My First Period
Img Prabh Kaur & Rupi Kaur
CW: Menstrual cycles, I know not all women have vulvas &/or periods but posts under “Leak Week” are about my body and personal experiences.
also…. CW: Overuse of the term BFF
I have been really annoyed because I’m sick and have been unable to write.. the brain fog is real. But luckily this morning I got my period and I can write about that blindly all frigen day!
I always update my personal instagram friends (& followers) on my cycle so why wouldn’t I post about it on the platform I am dedicating to bodies?!? So here it is.. The first official Leak Week on Sex Talk. How exciting. For our first LW together I am just going to do some introductory posts on my cycle, my history with the pill and some of my favourite products / things I would die if I didn’t have (over dramatic? No.). So here we go… memmmmmorrries
The first time I got my period I was at home with my sister, mum was at work. I cried on the phone to her, I wasn’t her little girl any more, I didn’t want to grow up. I also didn’t want her to tell her best friend/my second mother, because I thought she would tell everyone (over dramatic? No.).
Anyway she obviously told her because she “popped in” with her daughters and The Game of Life (how poetic) and I spent the rest of the day constantly feeling where my uncomfortably large pad was sitting in my pants. A habit I still have today.
I remember trying tampons, terrified, I would put one in just enough that if I ran my finger over my vagina I’d be able to feel the end of the tampon and the pain that caused, I’d end up taking it out after about 5 minutes. I think everyone went through the “I don’t want it to get lost” phase and like duh I know there is a string there but stfu. I wonder how first time tampon experiences differ in countries like the US where tampons with applicators are the standard? I have had the ‘you whack your finger up there, you dirty heathen?’ look a few times.
Countdown: Top 3 Fave Period Memories from High School / Teenage Years
THREE. I had* a tiny bladder and always needed to pee and bless his heart my BFF, Iain, would always wait outside the toilet blocks for me. I can still remember hearing teachers telling him to stop standing at the entrance of the girls bathroom, simultaneously, he would reply “I’m waiting for Jordan” as I yelled “He’s waiting for me!” from the toilet stall. Whenever I got my period, his wait would be longer and I remember him yelling in at me about the dangers of TSS, don’t know how he had that info but he was the one who prompted me to read the leaflet in the tampon box, again, bless his heart.
*I’m sure I will cover my bladder issues one day.
TWO. Every weekend I would go to my BFF Madison’s house and we would rent old &/or straight to dvd scary movies (and also phantom of the opera because Gerard Butler’s spit string really got us going). One morning I went to the bathroom and Aunt Flow had visited overnight. I cleaned myself up, wadded my undies with toilet paper and went back into her room to ask for a tampon. She tried to be subtle but immediately looked down at the bed next to her, where I had been sleeping and slowly pulled down the doona to check if I got it in her bed. Her reaction of not freaking out but wanting to check because we’ve all been there before, it made me laugh then and it makes me laugh now.
ONE. BFF Iain and I had a lot of classes together and as stated in memory #3, he did a lot of waiting around for me while I was on the toot. One day we were really late for class and when the male teacher went to scold us and asked for an excuse, being a class clown I had no issues yelling, “I got my period! Ok?!” he blushed, turned to Iain and said “what were you doing then?” To which Iain shrugged and said “moral support?”.
These memories are of course juvenile and probably (definitely) aren’t as funny as I recall. Going through puberty is hard, and I of course remember times when I didn’t quite understand, when I didn’t think anyone else would understand and had experiences that flat out caused trauma. But for today I just wanted to reflect on these snippets that were ok, light hearted even, if you ignore the undertones of societal and patriarchal pressure, shame and misinformation.
