Wednesday, 9 March 2016

Why We Need To Talk About Our Periods!

There are some things that I’ve found that I talk about a lot more in real life than online. Obviously, there’s the day-to-day chitchat that makes the day flow, but I’ve realised that there are some topics that I haven’t yet touched on my blog but am actually really passionate about making sure they’re discussed in real life.

It was Hannah Witton’s video that I watched last Friday, that made me actually realise that. Hannah talked about periods and how they’ve become very tabooed in our society and I thought I would continue that discussion.


I’ve always been someone who’s been quite open about their period. When I was younger and first got my period I would talk about it with my friends. The 12 and 11 year olds who had been getting their period one by one. It was something new that we could talk about - those of us who had started would talk about it to those who hadn’t. It was a whole new part of growing up for us. 

There are so many things you can talk about with periods and they would usually come up in conversation quite often, particularly at events such as sleepovers. It’s something that felt natural for us to talk about.

And I think it’s quite important that we do talk about them - for several reasons.

A)  Periods are a natural bodily function that many people have become awkward about. Why?! 

One of the things Hannah said in her video was that “we are comfortable with seeing blood and gore in films and on TV but find period blood gross.” (Okay sorry about the paraphrasing but that’s basically it.)

 I can bet you that the average person who has periods will see period blood way more often than they will blood from, I don’t know, Deadpool taking out a whole gang at once ( both in real life and on screen). Why is one deemed gross while the other has been normalised - it’s all still blood at the end of the day!




B)  Sometimes periods can be harmful and actually really dangerous for the person who is bleeding. 

If we talk about our periods then it can become easier to spot when something isn’t right - you can mistake a pain in the abdomen for period pain when it’s not, bleeding could be caused from something other than your period etc. 

Make sure that you know what is normal for your period and stay safe, particularly if you get super heavy periods.

C)  It’s just really nice to vent about cramps and pains and all the horrible stuff that comes along with having a period. 

Seriously, I don’t want to keep it bottled up and feel awkward about mentioning how much pain I am in unless someone thinks I’m actually ill. I don’t want to be embarrassed when I’m feeling like I’m dying from cramps that paracetamol won’t help with. Let me complain when I need to, it oddly makes me feel a bit better.

D)  Everyone should be made aware of periods. 

They’re a massive part of half of the population's lives.

To watch Hannah's video click here




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There were many potential titles for this post - practically all of which involved period puns. Exhibit A: Stop Avoiding The Bloody Conversation! (Why We Should Be Speaking Up About Our Periods.) Period puns make me laugh and I'm sure they make you laugh too - please share your best period puns in the comments and spread the lols! 

Jemima x





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