(Disclaimer: In this article, I am referring to anybody who has a uterus)
Periods. The Visit from Auntie Flo. Shark Week. Riding the Crimson Wave.
Practically the bane of most humans’ day to day basis. With many spending days dealing with atrocious cramps and spending at least thousands of pounds to buy the most loudest plastic packaging you have ever opened in your life. The average British woman spends more than 18,000 pounds on their period throughout their entire lifetime which could be reduced if the tampon tax was abolished.
Despite 50% of the world’s population experiencing this monthly phenomenon, there is still a stigma towards periods and misunderstanding of what a period really is.
Even women fall prey to this due to the lack of education about women’s bodies in general and the lack of space to allow women to talk about their experiences. Hence I am here to dispell the terrible stigma around periods and hopefully, stop those distasteful period jokes whose only purpose is to alienate a normal part of everyday life.
1. Periods are disgusting and should not be spoken at all
This is a highly damaging stigma to people experiencing periods. Internalised shame and oppression still sometimes prevent girls form being comfortable asking questions about their periods and knowing exactly what a period consists of.
Despite more information of periods, we still have a long way to go.
How many of us were fully prepared for the blood, cramps and the increased amount of time spending in the bathroom once our period hit?
I’m sure many of us believed something was wrong with us physically rather than realising this was natural and normal. Then we were immediately thrust to keep it a secret and not to mention our struggles to other people.
People who menstruate are naturally shamed into hating a natural system of their body because it is seen as disgusting.
Being a woman and anything relation to womanhood has negative connotations. The very act of menstruating is considered impure with many religions segregating menstruating people as they are deemed unclean. This boils down to plain old misogyny.
It just seems normal to hate periods as sad as it sounds, especially with the media portraying periods as shameful and wrong. Rarely you will get an advert selling pads showing realistic red blood (the only advert showing this, coming from Bodyform). The majority of adverts using a blue, thin liquid to show menstruation blood which is completely unrealistic and does not fully portray the different consistencies of period blood through the cycle.
Hence we are silenced about speaking out about an everyday occurrence even struggling to speak with other people with this experience, since we are afraid of what they might say.
2. Pads or tampons need to be hidden at ALL COSTS (even going though extraordinary measures to hide it)
First of all, we often tightly clutch pads or tampons in an attempt to avoid it peeking out (resulting in strange looks from other people); but there is nothing wrong with proudly holding up a pad or a tampon, especially if you don’t have the space or the time to sneak it up your sleeve.
This again relates to how people who menstruate are immediately shamed to not bring up the topics of periods or anything related to it.
It points to a struggle most people have with the periods: changing their period supplies.
For pad users, the loud scrunching of the pad wrapper combined with the fear of others knowing always seem to make changing a pad a nerveracking experience. For tampon and Diva Cup users, I imagine the sound is a bit more discrete but the fear of someone finding out still stays the same.
Why is it not possible for us to calmly open pads regardless of the consequences (which is practically none) and letting others know we are on our periods. They should understand it is a natural process and nothing to be shamed of. So open those products with pride and without any fear.
3. Being physically invalided for menstruating (“is it her time of the month?“)
Suddenly having a period denotes you as a demon who is always irrational and frustrated with anyone. This stereotype is not quite true. PMS is a real thing that does happen in your cycle but actually happens much earlier than your period and it is not an immediate response to start putting down others just because they are going though their period.
Most if not all during their period act like their normal day to day selves. Dealing with a period for years does give you a large amount of tips to deal with the cramps (which does vary from mild to severe depending on the person and their length of their cycle). So this does not mean a person on their period is suddenly inferior or should be treated like glass.
4. Using a tampon will “lose” your virginity
Whatever you place inside your body is not my business nor concern. But placing a tampon inside of you properly should be no concern and it definitely does not mean you’re no longer a virgin. The notion of virginity is a social construct and the different defintions of what you believe to be intercourse is simply up to you. But just because a tampon might resemble a certain shape does not mean it is the same. (similar to the idea of “ceci n’est pas une pipe”)
Finally, as I am getting to my last message of this hopefully educational article, I would like to point out this is but a smidgen of the stigma experienced by people who menstruate. There are much more subtle taboos with being scolded for accidently showing blood along with many others. Therefore I leave you, the reader, with a vital message: break down the metaphorical walls stopping us from learning about each other’s bodies with respect and consent. Start to open up conversation about those experiences without shame.
Period.
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