The Unspeakable 'P-Word'

Periods, periods, periods, periods, periooooooooooooods.

How many of you probably cringed at the sound of that word in your very own head, and hesitated before you realized it was too late and your eyes had already started reading the rest of this post?

Here, let me give you the online dictionary verified definition of this so-feared word:

"noun: a time of the month during which menstruation occurs."

That's not so scary... right? Now, let's go in deeper and search up what 'menstruation' means:

"noun: the periodic discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the uterus,occurring approximately monthly from puberty to menopause innonpregnant women and females of other primate species."

That's just a bunch of big scientific words that get jumbled up in our brains, no big deal.

Now here's the definition of it given by socíety:

"unspeakable word (worse than a swear word): a word never to be used in public especially when at least one male person is present. Never to be discussed. Not good enough excuse to not do physical activity. 'That time of month' justification used by any man to justify upsetting a woman."

Let's admit it, the word 'period' is the 'Voldemort' of our world, never to be spoken out loud or else the wrath of all of Hell and soul-sucking demons threaten to destroy you. Except in our case, the only consequence you might have is a couple of strange glares from the people around you. But you know what I tell you? Make them uncomfortable! Who are they to judge? Oh, I'm sorry, should I stop my biological, natural, and unpreventable growth because the mention of it makes you squirm? That's my bad, I guess I'll just have to go and change the laws of nature and restart the world the way you wish.

What I want to ask is, how did we even get here? Periods are a completely natural things which have existed since the birth of animal species, but when did they become the cause of so much social anxiety and judgement? Last time I checked, all it is is something so that we can recreate each other, and without it we'd all be dead... so why must we keep our mouths shut?

This negative attribution and the countless 'ews' and 'gross' we've all heard, it all

derives from the continous male chauvinism throughout history. In Biblical Times, women were considered 'dirty' and 'impure' while menstruating and forced to live separated from men. It even went as far as to trashing any object the women sat upon or touched. Still, years and years later in the 1800s women weren't allowed to touch food while on their periods or then it would be considered spoiled! The first commercial for a pad was even scrapped because it was seen as 'too cutting edge', yet how is promoting a hygienic and safe product (which actually hides that red liquid thing everyone is so scared of) in any way cutting edge? Not to mention the whole fact in itself that there is hardly any documentation of past ways to deal with menstruation is a perfect example not only of men's reluctatance to acknowledge the subject but also the well-known constant injustice between women and men. In this case, even if they wanted to, women couldn't even write anything down, not being given the same education and opportunities as men...

Some of us are lucky. But others need to live every day in a family with a rude older brother, with a father who just doesn't want to hear it. We need to change that. There can't be these exceptions, nobody should be constricted into a life where they can't even speak about something they cannot control. We need to reach a Period Positive world. It's simply depressing sitting here and realizing that we're yet again fighting for something which should be uncalled for. Something which I shouldn't even be writing about. People all over the world need to brace themselves and deal with the fact that women see a lot more blood than men do, and that it hurts. That it's a damn good enough excuse to get out of doing sports, of going to school, of doing anything which causes strain. That girls don't need to invent some other dumb excuse in order to be heard, because there's no better one than what you can't control. And that it's not even an excuse. It's a simple fact.

Allow me to put this as one of the endless things to blame the media for as well. The whole 'it's that time of the month' justification is good enough to drive any sane woman utterly mad (which is usually answered by another 'time of the month' comment and winds into a never-ending spiral). If periods are ever even mentioned in tv shows or movies, it is almost always as a form of comic relief, of ridicule for the woman, where her actions are exaggerated in order to favor the man's position in the scene. You just cheated on your wife and she's screaming at you? Oh, whatever, she's just PMSing.

The worst part is that it is not just men who have caused this relation of disgust to the word, but also young girls. The first girl in the class to get her period is told to keep it a secret. The first girl is embarrassed, she is ridiculed if word gets out and she is judged for something she simply couldn't control. I mean, how many of us have been embarrassed to go and buy pads at a supermarket? And why is that? I dare you now to close your eyes, and imagine a world where women are free from all these social cages. Now let's go far into a parallel universe and dream of a community which celebrates a young girl's growth, that step into becoming a woman, and doesn't force her to hide. Imagine that.

#gender #girls #boys #women #feminism #misogyny #periods #positive