“It’s Just Your Period.” — How the Invalidation of Periods Silences Women

For too long periods have been a mixture of a taboo subject and a joke. But for women, this is no laughing matter.

Photo by Josefin on Unsplash

“Ignore you’re mum. She’s on the blob.”

I watched my mum rushing around the house, trying to keep on top of chores. She was muttering swear words under her breath and ranting about how nobody ever helps her. My mum’s temper was frightening and I could sense her anger was about to bubble over. My dad attempted to reassure me by informing me it was just her period and she always goes like this.

So that was it. Periods made women mad. Anything they said on a period was not to be taken seriously. My seven year old brain didn’t question this.

But then at the age of fourteen, I got my first period.

My first period was excruciating. I had no idea what was happening to me. I thought my insides were being twisted. I lay on the floor in pain and looked up to see my mum’s disapproving face. “It’s just a period,” she sighed in exasperation. Like her and her mother before her, I was plagued with painful periods from that day on. And like her and her mother before her, I reasoned that this was how it was supposed to me. It was just my period.

Fast forward to the present day and I am off sick from work because of my periods. I have period pain even when I’m not on my period. I’m always bloated and tired. The week before a period is mental torture and I contemplate suicide. I have had to fight for a referral to gynaecology and an ultrasound. Because it’s just my period.

Except it’s not just my period. And we need to stop conditioning people to think periods are a trivial matter. Whether periods create physical pain and/or emotional pain, that pain is valid.

Physically painful periods have a name. It is called Dysmenorrhoea. Due to research varying so much on the subject, findings have shown that Dysmenorrhoea effects between 16–91% of women, with 2–29% describing the pain as severe. Family…