Thursday 27 November 2014

Talking Periods with the Males in our Life


"Shhhh! I'm on my period."

"And there is no way I'm going to that cute guy at that till. He'll see my basket of pads and tampons."






If you're a female, then that "time of month", that uncomfortable, nauseating, painful  first few days, awash with emotions and cravings, where the shedding of our uterus lining literally feels as described (the gouging, tearing away of flesh within), is something you are either more than aware of, or soon will be.

 The gushing of uterus lining and blood that expels from our nether-regions cares not for the type of knickers or outfit we're wearing. It doesn't care about the important event we have for that day, nor does it care for the intricately laid sanitary towel, or fresh tampon you may have just placed. If it's going to gush, it's going to gush. And if en-route it feels the need to present itself in the form of pain that resembles metal hooks latching, dragging and slicing through the flesh of our uterus, it'll do that too, for some more so than others, so, considering this, shouldn't the other half of our human species be more clued in on all of this.

I mean, that's half of all of humans either menstruating, going to menstruate, or having menstruated. That's a lot. And yet, a lot of the guys I know don't seem to know very much about what actually goes on.  Many shudder at the thought, even when some of those thoughts don't go further than  "blood" and "grumpiness". And it's not exactly there fault, is it? If it doesn't happen to you, or people aren't frank about it with you, apart from doing all the research yourself, how are you supposed to know?
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Some people like to treat the whole time-of-the-month thing as if its a process never to be spoken about. A process females, on all accounts, are to keep from guys. I've seen guys literally, recoil at the mere mentioning of the subject, whilst some women's eye widen with horror, as they laugh nervously, when you go into details in front of a guy. Some women find it necessary to hide their tampons and sanitary towels up their sleeves en-route for the toilet, whilst others break into a sweat when their handbag falls and out pops the dreaded, rolling tampon or flying pad, and all the while, other people expect that of them. They expect your ability to hide your period, and your sense of embarrassment when you've failed at that.

 A few days ago. my youngest brother, aged 12, was curious as to what was this "period thing" that me and my sister was always having, which caused us pain and had us seeking what he likes to call "nappy's". And as his sister, it was my place to enlighten him on the oh, so mysterious "Period". So I did. I broke it down, openly discussing the process as my mum cringed, which was somewhat better than her cry of, "Kartonia! He doesn't need to know all of that." when I declared my period and its process to my other brother, aged 20, He, however, did run a mile covering his ears screaming, so I guess she was onto something there.

My youngest brother, however, seemed genuinely interested, and why not?  It's a weird, foreign thing for him. A process he could never imagine happening to the closest females in his life, let alone his mum, and all the women he's ever met. Did he flinch? Did he run away screaming like his older brother? No. He nodded, said my other sister must always be on her period considering her constant grumpiness, and got on with what he was doing. And, in all honesty, I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting a look of disgust, mainly because that's the look some guys give. But no. He was cool. And he should be.

Maybe if we were all just more open about it with the males in our lives (granted, for the first dozen times, some will scream, whilst others will merely disappear over the horizon) it'd lose its stigma. History has shown times where everyone was cool with periods, Why now, in our modern age, are so many people ashamed of it?


 I'm a human, a female one. I menstruate. Get with it, or get out.




 What do you think? 
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