STOP NORMALISING PERIOD PAIN.

I would say “I don’t know who needs to hear this” but apparently most people do. People need to stop normalising pain during a woman’s period. By people, I mean a lot of fucking women need to stop normalising painful periods. 

Let’s be honest, we aren’t exactly taught much growing up about periods, your menstrual wellbeing or really much of anything on gynaecological health and the signs to look out for. You’re sort of just told “this is a period, it happens every month and you may get cramps.” That’s not really enough, especially when everyone’s body is completely different and periods will just vary because of your body. So how are young women supposed to know what’s right and what’s wrong? My first period was a lot later than nearly every other girl I grew up with so that was confusing in itself and then I never used to experience any form of discomfort around my periods (apart from the fact tampons were a massive nope from me, realising why neatly 10 years later). My periods genuinely used to be every very regular and pretty low-maintenance.

A moment of silence for how long that fucking lasted.

However, a recent article was published where a (female) Vice Principal at a school in Oxford told the female sixth form students that they couldn’t take time off of school because “inconvenience is all part of being a woman” and that they must learn to “manage their periods.” All because you wouldn’t be able to take sick leave from a workplace because of your period and therefore you shouldn’t be able to at school. All so damaging to the wellbeing and education for women on their own bodies. You can read the article here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/oxford-spires-sixth-form-girls-can-t-take-time-off-for-periods-because-pain-just-part-of-being-a-woman-w8d9gpp5p?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1606394440 

So, what’s damaging about saying things like this (especially when other women make these comments)? As I’ve already said, the lack of education on periods, menstrual wellbeing and all gynaecological health conditions is shocking. Meaning the lack of this education leads to young women growing up and trying to deal with any pain and issues they suffer with because of their periods. Pain is not normal! If you are in that much pain where you become sick, migraines, laying on the bathroom floor, bed bound needing physical help to move - something is not right! But how are young women supposed to know this is they are not taught anything about gynaecological health and then deal with comments from people who you are supposed to look up to? Or you have to force yourself into work so the you don’t lose your job because a “bad period” isn’t a reason to have sick leave.

Women suffer through the pain because they are lead to believe that periods should not stop you from carrying on as normal when, in reality, many women are unknowingly suffer through severe pains which are to do with serious gynaecological health issues. This should not be passed as an “inconvenience” that women have to go through when it is damaging to their physical and mental health. Women know their own bodies and when something isn’t right yet, even by the majority of medical professionals, it will still be passed as bad period pain which “everyone gets at some point” or just generalised hysteria (I did a previous entry on women’s pain: hysterical until proven otherwise). To stop normalising painful periods, as well as pain in women as a whole, how about we actually educate people on gynaecological health? Why should women have to go off on their own to understand their own fucking biology and what’s right and what’s wrong because we stuck with the basic “this is a period” talk? If we actually gave the proper education, maybe it wouldn’t take so fucking long for gynaecological health issues to be diagnosed because doctor’s would be bombarded by the knowledge from a woman about her own body (this is not about male doctors but doctors as a whole, my female gynaecologist was actually the worst person to dismiss my pain but doctors as a whole taking the time to accept when a woman has noticed changes to her gynaecological health). The only thing we can do is just keep on fighting to give young women the right education on their own bodies. 

Will I ever shut up about fucking periods? Probably not. It’s 2020 and we still spend years dismissing women of their pain. That creates more problems. It gets fucking dark in your head because no one wants to listen to your health concerns. 

Here’s some useful links on websites, books to read and so on:

Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctor’s Believe in Women’s Pain by Abby Norman

Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement by Nadya Okamoto, illustrated by Rebecca Elfast

The Autism-Friendly Guide to Periods by Robyn Steward

Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity by Jennifer Weiss-Wolf

Period Power: Harness Your Hormones and Get Your Cycle Working for You by Maisie Hill 

Period: Twelve Voices Tell the Bloody Truth by Kate Farrell 

Promoting Menstrual Wellbeing by the Royal College of Nursing: https://www.rcn.org.uk/clinical-topics/womens-health/promoting-menstrual-wellbeing 

Wellbeing of Women: https://www.wellbeingofwomen.org.uk/your-health/periods 

Menstrual Wellbeing Toolkits: https://www.fsrh.org/news/rcgp-creates-menstrual-wellbeing-toolkit-for-use-by-gps/