{"id":20835,"date":"2021-04-01T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T16:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=20835"},"modified":"2021-04-01T11:58:53","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T18:58:53","slug":"lets-talk-2-0-period-stigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2021\/04\/01\/lets-talk-2-0-period-stigma\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Talk 2.0<\/em>: Period stigma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Periods have a lot of stigma surrounding them. Even mentioning them can make people uncomfortable. For something natural to the human species, it’s odd that it’s been marked as a taboo subject.<\/p>\n

Before we start off properly here, it’s important to note that it’s not just women who menstruate. There are plenty of people who have a uterus who don\u2019t identify as women, and there are plenty of people who identify as women and don\u2019t have a uterus. But regardless of gender expression, there is an overwhelming aura of shame around the topic.<\/p>\n

The stigma surrounding menstruation is something that\u2019s been ingrained in human history for thousands of years. It\u2019s always been considered a \u201cwoman\u2019s topic\u201d that should never be discussed outside of your close friends or, God forbid, in front of a man; it\u2019s something that needs to be dealt with privately, discreetly, and with poise. Yikes\u2014what an awful mentality that is.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Let’s Talk 2.0<\/em> is a column exploring feminist issues (graphic by Celina Lessard\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thanks to feminist movements and the hard work of many talented individuals, we\u2019ve progressed a lot. As more education and resources become available, people have slowly become more receptive to the idea of talking about periods openly. That said, the work isn’t done quite yet.<\/p>\n

Even today, when you have a period you are made fun of, belittled, ignored, or\u2014in some parts of the world\u2014exiled. When someone knows that you\u2019re menstruating, you\u2019re not taken seriously. Instead, you\u2019re brushed off as \u201cemotional\u201d or \u201chormonal.\u201d How often have you heard something along the lines of \u201clooks like she\u2019s on her period\u201d or \u201cI guess it’s that time of the month again\u201d? Probably often enough to know what I\u2019m talking about.<\/p>\n

Although we\u2019ve come a long way from where we started, we still need champions to normalize talking about periods. It’s a natural process; human life wouldn\u2019t be possible without it. Still, many people are grossed out by the idea of menstruating. To those people I have one question: does your heart gross you out? What about your liver, your kidneys, or any other part of your body? We don\u2019t shame our lungs for the way they take in air and oxygenate our blood. We don\u2019t make fun of people with functioning kidneys. So why do we shame a uterus?<\/p>\n

Nobody enjoys menstruating\u2014just like nobody enjoys catching a cold or doing taxes\u2014but it\u2019s a normal human experience. Our bodies work in the way they do to keep us alive and help us create new life. The fact that they can do it all by themselves without any intervention on our part is actually pretty amazing. Truly, our bodies are works of art; they should be treated as such.<\/p>\n

The stigma surrounding periods and menstruation won\u2019t disappear overnight. Not everyone is comfortable talking about periods openly, and that\u2019s okay. It can take time and a bit of confidence. But speaking openly about periods and challenging the status quo is what will shred the shame associated with them. The path less travelled is always the most rewarding journey, so go forth, you menstruation champion! Be open, be true, and, most importantly, be proud. You\u2019ve got this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Periods have a lot of stigma surrounding them. Even mentioning them can make people uncomfortable. For something natural to the human species, it’s odd that it’s been marked as a taboo subject. Before we start off properly here, it’s important to note that it’s not just women who menstruate. There are plenty of people who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20836,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20835\/revisions\/20836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}