There is a quiet longing in many of us menstruators that often goes unnamed. So many of us dream of places where we, our bodies, our cycles, and our stories may be held.

That longing often finds expression through.

This post explores the modern Red Tent movement as one of the spaces that support the expression of our deeper longings to reconnect, re-imagine, and reclaim the sacred experiences of our bodies. We’ll also take a look at what “Red Tents” are, why they matter today, and how they may intersect with the mental and menstrual health struggles of isolation in our dominant culture.

The contemporary Red Tent movement traces most clearly to Anita Diamant’s novel The Red Tent (1997). In this bestselling historical fiction, Diamant reimagines the brief biblical mention of Dinah and expands it into a world where women gather in community during menstruation and childbirth; where they share information, their deepest desires, and grieve and celebrate together. It is in this shared space — the “red tent” — that women find support, ritual, information, connection, and witness.

👉 For anyone curious about this foundational story and its cultural impact, the book is a lovely place to begin (*I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie):
The Red Tent — Anita Diamant

While The Red Tent book is fictional, it catalyzed an explosion of real-world circles and ritual gatherings devoted to communal reflection, care, and cycle awareness.

The modern Red Tent movement blends mythic inspiration with cultural and political intention:

1. Acknowledging Historical Complexity

There is limited evidence of actual, widespread archaeological “red tents” in ancient cultures. What did exist in many places were spaces of menstrual seclusion — places where menstruating people stayed apart from daily work and ritual life. Some of these were oppressive; some may have functioned as rest and care spaces. In this excellent article Anita Diamant writes both of the cruelty and danger of some of these spaces, menstrual advocacy, and a hope for a brighter future.

The modern Red Tent movement intentionally draws inspiration from these deep, diverse, and fragmented roots without claiming a single, universal ancient or cultural origin.

2. Core Principles of Modern Red Tents

At their heart, Red Tents are about:

Menstruation as meaningful — not shameful, hidden, or neutral.
Blood becomes a symbol of life, creativity, and cycle instead of disgust or shame.

Cyclical wisdom over productivity culture — Red Tents encourage us to honour our internal rhythms rather than insist on constant doing.

Story-sharing as medicine — true stories of hardship, pleasure, pain, and transformation are welcomed and witnessed, not fixed or analyzed.

Embodied belonging — community in these spaces is about being seen, heard, and held.

These ideas resonate with — and directly challenge — the dominant narratives that medicalize, individualize, or dismiss cyclical distress.

Many of us with PMDD know what it feels like to struggle in silence while the world keeps expecting us to perform. The disconnect between cyclic bodies and linear culture is palpable.

My reflection — rooted in clinical experience, feminist critique, and embodied observation — is that PMDD as we know it would not exist outside patriarchal frameworks that devalue cyclical bodies and prioritize productivity over somatic reality.

This isn’t to say the biological component isn’t real — it is palpably real for many, including me, — but the suffering around PMDD is exacerbated by a culture that teaches that:

• Menstruating bodies don’t matter
• Periods are stigmatized, shameful, and to be hidden or ignored
• Productivity matters more than presence & that our bodies should obey efficiency, and listen to us, rather than the other way around

In a world that honours all bodies, all stories, and the cyclical rhythms of nature and our bodies, it’s my belief that perhaps periods and PMDD would look — and feel — very different. For one thing, supports would be available sooner, as would appropriate diagnoses, research, and resources. (Here’s my list of PMDD resources – please feel free to suggest more!) 

Across cultures, gatherings that honour feminine cycles have often taken place in nature — not just indoors.

Many contemporary Red Tents intentionally situate gatherings outdoors or in rural settings to re-engage with earth rhythms, seasonal cycles, and ancestral connection. These spaces often invite journaling, movement, sitting, and storytelling in natural landscapes where embodiment and breath can be felt in relation to wind, water, and the moon. Here, nature becomes witness, the container, the healer. And of course, at the root of it, we are nature. These natural cycles in our body are a monthly reminder of just how very connected we all are.