Don’t freak, you can talk about it.
Complaining about the effects our periods have on us is one way women bond with each other. We talk about with our best girl friends, our mothers, and yet periods are feared by the general public. Just mentioning menstruation in a conversation makes people feel uncomfortable. But why? That “time of the month” all women experience is a natural process, and we should be able to talk about it without feeling awkward or ashamed. While it has been a taboo topic to speak about in public for quite a while, our society has definitely opened up about it a bit more – for the better!
An incident in early 2015 had the world buzzing when photographer Rupi Kaur’s picture of a woman wearing period-blood stained sweatpants was deleted not once, but twice from Instagram for violating “Community Guidelines.” Although the picture was seen as inappropriate, there was nothing inappropriate about it: she was fully clothed, lying in a not-at-all promiscuous manner (she was facing away from the camera).
In more recent news, women in Britain have captured the world’s attention and turned it on the topic of menstruation by physically protesting the tax the UK has recently placed on women’s tampons. Going against the claim the tampons are a “luxury product,” women all across Britain have gone out in public wearing white pants while forgoing tampons and therefore, you guessed it, bleeding right through them. Pictures of these women have been posted all across social media, and have sparked a movement showing that the period shouldn’t be something women should be ashamed of and definitely shouldn’t be taxed for.
Clearly, periods aren’t going anywhere. So next time, when the topic of “the monthly visitor” arises in conversation, don’t feel weird about it! In fact, we’ll leave you with some awesome gifs to start the conversation: