Go With the Flow
To the boys who feel disgusted by women on their periods and the young ladies who fear womanhood because of it.
Here’s a sneak peak into our leak week:
Period 1: AP U.S. History
APUSH-ing my way through the day.
The cogs in my brain aren't turning,
but my uterus works like an industrial factory
throwing away the waste not needed for production.
Reproduction.
Period 2: AP Language
Periods are the punctuations at the end of a sentence, but it feels like there is no end to the sentence that I’m suffering in.
Period 3: Chemistry
Acids and bases.
Acne and faces.
Stress is the catalyst for the potential of those growing pimples.
As if PMS weren’t bad enough,
I have another thing to feel self conscious about.
Period 4: Pre calculus
Pre calculating the number of days until it ends,
Pre calculating when it begins,
Calculating on a scale from 1-10 the pain I feel in my abdomen.
Period 5: Spanish
I'm at my breaking point when the teacher speaks a foreign language
While I'm still trying to understand my own body's language.
When will the pain stop?
I DON’T KNOW, QUE PASO?
Period 6: Sports practice
How did a game of volleyball turn into
A game of “red rover, red rover, send a red river right over?”
No longer is it a game, but rather a war inside my body.
This is how the female mind is conformed to perceive the most significant bodily function
That sets women apart from men.
As girls, we are taught at a young age to hide our imperfections behind makeup,
To shrink until we are paper thin like the altered “beauties” on magazines
To hide our tampons and pads up our sleeves
And tie jackets around our waists to hide our stains
Yet... periods are what make women women.
Young girl:
There is no need to feel ashamed.
You cannot help the turning of the clock
or the days you are assigned
But know this:
You are now capable of carrying life within your belly,
Another beating heart,
A growing mind--
A mind that may hold the cure for cancer
Or the words that will start a revolution.
Take pride.
And to the boys who disrespect women for all that they cannot help:
You were brought into this world by a woman.
She faced the sharp words that rolled off the tongues of boys who undignified her body
And made her feel less beautiful about the things that she could not change.
No woman should feel ashamed
For what she can and cannot do.
Let her waters flow free,
Let her wear her tampon on her sleeve,
Let her emotions spill onto the pages and onto her seat,
Let her be.
Period.