Ahliyah Williams

06/12/19

Dr. Hinks

Help Received: References Ahliyah Williams

Artifact 6: Lets Talk, Period.

When someone says the word tampon or pad, instantly peoples face fills with discomfort and disgust. Want to get a creepy boy from bothering you? Say “I’m on my period”, that will surely get him to run away. Why are so many women so self- conscious when buying things for that menstrual cycle. The woman’s period is the signal of womanhood and fertility, something as beautiful and holds so much power, but treated with the utmost disrespect. Why has the menstrual cycle come as one of the most disgusting topics to be discussed among not only men but even women?

Some parents throw period parties for their girls that get their first period. I never had one of these, and the truth of the matter is, I didn’t even know people still did this. From a tampon shaped pinata to a vulva cake, some parents go extreme to make sure their child knows the significance of their first period. There are so many reactions to a girls first period, the celebration is one. Another reaction would be mine. I can remember my first period. It was totally unexpected and scary! I woke up to it and started running to my mom’s room and crying. My mother comforted me. This reaction seems to be the most common. It was almost like an instinct or a natural reaction for me. In an article called. “Why we’re taught to hide our periods”,  Rachel Hatzipanagos says, “I don’t know where I learned to be ashamed. I just knew, like how we know what hunger is before we learn the word to describe it”. This shows just how much the world has controlled women’s brains to think that the one thing shows that a girl is changing into a woman, is abnormal. A girl is constantly stigmatized by commercials, magazines, and even television that a girl should hide anything to do with their period. Pads are covered with fancy wrapping and flowers. There are even delivery options to spare a trip from having to go buy these things in person. Women are willing to go to extremes to protect other peoples comfortability.

Thoughts about the menstrual cycle have changed so much over time. Unfortunately, it is difficult to go back to a certain point of time with the menstrual cycle because there is little documentation. But before the 1900s, women didn’t have much to do about their monthly flow, so they had to bleed through their clothes most of the time. Starting in the 1900s, people had realized that it was very unsanitary to bleed in clothes. Washable pads were the new thing in. It came in the form of a belt and was quite bulky and very inconvenient. Now there are tampons and disposable pads that give women much more freedom to do their daily activities, one of those which is sports. Women in the early to mid-1900s, for the most part, we’re not kicking balls around or running around. Now that women have more rights to participate in activities that require physical activity, pads and tampons are necessary.

In conclusion, the “period-talk” will always be something that is prevalent in someone’s household. Even though periods are a topic that may make people uncomfortable, they are not like the newest pair of shoes, they will never go out of style. The menstrual cycle is something that should be treated with respect, because like Leah Stone, a poet said, “If this monthly flow of ours makes you uncomfortable, maybe I should remind you where the fuck you came from”. Lastly, with the invention of sports and things that require physical activity like more women in the workplace, pads and tampons are somewhat necessary, not to protect other people, but to make a woman feel free enough to do what she has to do.

References

(2014). Rachel Hatzipangos. Why we’re taught to hide our Periods. The Lily. 

(2018). Erin Laskis. The History of Periods: How Women Have Dealt With Menstruation Through the Ages. Knixteen.