Periods. There's been a million articles on them, but somehow, there will never be enough to make up for "that time of month," "shark week," "the red wedding," or whatever you call the event of your uterus shedding its lining once again. There will never be enough to make up for the number of times we get jokes about how "It must be that time of the month again," or even told to "Stop talking about periods. They're gross." And frankly, that frustrates me.

I won't lie: I started this article with the intent to joke away the pain, to be relatable and to shout "GIRL POWER!" I had every intent to laugh off the bigger implications, focusing more on funny GIFs and hoping to get shared across the web. But then I read an article about menstruation and how it is perceived in Nepal, how girls who are on their period are sent outside to sleep and are told that if they enter the house while they bleed, they will bring illness to the family.

Suddenly, I didn't want to laugh. I wanted to cry.

Suddenly, dealing with the pads and having to pop Midol to combat my cramps didn't seem like a problem anymore. Yes, I do get told that "Periods are gross," but I have never been told that, because of a natural body function, I am "impure" and "untouchable."

I have never had to skip school because I didn't have pads or tampons. Perhaps because the pain was too much, but not because I'd be risking an infection and even death if I tried to make my own sanitary napkin out of an old mattress or leaves.

And then there are the issues related to menstruation and the female reproductive system that will never be discussed in those cultures. I think that the silence about endometriosis in the United States was awful, but I'm sure that it is even more worrisome in the cultures where girls are kept in the dark about their period and their reproductive system, like in Malawi, where parents don't talk about it to their daughters.

In America, there is pride at being "so open-minded", but still, there are women among us who suffer from our silence. For the homeless, pads and tampons are expensive luxuries, and many women shelters lack them the most. And that is in our own country.

Are periods gross? Yes, but anything with body fluids are. I don't insult or turn someone with a runny nose away, but if I was in another culture, I could be exiled outside to a shed to sleep, where I risk being sexually assaulted because I'm unprotected. Just because I'm bleeding out of my vagina.

Periods may be considered disgusting, but they are natural, and it seems as if people forget that. It seems that society around the world treats periods as if those who experience menstruation are sinning or acting out of spite.

There is a lot wrong in the world today, and the stigma around periods is one of them. There are ways to help though. For instance, there is a project called Distributing Dignity that distributes new bras, pads and tampons to homeless shelters across the United States. Then there's Femme International, which provides kits equipped with menstrual cups, as well as workshops geared towards female health and wellness, to schoolgirls in East Africa.

There are many ways to help, and get involved, but our first step is breaking the stigma. To do that, there has to be an understanding of what periods are and how they affect women around the world. While it may be a while before we can talk about periods without fearing weird looks and embarrassment, it's still a start. We shouldn't have to joke about our periods or soften the blow with funny gifs just to get our point across.

Love them (we rarely do), hate them (almost always), but one thing is for sure. Periods are just another part of life, and while it can get messy, it's still healthy, and that's beautiful. I am not defined by my period-- my worth comes from myself. It's time for everyone to understand that.