Disclaimer: this blog post contains content which some may find uncomfortable. I hope that that will change by the time you get to the end of this post. #normalisetheperiod
Why I´ve decided to broach this subject:
1. Periods are normal, its biology
2. Guys are still weird about them and girls are still embarrassed
3. It´s Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28th
Image source: Pinterest
A guy friend of mine recently took part in a Cosmopolitan Magazine campaign video on normalising the period and I was inspired. Sooo, naturally I decided to do a blog post on all things menstruation to try and increase this conversation some more, gain some insight and hopefully provide a platform for discussion at the same time.
So many girls grow up despising their time of the month. I remember this one girl I was at school with, calling her period ¨the curse¨. Disclaimer, when I first heard this I was like ¨damnn that´s a lotta shade.¨ But being a woman, of course I get it, let´s face the music here...periods are inconvenient, uncomfortable and painful..need I mention the cramps? Defs something most women wish we could avoid. No lies. But lads and ladies, let us talk about why one of the most natural processes still has (in this day and age) sooo much stigma attached to it and why so many of us are not as clued up as we should be.
So when I decided to tackle this topic, I decided to create a poll on Instagram, asking my audience a few questions:
Guys and girls:
Are you uncomfortable talking about periods?
&
How clued up are you on the topic of female menstruation?
For the girls:
Do you ever feel uncomfortable about your period? ( e.g. having to buy pads at a shop?)
Image source: Pinterest
Well the results are in and this is what I learnt:
(please do keep in mind that these results are not an indicator of the opinions held by all men and women, but does give a snapshot at the opinions and standpoints held by a small group).
Guys and girls:
Are you uncomfortable talking about periods? 92% -YES, 8% - NO
&
How clued up are you on the topic of female menstruation? 92%´ - I´m relatively clued up; 8% - I don´t know much at all
For the girls:
Do you ever feel uncomfortable about your period? ( e.g. having to buy pads at a shop?)
15% - YES ; 85% - NO
Image source: Pinterest
These stats did surprise me, I won´t lie, I was expecting a lot more people to be embarrassed by the topic, but truth be told, I´m sure this comes down to my woke audience. Shoutout to the millennials! This goes to show that the trend towards normalising the period has taken effect to some degree, but for the sake of this article I´d like to focus on the minority stat groups above and address some facts about periods even I didn´t know:
Why are periods still stigmatised?
Let´s be honest: ladies you´ve definitely, at some point in your life, made an excuse around your period and have almost certainly been embarrassed by it at some point or other.
Gents: your gf, sister or friend, has definitely made an excuse like ¨I´m feeling sick¨ or ¨I forgot my bathing costume¨ at some point or other, to avoid telling you she has her period.
Why is it so hard for us to approach this topic head on?
Stigmas from abroad:
China: Tampons are very rare in China, due to the stigma that tampons result in a women losing her virginity, because tampons tear the hymen. As we should know, the hymen is not linked directly as a virginity indicator, as women can break their hymens in other ways, such as horse riding.
This taboo runs so deep that in 2015, there were no tampons manufactured in China, but there were 85 billion pads produced in the country. - Teen Vogue
India: In some parts of India, periods are seen as ´dirty´ or ´unnatural´.
¨CNN reports that women resort to using potentially harmful things to catch menstrual blood, including scraps of cloth, newspaper, ash, wood shavings, and more.¨ - Teen Vogue
Nepal: Chhaupadi was recently banned in Nepal. The ritual required menstruating girls to leave their homes and stay in sheds outside their homes, due to the stigma that women become dirty and ´impure´ during their monthly cycle.
¨The practice reportedly leaves women susceptible to diseases, rape, and in some cases, even death.¨ - Teen Vogue
Worldwide: large numbers of girls across the globe are reported to miss school during their periods, due to the fact that they can´t afford menstrual products, as well as shame around their monthlies.
Now for some great news:
South Africa, along with India, Australia and Malaysia all recently declared menstrual products tax free! This is great news, especially since taxing women on menstrual items ¨falls under a form of gender-based discrimination often known as the “pink tax,” named for the frequent marketing of the color pink toward women.¨
Some biological trivia on menstruation:
1. You could have as little as 150 or as many as 450 periods in your life
2. Girls start their periods at age 12 on average (this age has steadily gotten younger over the past century)
3. A girl is born with a set number of eggs at birth, unlike men who may produce sperm until old age
4. Not all bleeding is a period, but can also be the blood-loss from egg implantation into the uterine wall when a woman falls pregnant
5. On average women lose between 10 and 35ml of blood throughout the duration of each period. This is only around 1 – 2 tablespoons worth of blood
(I know...that ¨only around 1-2 tablespoons¨ thing shocked me too)
- Your diet:
over and under eating, as well as sudden changes in diet can affect your period´s regularity
-Other people´s cycles:
it´s true, your friend´s cycle may just be affecting yours too, meaning your periods could sync:
This is ¨due to [...] pheromones, a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species, especially those in close proximity¨
- Sleep patterns:
having an inconsistent sleep pattern or being sleep deprived can affect your hormone levels, which affects your periods
- Over-exercise/sudden increased exercise:
your body needs a specific quantity of fat to ovulate, so a sudden increase in exercise or over-exercising can affect your period
- Increased alcohol consumption:
alcohol affects your hormones, which in turn affects your period. So you may want to second think that next happy hour binge sesh
- Some cosmetic products:
¨This is because some products contain chemicals that are considered endocrine disruptors, which means they impact female reproductive health. This includes certain hair dyes, moisturizers, and even shampoo.
I know that when I started out with this topic, I was definitely not as clued up around my period as I should be, but after learning about these period facts, I have so much more respect for not only my body, but the bodies of my sisters around the globe too! I hope you might´ve learnt something new and if you came here with any stigmas attached to female menstruation, I hope they´ve fallen away. After all, it´s just biology. Let´s continue to break down the stigma around menstruation! #normalisetheperiod
Jess x o