Bloody Taboo

 

 

Let’s talk about the taboo topic that YOU have the power to change! Periods!

 

Believe it or not but all females in this world go through this and it is natural and there is nothing to be ashamed about!!

 

I don’t know about you but I hate it when men think they can mansplain the period, like they know alllll about it. Because you know, with all their god like wisdom, they get and understand what we go through… LOL!! Over the years I had had the following:

“It’s probably not that bad.”

“Eww”

“Can’t you just have it later?”

“That’s disgusting.”

“It not that painful.”

“What are you whinging about”

“That’s disgusting”

“I don’t want to hear about it.”

“Ewwwwwwwwwww.”

 

Growing up I had this understanding that it was best to leave men out of the discussion of periods. If I wasn’t myself, I wouldn’t tell my boss or my co-workers but I would work to the best of what my body allowed. If a male co-worker or friend would ask what’s up the answer would always be that I am just having an off day. As an adult I ask myself, why do I have to lie? Why do I have to hide it? Be ashamed of something that I have no control of?

Answer is: I fucking won’t be anymore.

 

But how do we change the stigma around periods?

Now, I am not talking about going full extreme and rubbing your period on your face and yelling ya best war cry. I am talking about a simple little task of bringing the period discussion up around everyone in your life and setting men straight when it comes to periods. My favourite line to use when a man is mansplaining periods is “oh well you would know all about periods. So is yours a heavy flow or not? Last four or five days? How do you go with the cramping?” Trust me, the guys will be quick to answer “NO” and then you hit them with “Oh so you don’t fucking know shit then do you?!” You can’t be an expert in periods if you are a man with your mansplaining. It would be like me claiming to be an astronaut (Which I am totally not, clearly I’m a pro bookworm)

Now we don’t want men to be experts in periods, we just need them to understand. That’s it.

I once worked at a restaurant where the gender of the staff were equally divided, with young female staff and older, married men. One night a female co-worker asked if she could borrow a tampon, so I obliged and gave her a packet which she kept in the bathroom. Cool beans. No biggie right? However the FULL GROWN MEN kicked up a stink about our unisex toilet having a packet of tampons on the window ledge. Really? A brightly patterned packet of tampons freaked them out. I mean, it clearly must have been threatening them when they walked in. Or even laughing at them when they presented themselves to pee. I mean what other reason could there be for making such a massive fuss about the whole thing? Simple – their minds simply can’t handle nature taking its course.

 

But why do we need the stigma around periods to change?

Simple. Think about your most cringe worthy period story. And then think about that happening to someone else. Possibly a young girl stuck in that situation, without any help. That’s why.

 

I watched the news last night where the UK released an ad over tampons (google Tampax: Tampons and Tea) where a fake TV host lightly explains the insertion of a tampon. Go watch it, the ad doesn’t even last longer than 30 seconds. But the part that people are up in arms about is this host says “you gotta get em up there girls.” As far as I am concerned, there is nothing harmful about it. There is nothing offence about it. Are we telling people to commit crimes with the power of periods? Why is there an uproar about this saying? Fucking, what else are you meant to do with tampons? Use them as Nerf bullets? Paint faces on them and leave them around the house? Stick them up your partner’s nose when they are snoring? While yes you can do all those fun things (Putting googly eyes on them and then sticking it in the air duct of your partner’s car is a personal fav of mine) they are solely designed for periods, which means, you gotta get them up there! Many have claimed that this ad has gone too far and that it shouldn’t be aired while there are children around. But seriously, why are we still normalising the shame around woman’s bodies?? There are adverts for alcohol and fast-food that are aired around the same time. So normalising drinking and eating shitty food (obesity kills more people a year than others care to admit) is fine but an advert about a tampon is not??? I would much rather children learn about the female body then think about having a nice cold beer or clogging their arteries with junk food is the normal thing to do. If we are going to be this fucking precious about adverts over periods, then let’s remove all ads about porn, tinder and other match making apps. Don’t inadvertently advertise an aspect of the female body that is desirable and not advertise about a product that is necessary for the bleeding women of the world!!

 

Australia had a period advert maybe about a year ago, where it talked about the products this particular company created and well ya know, promoted itself as an ad should. But in a single shot (no more than 3 seconds) they showed the legs of someone sitting on the toilet, with their undies around there ankles, with a red mark on the undies. What. A. Fucking. Uproar. Why is there this outstanding shame and hatred towards an ad depicting what half the population go through monthly?!?!

Even I had a few female friends that were against it.

“Their daughters shouldn’t be seeing that?” Why? You don’t want to have that discussion with them a little early? Make it more normal topic and ensure that it is nothing to be ashamed about? Make the period bla-zay ‘oh hey it’s happening’ rather than have a young girl freaking the fuck out. The more you talk about it, the more comfortable your daughter will be.

