The menstrual cycle is a monthly cycle that happens for every woman in the world. The way we perceive menstruation varies from culture to culture. Growing up with two sisters, a mom and a not-so-politically-correct dad, I had to learn the basics of the menstrual cycle at a pretty young age. I would always here my dad bitching that it was harder for him when the woman were on their period than it was for them. As a young and impressionable kid I always just believed that whatever my dad said was ultimately correct, so when I actually learned what the menstrual cycle was I was pretty amazed what girls have to go through every month.
Every culture is different with their attitude towards menstruation. The United States does not have a very open view on menstruation. We do not openly talk about woman on their periods and woman normally don’t share that information freely. For some reason we have made this 100% natural physical cycle a weird and awkward thing to talk about.
My family is a very open about our bodies and our issues. One of the funniest menstruation situations I have been in was at a VMI football game when I was a junior in high school. My cousins were on the football team and so all of my extended family was in town. My little sister is normally the life of the party and has to be the center of attention all the time, so when my family was all sitting around drinking at my uncle’s cabin right outside of town after the game and she was not getting any attention she had to think of something to turn the attention to her. She was in 7th grade and there were all these big VMI guys around and cousins and uncles and Rett randomly blurts out “I just got my period!” She said it loud enough for just about everyone to hear. All of the guys were disgusted and uncomfortable and all of the woman were excited for her and surprised she was so open about it. My uncle broke the silence and told her to “get off my damn couch then.” Low and behold she didn’t really have her period, she made the whole thing up. We still laugh about that when our family gets together.