Periods - do you think things are changing?

[Shiverrrrmetimbers]

When I was a teenager / young woman I hung out with a very open minded bunch but we never talked about periods amongst friends. If you had to ask to borrow a tampon it was all very hush hush etc.

Fast forward to age 43. In work today I had dreadful cramps and I casually mentioned it to my colleague who commiserated and then told me about her painful periods. It felt really normal to just be chatting about it.

So my question is, is it becoming more ‘normal’ for women to be able to chat about periods, say they’re on them etc or is it just because I’ve grown older and am no longer embarrassed. Hopefully it’s the former!

I hope so! I’m 32 and I freely talk about mine with women and men. Mainly because I have endometriosis, so I’m fully open about how much pain I go through, in the hope that it spreads awareness. The more people talk about stuff like that, hopefully it educates people and we won’t have to suffer without help.

Obviously my case is an extreme one and not everyone suffers.

I think it's an age / experience thing to an extent. My childhood was spent like yours and, even up to the point of giving birth it really wasn't something I talked about

After I'd given birth though I had no shame left

Yes I think you're right. I think our generation have done a pretty good job at getting young people to open up about periods and remove the social stigma. Long may it last!

I remember having a long (and very lively) discussion when I was in year 10/11 with a group of girls from my year about the pads/tampons in the vending machines at school.
One of the (female) teachers came in part way through and joined in.
The discussion was over whether only having regular and small tampons was adequate, and involved some people going into depth about flow rate etc.
That was 30 years ago, so no I don't think things have changed dramatically.

I think it is, yes

I'm 52 and have never encountered any hush hush except for when I first started my periods ages 9 (almost 10) and the junior school said I was to use the staff toilets each month as children still mucked around in the children's toilets and they thought it would be better for me to change in their toilets.

Back then it was a sanitary bwlr with sanitary towels the size of a house brick that had loops that attached to the belt.

I think it's been abating for a very long time now. There was no taboo or hush around it when I was at school and I'm 28, so that's going back 15 years at least. We talked freely about them, joked, shared spare tampons etc.

My mum (in her mid-50s) and all my friend's mums were also very open about periods, although I did get more of a sense that was more of an acquired thing. I often heard how their parents' generation wouldn't talk about it or hadn't even told them about periods.

Both of my grandmas are still alive. One is always quite liberal and has always talked openly about them. The other wouldn't unless you got a few whiskeys down her!

I think it’s an age/confidence thing. Times mightt (and should) be changing but it’s very gradual.

I'm 50, and the girls I was at school with were all quite open about it; it wasn't a hushed thing at all. I really don't see much difference in how women and girls interacted about it then than they do now.
However, I do recall when sanitary products started being advertised on the telly. That was a big thing at the time.
I think maybe there is more openness in society/ media generally than before. It's not a woman's "little secret" anymore.

I've change in this regard, but I'm not sure it's a wider thing than that.

I remember being on a school trip when I was about 14 and me and my friend had gone into one of the sixth formers' rooms for something. We were both taken aback that one of them had left a pack of pads on their bed, in full view of everyone (even thought that 'everyone' was just other girls they'd spent 7 years with at school)! We were horrified! We'd discuss periods among ourselves, but would never have been quite that open about it

Now, however, I'm more than willing to discuss reusable towels and moon cups with people. I work with a group of lasses about 20 years younger than myself, and they tend to bulk at the subject, so as I say I reckon it's an age thing rather than a societal thing.

Saying that, it also depends on the person. My DM has always been very funny about periods. Last time she knew I was on in her house she panicked that she needed to do something special with the towels I'd been using, even though she knew I'd been using a moon cup. She thinks menstrual blood is dirtier than normal blood. My would-be MIL, who's ten years older, on the other hand has no such feelings about such things which means that DP is far more accepting about things such as my washable pads going into the wash with his clothes than my mother would ever be.

Thinking about openess, l have a colleague who takes a tampon out of her bag and wallks to the loo with it in her hand.

DD is 16 and very open about periods - she was the first of her friends to start, and now evangelises about moon cups to them all, and there are quite a few young youtubers etc who also talk about periods a lot.

A few years back when some boys at school spotted a pad in her pocket and tried to tease her about it, she basically gave them a lecture and embarrassed them for trying to embarrass her.

There's still a long way to go, but it is definitely less of a taboo to talk about than when I was her age (I'm over 50 now). I can't imagine all the campaigns and news coverage about period poverty happening back then.

Definitely less of a taboo in general, but with a lot of variation. Discussing the VAT on feminine hygiene products in Parliament was considered quite shocking at the time - I heard Gordon Brown had to coin the euphemism 'sanpro' to do it. I remember at college a mate offered to pick stuff for me from the shop so I asked for some tampons and milk and gave him part of the previous tampon box so he could get the right ones.
Two female students were shocked that I was asking a bloke to buy tampons, whereas I was feeling guilty about the weight of the milk! I think that would be less likely now.

I’m still waiting for the day when the blue liquid they use to advertise sanitary protection is actually red, you know like blood.

Lllot5
That is because the ads are aimed at the Royals!

I’m very open about it as it’s s normal thing that happens to approximately half the population of the world. Even animal mammals menstruate. My mum was open with me about it which meant I could talk to her as I had awful pain and heavy bleeding as a teen.

My dad saw it as dirty and shameful and taboo. He made my mum ‘have a word’ as I accidentally dropped a pad backing strip on the bathroom floor. ‘What if her brother had seen that?’ Well he’s 2 years older and would assume one of the two females in his home was having a period like all other women. It is a normal thing and should be treated as such.

@starlightlady, the royals don’t have periods, they have people to do that for them lol.

It certainly is a change for me, my 12-year-old daughter often tells me she was discussing periods, bras, or other things with her friends that I would have never imagined discussing with anyone at her age. I'm certainly more comfortable talking about it now than when I was younger, but I still don't really bring it up first.

Funny you should say that starlight when my mum was explaining periods she said all perfectly normal every woman had them and I said what even the queen

Thinking about openess, l have a colleague who takes a tampon out of her bag and wallks to the loo with it in her hand

And why not?

The 'tampon tax' may have inadvertently helped a bit - hearing MPs discussing tampons in parliament (I remember a particularly cheerful contribution by George Osborne of all people) tended to blow the taboo out of the water.

My DD is 12, she's much more open about it than I ever was. She hasn't even started yet, but will comfortably talk about it.

My mum never discussed it. She did 'the talk' with me but that was it really. Not that she ever thought it was shameful, she would leave boxes of tampax in the bathroom etc but she was just of the opinion that life went on and you didn't make a fuss about it which I think rubbed off on me. I still don't feel the need to share with people when I'm on, even DH, unless it becomes relevant! Not that he's bothered. I just don't feel the need to share. I have a feeling DD won't be like that!