My periods came 10 days earlier than expected this month, which means it came only 18 days apart from the earlier one. I am irritated, and not only because I am in unnecessary pain. I am irritated because I feel taken for granted and also because I do not appreciate encroachment on my treasured no-bleeding days.
I think my periods shifted to be closer to R’s, which is a thing menstrual cycles do, which makes me angry at R. Everything makes me angry. Every month when I talk to one or another of my friends about the plight of periods, I figure that most men do not know much about it except what the sanitary napkin commercials tell them, which honestly is insufficient albeit hopeful information.
So I occasionally talk to my male friends about periods and what women go through during them. I like for them to know that my back hurts when I am “chumming”, that chumming is a word for being on periods I learned in college. I have also heard particularly shy cousins call it “happy birthday”. My stomach swells when I am chumming and my digestive system goes for a toss. Some women grow an apparel size bigger during theirs. Some women have unbearable pain, mine gets managed by painkillers. I have had a roommate who did yoga at 3 am in the morning because the pain was unbearable but refused to take a painkiller. Most of us get zits and pimples. I have in the past felt like overcompensating at work during my periods so I don’t fall behind a man. But now I know to treat my body and self-esteem better. I hear girls used/faked their periods to get out of PE hours in school. I had been too ashamed of periods to do that as a teenager but I have gotten out of many poojas since I grew up and highly recommend it.
What are some things you have gone through or slang for periods you heard?
