3.

We're sisters. ] Some time ago, I had the opportunity to manage a project called "Food and the Feminine. " We were three women.

When we met, all very curious, very similar to me as a child, we decided to look at our menstrual maps. When each one was menstruating - you're on this week, I'm on that - how you behave when the moon is waxing or waning, when you're premenstrual or preovulatory. We created a spreadsheet on Excel, mapping our menstrual cycles.

We managed the whole project based on this calendar. I'm menstruating or about to menstruate, so give me all the texts to read because I'm introspective. We're on a crescent moon, so send me all the spreadsheets because I feel very productive.

I'm ovulating. Do we have meetings? Let me lead the meeting.

The project ran wonderfully. What would happen if we did that in companies? What if all women analyzed their menstrual maps and understood the power there is in each of them?

Because I doubt there's anyone more focused than me when I'm menstruating. And I doubt there's anyone more productive than me when I'm ovulating. I've learned that menstruation isn't a disease, just like plague isn't a disease.

Plague is a teacher. It only tells us that there's something wrong happening with the Earth. There's no plague in forests.

And there, also, is no disease when women are united. We're not meant to be apart - just like monoculture shouldn't be imposed on forests. If the plants collaborate with each other, plague doesn't happen.

If we help each other, menstruation is no longer pain. [4, We're chronological. ] We're chronological.

I thought it was really funny when I arrived in Brazil seven years ago, and I saw dried fruits, special French toast, and Santa Claus beside the coconut being sold on the beach. So why wasn't Christmas celebrated just like in Portugal where I'm from? I tried to understand what happened before Christmas, before the Gregorian and Christian calendars, the ones we follow until today, at least most of us do without much thought.

Long ago, our ancestors celebrated the birth of the sun god during winter solstice. On the longest night comes the first strong ray of sun, and days start to be longer until they peak at summer solstice. There's always been a celebration for the winter solstice worldwide like the birth of the sun king.

In many religions, we see this period between the 21st and 25th of December, the period of the great god's birth, linked to the winter solstice, but here, Christmas happens on summer solstice. We eat things that don't make sense. There's a pine tree from Norway that was decorated to call spring, to attract spring and its abundance.

After wondering about it, I understood, "Why is it too that Easter happens on fall equinox? " "Páscoa" in English is called Easter, and it comes from the name "Ostara," a Celtic goddess who celebrates fertility on spring equinox, as represented by a bunny and an egg. So we start to think, "Why does Easter happen at fall equinox?

Why do we eat pumpkin, a winter food, on spring equinox, at Halloween? " When I understood that, I thought, "Which time do I want to live on? On a time imposed in Rome during the 15th century or on Earth time?

Or should I look at the moon and see which part of the year I'm in? " After comprehending this from a yearly Earth point of view, I saw that in my body, every 28 days, the moon changes, and I menstruate. It goes on, the moon is waning, and I become lethargic.

It goes away, and I menstruate. It grows, and I'm follicular. It reaches the top, and I ovulate.

This happens every 28 days. So I understand that the Earth is chronological, it sets my agenda, and my body marks the time as well. [5.

We're complete. ] We can observe the world with each sense. Or we can allow ourselves to observe with our five senses.

We can only see an apple with light, the element of fire. We can touch the apple with matter, the element of earth. We smell the apple through the element of air.

To taste, we need the element of water. We observe from an integrated viewpoint through the element of ether. These five elements of nature exist in my body and in my perception of everything.

And what all that means to me is that there's a conspiracy so I can live in fullness and absolute pleasure. If this isn't unconditional love, I don't know what it is. [6.

We're polarized. ] I was at a lecture some time ago, and I had the opportunity to talk with people who work in agroforestry. And for them, the crucial part of their jobs is pruning the trees.

Because getting rid of what's no longer useful strengthens the roots. I thought, "What am I pruning? What do I want to get rid of?

" I found out that there is a demigoddess of pruning, daughter of the ancient Roman goddess of agriculture. Women would get together when it was time to prune, celebrating in pleasure, showing affection to one another. Men were not allowed unless they brought a counterpart.

The pruning demigoddess was called "puta. " Maybe it's time for us to "amputate" what no longer fits us and to build our own truth about the Earth and who we really are. Let's prune so our roots get stronger.

[7. We're taboo. ] We're taboo.

Menstruation is taboo. Female pleasure is taboo. How many other taboos can we mention?

And what is taboo? Taboo is a Polynesian word for "sacred. " If we say pleasure is taboo, let's allow our taboo.

May we feel our pleasure, may we feel the Earth's pleasure, may we honor the Earth's pleasure. Let's be taboo completely. May we accept our body as sacred, our cycles as sacred, the Earth's cycles as sacred, and stop trying to break and transform them into linear standardization.

Because it doesn't fit us anymore. This truth was pruned at point six. We're over it.

So may we all be taboo of ourselves. These seven perceptions made me realize, years later, or after 272 lunations from when I was 12 years old, that it wasn't a cry of sadness nor of pain nor of fear. It was a cry of anger, of fury.

Who permits themselves and has the discernment to call me vulnerable and fragile, and to call the Earth scarce when it has 300,000 edible species of which we only consume 200? Who dares say I'm fragile, infertile, or whatever if I have time inside of me, if I carry the universe inside my body, if I'm cyclical, and if every 28 days the sky changes, and I change with it? Who dares to talk about my beauty, to standardize our beauty, if we are all abundant and powerful?

Who dares to carry on with this paradigm where 40,000 Brazilian women are raped per year and 13 women [per day] are intentional homicide victims? Who causes the savanna and Amazonia to be destroyed? Who dares?

It's a cry of fury, from us all! Who dares to say that women don't work with other women? That we're not friends with each other?

That we only compete? How can this be, if when we're together all our menstrual periods align? If this isn't meant to keep us together, I don't know what it is!

And who dares to condemn and to point a finger at the uterus from where all women and men were born? Until we make peace with nature, with cycles, our bodies, with the feminine part that exists inside all of us - that was the first division that happened - we won't be able to overcome any other separations. This was also a cry, not only of fury, but a cry of hope for the children I'm going to have, and for the mothers so future mothers won't have to fear like my mother did - every time I'd go out with my friends, she was afraid something bad would happen to me, simply for being a woman.

It's a shout and cry of hope so my six-year-old goddaughter and her four-year-old sister can keep on saying, "I know I'm very strong within. Even if I can't climb that tree, Mónica, I'm very strong within. " It's a shout and cry of hope so all girls and all women and all of us know that the Earth is a woman, and our uterus is the universe.

May we feel highly privileged. The chances were high we'd be born without a uterus, but we have one. The chances were high that we couldn't generate life, but we do.

So may we feel really privileged for the power we have, for the force we are, and for the beauty that's inside us. This cry is for me, for all of you, and for the whole of humankind. May we transform this truth and recreate a new one for what is feminine and for all that exists in this world.

Thank you very much.