When someone around me hears the word period they get this wide-eyed and an uncertain look about them. It’s not just the men, it’s women too.
As a young teen who had begun menstruating I didn’t find it appropriate to talk about periods, but when I got older and wanted to talk about periods, I started despite my apprehension. I thought it was fine because half the population had periods and it was an entirely natural process. But even some of my friends had to adjust to my discussions about periods, which were mostly about the cost of my favorite tampons and the amount of painkillers I have to take.
Becoming a junior in high school, I had finally cemented a single thought about periods: there is a ridiculous amount of stigma towards it. People find it disgusting and inappropriate. But why?
As long as women have been bleeding, there has been studies and talks on periods by medical professions that use euphemisms “designed to obscure discussions of menstruation and, in doing so, they reinforce the shame that surrounds it,” says Rachel Gillibrand in her August 2023 article titled “‘Dirty red’: how periods have been stigmatised through history to the modern day.” Gillibrand lists “the curse, dirty red,” and even, “in season” as commonly used phrases.
The problem with this stigma is that it is extremely harmful both to the evolution and progress of society and to women. I felt the need to hide my tampons in my pocket at school when I was young so people wouldn’t know I was on my period. This feeling isn’t uncommon, most want to “[conceal] symptoms of menstruation,” Gillibrand wrote.
She adds, “that 79% of girls and young women had faced symptoms linked to their period that concerned them, but they hadn’t seen a doctor or health professional. Similarly, statistics from charity Endometriosis UK reveal that 62% of women aged 16-54 would put off going to a doctor with symptoms of endometriosis because they don’t think it’s serious enough to bother a doctor with, or they’d be embarrassed, or don’t think they’d be taken seriously, or think symptoms including painful periods are normal.” Society is drowning the natural bodily function of women in shame and embarrassment so much so that even concern for health did not make these women go to doctors. It is appalling that society’s negative views on periods put women in occasionally serious unhealthy situations because they don’t feel able to discuss it with even a doctor.
In some societies of the past, periods were celebrated since it symbolizes creation and the future of children. In our society, it is not so. The way we can change it is by allowing women and men alike to talk about it. Some women don’t even know that birth control can severely change periods, lightening the blood flow, lessening the pain, and even making the lethargy better. Normalizing these conversations will ultimately help those who have periods to seek medical help if they need and also have a closer relationship with their bodies.
Another step would be to discard the euphemisms. Periods are not “the red wave,” they are not “the visitor,” they are not, “Dracula’s teabag,” they are periods. They are menstrual cycles. They are natural.
While periods are painful at times and make women hangry and behave like Grumpy from Snow White, they are a part of life. They won’t go away no matter how hard we try to cover them up or ignore them, so society should embrace “the red wave.”
