SAY IT WITH ME! Period, vagina, menstruation!
Growing up, I realized there were so many negatives surrounding having a period. Why is menstruation regarded as a taboo? Are all the menstrual taboos equal? Why is there a stigma surrounding being on your period? All these were in the mind of an 11 year old me, who just got her period for the first time. Now, I had to avoid the boys in my class or I would get “pregnant”, I had to hide my pad between the pages of my textbook and run to the washroom because it felt embarrassing to casually hold a pad though it was perfectly normal to have a period at that age considering I was going through puberty. I lived and grew up in a society where these types of conversations were seen as things we did not have to talk about and which were deemed inappropriate. Since women’s periods hurt in so many ways, I firmly believe that the stigma associated with menstruating should be eliminated. While at boarding school, I spent the first day of my period every month in the sick bay due to cramps. The ache in my lower abdomen prevented me from attending my first few classes, and as a result of my severe cramps and fear, I was embarrassed to tell my classmates why I always had to be admitted to the sick bay on a random day every month.
For forty years, twelve times a year, periods affect more than half of the world’s population. We never talk about it though; but why? For the majority of women, menstruation is a natural and healthy aspect of life. The majority of women worldwide, or about half of the female population, are of reproductive age. Most women menstruate for two to seven days on average each month. Regardless of its normalcy, menstruation is stigmatized all around the world. Menstruation is not typically a topic of conversation, especially not by men in a discreet conversation. Men need to talk about it and offer a lot more support. Lack of knowledge about menstruation can result in discrimination and harmful stereotypes, as well as preventing girls from participating in activities and experiences that are often part of childhood because of fear of being embarrassed. Teenage girls are denied the chance to learn about menstruation and forming healthy behaviours due to stigma, taboos, and myths. Avoiding this topic like it is some sort of taboo, making vulgar jokes, or making young girls/women feel uncomfortable are the precise reasons why period stigma is so severe all over the world.
Girls frequently never learn the fundamentals of why they are suddenly bleeding, how reproduction functions in general, or how to avoid pregnancy in particular because these are such taboo topics in many cultures. This is undoubtedly of no help. The Internet is teeming with odd & flat-out incorrect information, which can lead to tension, stigma, or worse, regardless of whether reproductive health is taught in schools to children aged 10–12 years. Still, it’s crucial to teach the subject and communicate about it clearly. Boys must also be educated about periods in addition to girls. What are periods? Why do they occur? Teenage boys aren’t actually taught anything about periods, so they just think they’re gross or icky and make odd jokes to make girls feel bad. Periods need to be treated just like another bodily function, and boys should be brought up to show empathy and be supportive toward girls when they have cramps or suffer stains instead of making jokes and making them feel weird about it.
Of course in today’s age, it’s lovely to watch women become more candid about discussing their periods, and it’s even lovelier to see girls who are yet to get their periods become educated without using code words or euphemisms for body parts of processes. I didn’t have that much knowledge about periods before I got my first, and I had the “period’ talk, but nevertheless, this is not to say it is now widely accepted; in fact, it is still considered a taboo to talk about periods. Almost all women of a certain age experience periods. Some people experience severe pain and other problems that have a significant influence on their life and job; however, the majority manage them as part of daily living. Please be kind and sympathetic; offering to assist women when they need time off from work or in other ways when they need it can be a big help. Someone having severe cramps should not also have to worry about getting flack from coworkers about not showing up; it’s a legitimate medical exemption. We should all come together as a society to support initiatives aimed at educating, empowering, and supporting girls in all spheres, particularly with regard to their periods and bodies, both locally and globally.
Remove the stigma around periods!