When you first came into this physical world, what was your first home? No, not your parents’ house, long before that?

It was that wonderfully, soft and cosy, nourishing thick layer of mucus lining a woman’s uterus – your mother’s – penetrated by tiny blood vessels ensuring the very blood perfusion to support you with oxygen and all the nutrients you needed to grow into who you are, sitting right in front of this article right now.

Do you really think anyone should consider we are talking about a taboo here?

Surely, you as a reader are feeling comfortable enough about reading up on the topic of menstruation, as you have clicked to open this article. But how is your overall conditioning about the monthly blood flow of women? And how comfortable do those around you – including the men in your family- feel about openly talking about menstruation just as you would talk about other common daily topics such as a shopping list or picking up the kids from school?

Feel good about yourself as a menstruating being.

In our last article, we encouraged a positive attitude towards menstruation. Here we want to give tips so that menstruation is generally regarded in a normal positive way!

There are many books, websites and articles on this. You can even take online courses!

We also made a recommended reading list of our favourite books on this topic.

Open up uncomfortable feelings in family, education, growing girls AND boys

The topic of menstruation is still handled in various degrees of a stigma by many people all over the world. Think about this: every time you feel you have to whisper when telling a friend “I got my period today..” or “ do you have an extra pad, I have run out”, or “I have a stomach ache” when you actual are having menstrual cramps, aren’t you continuing to uphold the idea that any women on her period should hide it?

Do you use a code name when referring to menstruation? Technically speaking, the word ‘period’ already is a circumscription for menstruation, as it is coding ‘a certain time stretch’.

So, how to be ‘normal’ when talking about the monthly blood flow? Here are some tips:

• Don’t even make a big deal out of it, treat it as a normal topic from the beginning.
• Just start! Open the conversation and go with the flow.
• We also learn as we talk… Often the topic of menstruation is embedded naturally within other topics like pregnancy.
• When talking about menstruation, try to make it not only about hygiene, menstrual products or pregnancy. There is so much more to talk about! Use the opportunity to talk about the cycle of fertility itself, how it is to become a woman, emotions, sexuality.
• Make sure not to demonise menstruation by labeling it as something negative, like telling a girl “You will feel horrible the day it comes”. Each and everyone has their own experience!

Not sure how to start? Here is a handy guide to give you some ideas!

We shared on our blog nice books which introduce girls to menstruation.

In South India, girls celebrate their first period with a puberty ritual.

Miranda Gray has written a couple of useful books, one called Red Moon and another called The Optimized Woman, that discuss using the advantages of each cycle phase in your professional life to achieve success – all corporate bosses should read this to know how to benefit from women’s’ potentials!

Boys education on menstruation?

Have you ever wondered how boys learn about girls menstruating? Have you seen women waiting for males to be at a distance before mentioning their period? Consider this: understanding menstruation can help boys be more compassionate brothers, sons, husbands and fathers, as well as make them feel more connected to the women in their lives.

But maybe it does still feel like a sensitive topic to you. So how to go about it? Here are an inspirational document

and a guide to give you some ideas.

You might find that boys and men are actually very happy that they finally get to clarify some of their questions or have a chance to overcome awkwardness. Many men will feel more confident in their relationships with women if they know about their menstrual experiences.

Menstruation Management

When starting up the conversation about menstruation we also come to talk about its management: pads, tampons, cups. Here’s some food for thought for all women as well as men: if women use disposable menstrual products, they are exposed to harmful chemicals which can affect their health! Think about alternatives to make a switch that is beneficial for your own health as well as for the environment.

What are the alternatives?

Cloth washable pads and menstrual cups are safe, hygienic and environmentally friendly alternatives to disposable menstrual products. When cloth pads are washed well, dried in direct sunlight and stored properly, they are perfectly

hygienic. Eco Femme cloth pads are made of cotton flannel with a thin layer of PUL on the bottom layer for leakproofing and are reusable for 3+ years.

So seriously girls and boys: When you now think about that wonderfully, soft and cosy, nourishing thick layer of mucus, penetrated by tiny blood vessels, know: this will be the first home to keep your child nourished and protected if you parent a child one day to bring a beautiful new growing being into this physical world. It’s a blessed experience, so actually we can all feel more than comfortable, talking about menstruation.

Click here for a full version of this article on our blog.

The article is powered by Ecofemme – The Cloth Pad Revolution

Comments