Periods & Why We Shouldn't Be Ashamed

By Kat

For a long time, I was ashamed of the fact that I had my period. I’d never seen a woman have her period on TV or film or in adverts, and I also lived with my dad and not my mum growing up so there wasn’t a very constructive discussion about it all.

Even adverts for sanitary pads seem afraid to show any indication of blood, instead a pretty blue liquid is used to show how absorbent the product is (however recently Bodyform has been showing red liquid in an attempt to stop period shaming and start to normalise it). This is period shaming. Period shaming is behaviour that appears normal but makes a person with a period feel ashamed of what is happening to them, when they shouldn’t. This behaviour could include anything from being laughed at while buying tampons and ‘discrete’ quiet sanitary towel wrappers, to hiding used products in the bin so no one sees and having a bad mood put down to your ‘time of the month’. All of this behaviour can lead to a feeling of shame and uncleanliness due to your period, which simply isn’t right.

We shouldn’t feel ashamed for having a period, because it’s completely natural! Women have had periods since human beings became human beings, so there is no reason to feel like it is dirty or unnatural.

Here are some tips to try to overcome period shaming that I found worked for me!

• Don’t hide your pads/tampons when you’re walking to the bathroom - hiding them implies that you are doing something wrong, so make it seem normal and you might help inspire someone else!

• Don’t be afraid to go out and buy your own products rather than asking a parent, sibling or friend to help. Once I started doing this myself I felt much more empowered and independent.

• Finally, try to educate people (but only if you feel safe and able to do so). A lot of people (particularly people who don’t have a period or don’t have a female figure in their life) simply don’t understand what a period is and how natural it is.

Feel free to look through our other articles about periods if you need any more advice, and you can always send us a message!