“My son doesn’t need to know about that.” Well yes he fucking does. This needs to be discussed with young boys, so they are aware and it is normalised for them. They won’t experience it themselves but they will have a female in their life that will! You would want to raise your son to be understanding of the situation. So if a female gets it and it marks her clothes, he isn’t going to stand there and laugh at her with his friends. He isn’t going to make this woman/girl ashamed, embarrassed and scared. Instead you could raise that boy to take off his jacket and let the girl wrap it around her waist and comfort her. You could have that discussion early and really raise your son to respect ALL aspects of a female, not just the parts they feel they should respect.

“Men don’t need to know about that.” Why not? A majority of them stick their dick’s into a vagina so shouldn’t they be aware of what else happens down there? Men shouldn’t be throwing chocolate at us and running for the hills when that dear Aunt Flow comes to visit. Wouldn’t it be nice to curl up on the couch with them and share the chocolate instead? Wouldn’t it even be nice for guys to be aware and think about buying us chocolate in the first place? Or how about a single father that is raising his daughter alone? Surely instead of palming the education of the period off to a school teacher, he would take the chance to help his daughter through one of the weirdest, uncomfortable and terrifying moment of his daughter’s life? We don’t turn into bloody monsters once a month, we go through an ordeal that they should be aware and understand.

“Women live through that, we don’t need to see it?” Again, why not? A few months ago, I had a few girlfriends over for pizza, beers and general life chats. About halfway through the night one of the girls came out of the bathroom ashamed and asked where my bin was. I was casual about the whole thing but felt hurt that she needed to be ashamed in front of FEMALES. SOOOO I did what my no filter self would do and I started talking about it, and kept talking about it. And informed her that she should never be ashamed to be female. Not only are we a force to be reckoned with, we are deserving and bold. We have not spent our history fighting for equality to stop and ignore the little things along the way like periods. We should be completely and utterly proud of every part of who we are and continue to fight, not just for ourselves but for our younger generations. So why do females need to see the ad? Because we need to ensure that females which have been raised to be ashamed of their bodies, know that there isn’t anything to be ashamed of and that they are a wonderful woman and beautiful inside and out.

 

And while we are on the topic of periods, why isn’t it discussed in more books?? Especially in the YA world. Honestly though, think about it. How many books grace that topic of periods? Not a lot or at least none where it isn’t specifically about periods. Is it too hard for a character to occasionally have a period? With a majority of YA covering female lead characters, you would think that some of them would bleed? Not really. It appears that most of the contemporary YA books that are floating around are actually fantasy since the female characters live in an alternative universe where there are no periods. I think I have read more YA books where the male has got ‘wood’ then about a female that has her period. It is astonishing to think that we read about these beautiful female characters, follow them around for their school year but not even a single sentence of ‘oh just got my period.’ None. Nothing. We don’t need chapters that go into depth about characters getting their periods but a single sentence acknowledging periods can go a long way for young impressionable girls. SO as a reader keep an eye out of it and you will see what is lacking. As a writer, you have the chance to make a single sentence be the period evolution that this world needs.

 

After all, do you think men could put up with period cramps? Child birth? FUCK NO. We may have the pussy’s but we are not the pussy’s. You kick a man between his legs and it will send him to his knees. You kick a female between the legs and you watch her laugh and unleash her wrath.

 

This starts with us. Change starts with us. And it starts when you introduce little routine changes into your day to day life. Start talking about periods! Bring it up in conversation with men and women. We need to start making this the new norm and not something taboo! Something as simple as “oh I am a little off today I got my period.” Is the perfect way to start! If men start to mansplain it to you – PUT THEM BACK IN THEIR PLACE. Come on! We don’t claim to be sperm experts so why do they need to claim to be period experts?

My all-time favourite “You have to be on your period you are moody.” Na mateeee. I am this much of a bitch all the time!

 

We have our chance now to make the next generation of woman have an easier life, who wouldn’t want that. Be the change that society needs, be the voice of blood and pain and be the voice of women.

Periods are never going to stop. Again, we can’t make them completely go away. So don’t run from it. Embrace it. And ensure that the horrid stigma around periods stop!

 

And if any part of this article made you cringe. I am not sorry. I want to change your mind about this stigma. I want you to stop being ashamed because there is no other reason to cringe from this. This goes beyond how you feel. This goes into changing how the world thinks and how we can evolve.

 

And in case no one has told you this today…

You are fucking fantastic

You are beautiful

You are a fucking goddess!

So put on your warrior face, wear comfortable shoes, grab your friends and go out there and change the world!

 

Blue xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer.

As fun as it would be to kick a man between his legs because let’s face it we all know a few men that need to be taken off their high horse and brought back down to earth, but that move should only be used in self-defence. The best way to tear down a man is to beat him at his own game. Just let them know that you have bigger balls then them and you are not afraid!