AGAIN: PERIODS ARE NOT A LUXURY.

I cannot even begin to describe how extremely angry I get when I start to think about the amount of stigma around periods. So, let's get into it: PERIODS SUCK.

I got my period when I was 11. That's early. Like, really early. So early, in fact, that I'm just damn lucky I'd already asked about procreation, because my 'health class' (a one afternoon seminar in the fifth grade) hadn't even happened yet. In case you are unaware, getting your period means that your body is ready to have babies.

As a matter of fact, for those who are unaware of how periods work, here's how WebMD describes a period (or menstrual cycle): "The menstrual cycle is the series of changes a woman's body goes through to prepare for a pregnancy. About once a month, the uterus grows a new lining (endometrium) to get ready for a fertilized egg . When there is no fertilized egg to start a pregnancy, the uterus sheds its lining. This is the monthly menstrual bleeding (also called menstrual period) that women have from their early teen years until menopause, around age 50."

Basically, your body revolts because you're not making babies. Because there isn't a fertilized egg, the uteran lining is shed, vis-a-vis: BLEEDING.

I have this jarringly terrible memory of waking up to my poor, nine-year-old male cousin screaming, "SHE'S BEEN SHOT! SHE'S DEAD!" because he came to wake me up and I was basically lying in a pool of my own blood. To be more straightforward: I am what I'll call a 'heavy bleeder'. My period is the four worst days of any month I'm in. Make fun of women 'PMS-ing' all you like, until you shed your uteran lining, you have no right to talk. I remember bleeding through my dress and staining the seat of a Chinese restaurant when I was 12, then crying all the way home. I remember lying on the disgusting floor of my middle school because my cramps were hurting me so badly. On days two and three of my period (the worst days), I wear a tampon and a pad just to get through the school day. Sometimes my bleeding is so heavy, it looks entirely black, that's how clotted and heavy it gets. Periods are still a really difficult time for me and many other young women I know.

I used to not think a lot about my periods. I kept it really quiet because those four to five days every month are just awful, with hormones flying and heavy bleeding occurring. Other than my immediate family and a few, select friends, I never really talked about it. However, I began working as a substitute teacher at a middle school and one day, my period started. Concerned that I hadn't brought a tampon or pad with me (for those who don't know: pads are a lining in the underwear that gathers blood like a sponge and a tampon is inserted into the vagina to soak up blood before it reaches the underwear), I went to the girls bathroom hoping there'd be either free ones provided or at least a machine to buy them. Guess what? There were neither. Not only that, I had to walk the very long distance to the nurse's office and then pay ten cents for a pantie liner (a.k.a. a really thin, useless pad). Excuse me, WHAT?!? Being a teenager is already terrible, why in the world would menstrual management products not be provided in the bathrooms? This was something I'd never thought about while in middle school, but, seriously: WHY IS THIS A THING? In fact, while we're on the subject, I attend an ALL GIRLS COLLEGE and there are still no menstrual management products provided in the damn restrooms. Again... WHAT?!?!?

My body is already punishing me with intense cramps and blood, why should it be made worse by having to walk in front of a bunch of people with blood flowing and cramps hurting to then have to pay money for a necessity. And, by the way, the ones provided for free should be better than a pantie liner that's going to last me an hour or a cardboard tampon that's going to maybe add a half hour onto the lasting power of that pantie liner. While I know there's a large movement about 'free bleeding', that choice is just not for me and I know many other women feel the same way. So, I have to ask: why put a luxury task on a completely necessary item? I would NEVER EVER CHOOSE to have a period. This is not a spa treatment. It's the lining of my uterus shedding because I'm not making a baby. This next message will be in all caps to make my point:

WOMEN ARE, AT THE VERY LEAST, HALF OF THE WORLD. ACKNOWLEDGE WE HAVE PERIODS AND HELP US. IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY BLOOD, MAKE IT EASIER FOR ME TO HIDE IT. IT IS UNFAIR TO MAKE IT HARDER FOR US BECAUSE OF SOMETHING WE CANNOT CONTROL. TAMPONS AND PADS ARE NOT LUXURY ITEMS. DO NOT PUT A LUXURY TAX ON A NECESSITY.

MENSTRUAL MANAGEMENT IS A NECESSITY.

I have provided a link to the Conscious Period, a group that helps spread awareness about periods in general, as well as providing organic tampons and pads for homeless women.