“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.
“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…
