I like control. I like knowing when something will happen, what my plans are, and just knowing and understanding as much as possible. However, if things change, I’m pretty easy going, but I just like to be as prepared as possible. I wear the mom title in my friend group with pride. As a female, it sucks being prepared as possible. You never know when you’re going to get your period. If I go on vacation and I might get my period, then half my duffle is filled with pads.
Now don’t stop reading, especially if you don’t have a vagina. Yup, I went there. I said the word period and vagina not only in one article, but in one sentence. No one would be alive if we didn’t have periods or vaginas. Yes, there is more to reproducing than that, but females do pretty much all of the work when giving life. Plus, it’s Women’s History Month. If you are going to post photos of the females in your life and say all these amazing things about women, you should be comfortable with what Women go through.
Let’s start with our menstrual cycle or as most people know it as our period. It’s that thing that happens about once a month where women have to wear pads, tampons, those new cups, etc. It’s when our emotions go out of whack and we hear from so many guys about “why can’t we control emotions if we’ve been dealing with this for our entire life?” Well, if we could control our emotions we would, but we can’t. There is this stuff called hormones that change our balance of emotions and it just so happens that when we get our period our body goes out of whack. Literal blood comes out of us. That blood was supposed to be used as a blanket if we were to have a baby. Now, this is a very dumbed down version of it all, but basically as we get older our period gets worse. I have cramps before, during, and after my period. There is legit physical pain and then there is emotional pain because we could just start crying because our dog looked at us. Feelings don’t have to make sense, especially when we are on our periods. So, next time when you think that a period isn’t a valid excuse think about being punched where you don’t have to be punched and have some sympathy for us females or think about a time you’ve felt like you had no control because we never have full control over our periods.
You also need to understand that no female goes through the same type of period. Some women don’t even get periods and that is nothing to be ashamed of and there shouldn’t be any shame in having your period either. I can remember in middle school this ignorant boy looked at me and said, “I bet you’re on your period.” I was so upset by this because it’s none of his business and, if I am emotional or ‘moody’ I have the right to be and it doesn’t have to be related to my period at all. How I am feeling is valid no matter what time of the month it is. Plus, I wasn’t even on my period. This is just part of what women go through and it’s something that starts at a young age.
The feeling of being unsafe is constant for females. Females are physically not as strong as males. That’s just a simple fact. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s not a good thing because it puts females in a very vulnerable state especially when we are walking somewhere alone. I’m not saying that there aren’t times when females have not taken advantage of males, but the feeling of being unsafe is constant. I had a class trip last week for my textiles class and I was in a group of 4 women walking back to our car and we got cat called by this scrawny little boy who was in a group with other people. Yes, I may have been physically bigger than him, but just by cat calling us late at night in a town that none of us knew scared us. I didn’t even take the time to look at who he was with because I just wanted to leave. We didn’t truly feel safe until we were back on campus. This is something that women go through all the time. People wonder why girls go to the bathroom together. They joke about it, but we go together because it makes us feel safer. You don’t know who’s at the restaurant or bar you’re at. You don’t know what could happen when you walk around the corner.
Feeling unsafe, ashamed, and unequal is a given to any woman. Looking for a job and wanting to be self-supporting is exciting, but it’s unfair that people look at me and say no because I have boobs instead of balls, but my vagina is stronger then any balls a man has. My heart has enough padding to protect me when this world of men fail me. I’m lucky, I have a strong mom, a strong sister, strong aunts, a future sister-in-law, cousins, and other strong female role models. Not only that, but I have my dad who treats my mom and all females right. I have my brother who does a lot of housework that might be considered a “woman’s job,” but he doesn’t care. I have my uncles, cousins, and other male friends who see me as an equal. They see me as a person not as someone less then them because I am a woman. Men should be proud to be men and women should be proud to be women. You should be proud of however you identify, but this month is about women for a reason. I don’t want to see my future daughter, niece, or any females have to worry about being cat-called or being embarrassed that they have their period. I should be able to walk around with a pad in my hand and not feel embarrassed. I should be able to automatically get the same pay as a man. I should be able to feel safe to go to the bathroom. Don’t just thank the women in your life this month. Do something small, little that makes a difference. Create a chain effect. Be okay with Women holding the door for you. Be okay with Women earning more than you. Be okay with Women talking about their periods.