it took doctors several years to diagnose my endometriosis. and after it finally got diagnosed and i ended up in a huge surgery, i left home with not much more information about myself and my body except that i needed to eat birth control pills until i experienced menopause. the same pills we still donât know enough about and which absolutely do not cure endometriosis, but which do worsen migraine, cause blood clots, worsen depression, cause weight gain, worsen acne... and have a negative effect on the environment, especially among aquatic organisms. among many other things.
this, despite the fact that over 10% of women have endometriosis. 1 in 10. basically two or three girls in every classroom in every school.
it took several years for me to not be terrified of the idea that someone knew i was on my period, that i needed to buy pads, that i needed to open one in a public bathroom. i still feel the same discomfort, but only when i have to do these things around men. i still feel ashamed to tell a man (who I donât date) that i canât continue an x activity because of my period pain.
this, despite the fact that around 50% of the human population experiences periods at some point in their life. around 800 000 000 women are menstruating right now, as we speak.
it took several years for me to understand what blood clots were and why i had them. it took even longer for me to understand why my blood was sometimes brown. it took me several years to understand what kind of discharge is supposed to be normal and what isnât. it took me long as fuck to figure out when and why my breasts suddenly become sore and aching - and i am still dumbfounded sometimes by how they react to my cycle.
this, despite the fact that almost all women experience periods, and we technically should have a fuckton of data to look at - easily available for young girls to study in schools and in safe, trustworthy environments. the internet doesnât count because itâs hard to search for what you donât know you donât know and thereâs a fuckton of misinformation laying around too.
itâs been hundreds of thousands of years since the beginning of humankind, and we only now have been starting to invent period products that are hygienic, leak-proof, smell-proof, comfortable and recyclable, all at the same time. itâs been hundred of thousands of years, and we still apparently donât know much of anything when it comes to menstrual pain, heavy bleeding and the relationship between diet and menstrual health. we still donât know enough about ovulation and when exactly it happens, so we have to rely on drugs with horrifying side effects. or abortion, which can kill or permanently injure us. we still fucking suck at talking about periods in a way that is simultaneously informative, neutral, safe and empathetic (the twitter quote above proves that).
the only thing we do know for sure is that we have lost a whole lot of valuable inter-generational information regarding womenâs health and bodies because of the silencing, murdering and burning of all the midwives and female healers, and their replacement by âmale gynecologistsâ. we know that if it wasnât for misogyny, we would be in a whole another place with all of this.
there is so much we donât know even here in the wealthy, liberal and western world. there is so much stigmatization, fear, misinformation and literal propaganda. there is so much pain that is shoved under the rug. all of that deserves to be discussed, AT THE VERY LEAST in feminist communities that were established for that very purpose.
but even if we donât take any of that into account?
itâs pretty fucking anti-feminist shit ass take to claim that me talking about something that affects me 7-8 days a month, 3 months a year, 10 years of my entire life, is supposedly âpathologically obsessiveâ. no, itâs just me talking about my fucking lived reality. if you canât handle that, then maybe, just maybe, youâre also affected by the same misogynistic system i am trying to dismantle, but youâre in denial about its existence. maybe, just maybe, your ass is sore exactly because you should be talking about periods too.
andulkaphoto
amandla
ellievsbear
gamechangershow
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
romaincrisis
blakekathryn
