Not everyone who menstruates is a woman and not all women menstruate.
When I experienced my first period, the world around me said I was ‘becoming a woman’. As a cisgender woman, my peers, parents and surrounding pop culture confirmed this. Now (many, many periods later) I realise that this could not be more wrong.
For all of us, the cost of living crisis is part of our day to day. The palpable stress of paying heating bills, the daily bombardment of depressing news stories and the flurry of tik Tok heating hacks on our phones. However, one key issue has become lost amongst the noise. Period poverty…
As many of us savour the ability to spend all day in pyjamas or even relish not needing an excuse to stay in and binge Tiger King, there are people for whom this lockdown is not a break, it is breaking them.
It is without doubt that the secrecy and stigma surrounding women’s menstruation unfortunately still persists in our society today. Starting at school age, the taboo about periods prevents it from being an openly talked about subject; rather in many communities it is still thought of as an uncomfortable topic of conversation, even ‘dirty’.
