I Will No Longer Be Ashamed of My Period
One of the most demeaning things that a woman in a Westernised society has to do is discreetly hide a tampon or sanitary towel in the sleeve of their shirt or the pocket of their trousers when on their period during working hours.
I have worked in both retail and an office-space environment and in both jobs I found myself retrieving a tampon out of my bag and secretly sneaking it up my sleeve to carry to the nearest bathroom. Although the department in which I work is currently female-led, the overall office is predominantly male and therefore I am surrounded by men; to my left, to my right and opposite me. Therefore, it is not always easy to remove such an item from my bag as discreetly as I’d like. Fortunately, the bathrooms lie a mere 50 steps away but every time I head there with what feels like contraband up my sleeve – a lot of the time my work trousers don’t have pockets – I feel as though everyone can sense what I am hiding, with them all suddenly knowing more about me than I ever intended.
However, what shames me more than the thought of not being discreet enough is how much I care about this; how I overanalyse and overthink of when and how the best time and way to grab a tampon to take to the toilet. It frustrates me that I have to hide such a natural part of my life to allow my male counterparts to live in ignorance of what women go through.
One of society’s most outdated standards is how it is still considered taboo for women to discuss a period. Hiding such an item is most likely considered to be a small action for women in order to hide an uncomfortable fact from men. But despite it being a small action, it has much larger connotations and consequences.
I’m very fortunate to live in a society where I can buy tampons and pads (even if they are taxed on), I am also very lucky in that my dad lives with three women (my mum, sister and I) and understands the inner workings of periods and how they affect us. However, I still must conform to societal standards which expect me to treat my periods as a shameful thing that is not to be discussed. If I don’t, I am judged, laughed at or mocked for simply having a uterus.
The depiction of women on their periods in the media only adds to this stigmatisation. We are seen as fearful, angry beasts who are irrational and unreasonable when menstruating. The most famous example of this is when Donald Trump – presidential candidate at the time – said in an interview in 2015 that “you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever” in reference to Megyn Kelly. This double depiction of blood serves as a reference to how a woman is angry when she is bleeding, a sexist slur as a way to demonise women.
In some ways, it seems as though the stigmatisation around periods has progressed. This was evident when this year a short film Period. End of Sentence. won the award for Best Documentary Short at the Oscars. It tells the story of a group of women who operate a machine that makes low-cost, biodegradable sanitary pads in India. The documentary empowers women to break the taboos around periods while helping others and making a wage for themselves. However, despite the critical acclaim, the documentary received backlash from viewers as well as from several of the male Oscar judges. One of them stated that "[I'm not going to vote for] Period. End of Sentence — it's well done, but it's about women getting their period, and I don't think any man is voting for this film because it's just icky for men," he wrote in his anonymous Oscar ballot. There is clearly still a way to go.
Perhaps if there was more of an open discussion surrounding the topic then people might be aware of the implications and further struggles other women have when it comes to periods. It may start with a working woman hiding her sanitary products from the prying eyes of men and men not believing periods are “icky” but it certainly doesn’t end there. One of the most prominent aspects that is so rarely discussed is period poverty. It was found that around 49% of girls have missed a day of school due to their period, with another statistic stating that 1 in 7 girls have had to borrow sanitary items from a friend due to insufficient funds.
Furthermore, this is not just a local issue but an international one; humanitarian crises in many third world countries leave dozens of women without safe and clean sanitary products and they often have to resort to using dirty rags or items of clothing that is not hygienic. It is often taboo in their culture to even mention it, with some women being forced to sleep in a separate room during their menstrual cycle.
All around the world, women and girls are struggling with a cycle that is as natural as the hair that grows on our legs. We are shamed into hiding it, forbidden to talk of it and it is because of this that we are unaware of those who are less fortunate, those who miss out on an education or are punished for such a thing as bleeding.
Things have developed over the past few years with more public places offering sanitary products for free such as football stadiums and universities, and governments also introducing funding for free menstrual products in schools this year. This may be a huge step forward for those in the UK but there is still a long road ahead for other countries.
An open dialogue around the world is necessary if we are to fix these issues together.
For more information on how you can help locally, visit: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/girls-making-change/ways-to-take-action/period-poverty/
For more information on how you can help internationally, visit: https://www.actionaid.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/emergencies-disasters-humanitarian-response/periods-in-humanitarian-disasters
Written by Issy Packer
Hi! I’m Issy, I’m 23 years old and I’m an English Literature graduate currently living in Bristol. I’m very passionate about a number of things including travelling, writing, reading, film, music and feminism.