Suggested by Anonymous.
how about the moment you become ok with your period? or become friends with it? or you can feel your uterine lining falling away and dripping out and you smile and are happy? how about that first time you take out your sponge and squeeze all the warm blood out? how about when you buy your first washable pad or pour out your first moon cup? how about when you get all excited about being super connected with the moon or when you find out you and your best friend are on the same cycle and you bond over it instead of complain?
^True that.
It’s not that simple for everyone. Some people who get periods are not female identified and get very dysphoric during that time. Some people have endometriosis or PCOS or other conditions affecting their reproductive system that cause extremely painful, heavy periods. Some people have severe PMS throughout their cycle that can cause them to be extremely irritable or (in my case) so overly emotional that they experience frequent suicidal thoughts. Some people experience an unwanted increase or decrease in their sex drive during their period that they find very unsettling. Some people have had miscarriages and have horrible memories associated with bleeding down there. Some people hate blood and feel terrified knowing that part of their body will be excreting blood for roughly a week. I could go on.
People need to stop acting like loving your period is a vital part of feminism. Some people don’t love their periods; some people can’t. Some women don’t even get periods (because they’re trans* or for other reasons) and wish they could love them, but can’t.
People are allowed to love their periods and people are allowed to hate them. Stop trying to guilt others over not worshipping their periods. Nobody is complaining; they’re simply celebrating the end of their period as a time they think is a good thing.
I have an extremely heavy flow that makes me feel horrible ABOUT EVERYTHING IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE and my body. I typically already am, but it makes everything worse. Especially in the winter time when I’m feeling way too down on myself and project a bitter mood on everyone.
Body policing is not okay. Trying to coerce and guilt people into body positivity is NOT okay. It is OKAY to dislike your body or certain bodily functions. It is cool to love your period, because it is YOURS, but don’t expect everyone else to have some sort of universal love for their period. And I think telescopics makes a great point in saying that some women don’t get periods because they are transgender but wish they could have a period to love. So please, make sure that you can checking your privilege before you say things that can transcend beyond assigned sex, anatomy, and biology.
This is important commentary. Not loving your period is can not simply be written off a result of the widespread attitude (in the US) that periods are disgusting or shameful and that we must dislike them and never talk about it. There are so many reasons that people would dislike their period, as neutresex and telescopics already pointed out. We really need to be careful about things like this, because telling somebody to love their period could cause them greater stress or dysphoria. When somebody tells me to love my period, I get annoyed because they aren’t the ones that have to deal with immobilizing pain that often causes me to vomit. They don’t have to deal with a bodily function that sometimes feels so wrong, and causes dysphoria. I fully support body positivity, however, do not attempt to coerce other people into it. That completely misses the point.
^^ all of this and more.
not to mention squeezing warm blood out of pads is squicky to me. and that being able to be in a place to buy sponges and diva cups and reusable pads is great privilege. it’s also a privilege to feel okay with your body.
Reblogged to agree with all of that awesome commentary disagreeing with @dustmaterial. Another reason one might not want to “make friends with” their period: PMDD. Violent depression and suicide ideation thanks to a monthly(-ish) hormone imbalance make loving your period a liiiittle difficult.
Some f*minists argue that PMDD is a social construction.
Yeah, I don’t even
This commentary is pretty great. I have been using a Lunette cup for the last few months and it has made me feel a little better about my period, but I have a regular cycle and no other health issues that might preclude me from using a cup. On the other hand, I don’t think I will ever feel completely wonderful about menstruating because I get PMDD symptoms, severe cramping and I just don’t want to be pregnant. Like, I feel as if my period is this odd, surplus function of my body (yet so many women have told me that I’ll change my mind and that my body was born to be a mother… um no thanks.)