*hears whiny crying in the distance. Slowly but surely, this crying becomes louder and louder with every approaching footstep. Suddenly a wild male appears*
“Sister, please preserve your modesty. Your talk about menstruation is unnatural and dirty and you will go to hell. Do not talk about such things, keep this private. Is that a t-t-t-t–t…..that which cannot be named in your hand? Hide it, nobody needs to know you require such things and it offends me. Unnatural. Dirty. Filth.”
To which I signal for a whole shower of tampons “Go to hell gurl you make me sick.”
Upon contact with said tampon, the male fizzles away and dies. Good.
..
When I first hit puberty, I was one of the many girls who hid tampons or pads or anything period-related. I used to ask my mum to buy them for me (well not tampons, because if you use tampons then it means you’re NOT A VIRGIN!!111!), and if I had no choice but to go and get them myself, I always bought something else big enough to sit over it and hide it in the shopping basket. I used to have a supply in my handbag and when my friends used to see it, they’d shove it far back down my bag and say ‘omg people are gonna see it’. I think I remember a story about a guy crying in school because a girl slipped a pad into his pocket and he was embarrassed. My mother says that tampons and pads shouldn’t be kept in the bathroom in case a male enters the bathroom and accidentally sees it. Guys are too embarrassed to buy tampons for their girlfriends as if someone is gonna think they’re for him instead of admiring how much he cares about her. They’ll probably postpone meeting her until her period is over, not just because they get no sex, but because it’s ‘gross’.
I don’t get it
Because one day, something in me clicked, and I realised, it’s a fucking period. It is NORMAL and HALF THE POPULATION DEALS WITH IT!!!!!.
Also with the realisation that we’re only made to feel embarrassed by men, and I don’t give a shit about men and what they think. If we can openly buy toilet paper and talk about going for a shit, which isn’t even REMOTELY associated with periods and is actually disgusting, why must women be embarrassed for something natural and that actually shows us we’re functioning normally? Going to the toilet isn’t the same as having a period. It is not bodily waste.
I’m not even going to go into the fact that not only do we have to pay for sanitary products, but they’re taxed. Taxed because ‘they’re not a necessity’. Okay! How about we all just bleed all over your public transport seats, all over the classroom, in your important meetings. Then we’ll see if it’s a necessity.
‘Hold it in’. DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW A PERIOD WORKS. IT. IS. NOT. LIKE. GOING. TO. THE. TOILET. YOU CAN’T HOLD IN BLOOD. Oh you got stabbed in the neck and you’re losing blood? Just hold it in, wtf!
Moreover, with periods come PMS. We bloat, we cramp, we get spots and we get mood swings. We struggle. The life of a woman is hard. We shouldn’t be made to feel embarrassed on top of it. I know that if men had to deal with half the shit we deal with, there would be outrage.
Honestly period blood is regarded as the dirtiest thing of all, even more than shit. When it’s not unsanitary at all, and shouldn’t even be that strange to a carnivore. Just saying. The fucked up thing, and I’m about to get real disgusting and immodest here, is that swallowing cum is glorified as if it’s any different from swallowing period blood. But I’m not telling anybody to go make a menstrual cocktail (unless you want to, I don’t judge). I’m just saying that this is a man’s world, and man alone decides what is gross. Tampon/pad adverts use blue liquid because red is too offensive. We shove gauzes inside our bodies as if THAT is natural. If I’m having to do that, I’m sure as hell not going to be ashamed of it.
Don’t hide sanitary products. I know there are women who are in their 30s and are still embarrassed, who wouldn’t dare openly show other shoppers that they’re buying period supplies. Women who would rather queue up behind 20 other people for the female rather than let an unoccupied male cashier see she’s buying tampons.
I know we still try to open the packaging as quietly as possible when in a public bathroom stall to avoid the crinkling sound, even though WE’RE ALL WOMEN and the woman next to you is probably trying to hide the same thing.
Why. After the little click I had, I can’t fathom the need to hide it. I’m not saying flaunt it, I’m saying treat it like something normal, because that’s what it is. Women go through the same thing, and men aren’t allowed an opinion.
I implore you, all women, to go to your nearest shop and buy just tampons & chocolate and not be embarrassed about it. It’s like buying toothpaste or shampoo.The only way to remove the stigma is to say ‘fuck it’.
And if men are disgusted or made uncomfortable by it, then GOOD. All the more reason to do it.