Why I am ashamed of my periods
I was hesitant to write this article. Insofar as my experiences as a young black woman go, I'm an open book - but, for some reason, discussing my period is something I’ve never felt comfortable doing. In the past, I’ve gone to great lengths to avoid talking about it, because discussing periods makes me cringe with embarrassment.
But this shouldn’t be the way anyone feels.
It’s ridiculous that in 2017, women still feel that they have to hide the fact they menstruate. I’m not suggesting we should all go around narrating our flows to strangers. But we should be able to pass a sanitary product to a friend in public without feeling like we have to go all 007 about it - slipping it from sleeve to sleeve to avoid detection.
At school, I would make up excuses to avoid telling people. I lied to my school nurse and said I needed pain relief for a headache instead of admitting I had periods cramps (which experts have said can feel as bad as a 'heart attack' for some women). I told people the reason I needed to keep going to the toilet was because I had a weak bladder.
In Madagascar, women are told that they can't make mayonnaise while menstruating because it will curdle
Anything, so that I didn’t have to say the words: ‘I’m on my period’.
I used to think that I was the only one that felt this awkward, but new research shows otherwise. Girls’ rights charity Plan International UK’s survey of girls and young women in the UK, aged 14-21, showed that just under half (48 per cent) are also embarrassed about their period. So it looks like I’m not alone in feeling this way.
This embarrassment over something so natural leads 71 per cent of girls to feel uncomfortable buying sanitary products. I have even gone as far as to pre-order my sanitary products with my weekly online shop. I figure there’s less time for me to get embarrassed taking the bag from the delivery van than the whole time they are in my basket and being scanned through the checkout.
Surely, it's time we put an end to this madness?
It’s also important to note that this stigma transcends borders. Across the world, girls are being alienated because they have periods.
Period myths we used to believe
In some communities in India, women and girls are not allowed to enter the kitchen or cook food while menstruating, as some people believe it will cause food to go bad. In Madagascar, women are told that they can't make mayonnaise while menstruating because it will curdle; not to walk through fields of pumpkin and courgette crops, as the seeds will rot; and not to shower, as the water will enter their bodies and provoke more bleeding.
This lack of understanding can also affect girls’ access to education. In Ethiopia, more than half (51 per cent) miss between one and four days of school each month because of their period. Routinely being absent could be detrimental to girls’ prospects and negatively influence their life choices in future.
Seeing as such a high percentage of girls and young women, both in the UK and beyond, are made to feel uncomfortable about the way their bodies naturally function, I feel inspired to speak out. Since practically the dawn of time, girls and women have been taught not to take up space and not to voice the things that affect them.
This Wednesday marks International Day of the Girl – a reminder of the challenges we face, but also a chance to start unpicking the stigma surrounding girls and women’s lives. Periods aren’t gross or shameful. If you agree, and you want to get involved in breaking the silence tweet with the hashtag #WeAllBleed. It's 2017 and it's high time half the world's population stopped this silence.
