I'm 59 and have gone through the menopause but I still vividly remember my first period. It was not a happy occasion, not least because I had only just turned 11, was still at junior school, and was the only girl who had started to menstruate. To be fair I didn't have a negative experience so far as the school was concerned and my class teacher was very nice about it, but I still felt different to my friends.....and I cried. To be honest, I wasn't ready for what is after all a life-changing event for we females of the species; I was still a child and didn't want to be dragged into womanhood. My friends and I still played with our dolls and despite having had sex education lessons at school, I don't believe any of us really related what we had been taught to ourselves. I don't recall any talk of loving relationships between adults, the lessons only covered the mechanics of procreation; in our minds sex was something that grown-ups did in order to have children, it didn't interest us in the slightest.
And then when that day of my first ever period dawned, my Mum gave me "the talk".....which simply consisted of these words of wisdom: "you must be careful with boys now". That was it, the sum total of any sex education I had from either of my parents, so I suppose it was just as well that we did have those lessons at school. Perhaps back in the day that's what the parents of my generation did, simply left it to the school to tell their kids about the birds and the bees.
Adrian and I always tried to be open with Sam and Beverly; I can still remember, when they were only very young, explaining about sex and loving relationships between mummies and daddies. This arose from the fact that my sister had just had her dog neutered, and in trying to explain about that it just seemed to lead naturally into a full-blown sex education lesson tailored for the understanding of rather little children. I admit that I did feel a tad awkward, not least because the whole episode occurred whilst we were in the garden on a lovely sunny day. It seemed that one minute our neighbours were busy moving their lawns, and the next everyone had gone quiet ~ it felt like they were all listening in although I'm sure that no one actually was at all 😃
It probably did Sam good to have grown up with a sister and a mother neither of whom ever hid their periods from him. He's witnessed plenty of female hormonal "stuff" over the years, so at least none of that will have come as a shock in any of his relationships. I'm pretty sure, though, that there are still young men and boys who haven't got the faintest idea of what goes on in a woman's body ~ nor, perhaps, even why, despite the sex education they will have had. And I am equally certain that there are still many people, both men and women, who view menstruation as something to be feared...something "unclean"...something gross that should be kept hidden and never discussed.
I truly feel that menstruation should be something that is celebrated! Isn't it really rather wonderful that women's bodies are the most amazing creations? Our wombs can prepare to grow and nurture a new life every single month! Oh by the way, before anyone says anything, I am well aware of how painful/heavy/debilitating periods can be; I've had my fair share of menstrual difficulties but that is a tale for another day.
And despite those difficulties, I still believe that we should take time to give ourselves a little hug, gently caress our tummies and say a little "thank you" to our beautiful bodies for what for what they are capable of doing 💖
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