#FreePeriodStories
Remember that time when you dropped a tampon in front of your family? How you curled up with embarrassment when an advert for pads aired when you were watching TV with your parents? Do you still hide a tampon up your sleeve as you shuffle to the bathroom? Do you whisper the word ‘period’ and ask a friend for products in hushed tones like you’re doing something wrong?
Society has conditioned us to be ashamed of our period, and buy into the big, fat lie that there is something wrong with the menstruating body, that it’s weird, disgusting and dirty. At Free Periods, we believe that’s ridiculous.
Periods are a natural, normal biological process that a quarter of the world’s population experience, at any given time. They are often unavoidable and inevitable, a result of having a uterus. Yet, we live under an almighty shadow of shame from the minute we start bleeding.
We are taught from a very young age to hide our periods, to treat menstruation as a secret because it’s gross and unnatural. It’s no wonder that when we start our periods, we often find ourselves traumatised, bewildered and isolated. The taboo around periods is a form of misogyny; representing a broader subordination of women and people that menstruate.
This is destructive.
But since the stigma around periods is a social construct, and we believe we can deconstruct it through conversation, through normalisation, and we need to dismantle it to build a more equal society for everyone.
We’re challenging the stigma around periods by encouraging online and IRL conversation. We need to break the silence around a normal, human process.
Post your funny, awkward or memorable period stories tagging #FreePeriodStories and ask your friends to do the same! Go to our Instagram page, or #FreePeriodStories, to watch the stories we’ve collected so far.
