Women Get Candid About Their First Period. It Emphasises The Need For Better Sex Education
When I got my first period, I was petrified! I had woken up for school and noticed I was bleeding in the washroom. That scared the shit out of me! I had no idea what menstruation is and I had only seen very little blood from minor cuts and bruises. I thought I had developed a fatal disease and being the avoidant person that I am, I decided to not tell my mom about it. You know, so she doesn’t worry about, doesn’t make it a big deal and maybe if I ignore it for long enough, it will just go away. So when I was changing for school, my mom noticed the blood stain on my panties and she decided to keep the suspense going until later in the day. Maybe 6 am was too early in the day for her to have the period talk. She taught me how to wear a pad, told me to skip school (I was really mad about that and assumed I must be seriously dying.) and I went back to sleep.
Later, my grandmother came over and all the women in my family including my sisters were made aware that I got my period. My mother explained the period thing in short and honestly, I had no idea how to handle this unforeseen guest. I would get stained pretty often and then get more embarrassed. But eventually, I learnt when to change pads and which ones suit my flow the best. However, I just wish I would have had sex education class before I got my period.
Today when we women share our first period experiences, it’s amusing to note how many of us were clueless about it when we got it. Some of us felt embarrassment, some of us feared we are sick and some had it comparatively easy. What do I feel today? If I have a daughter later in life, I will try to give her good sex education and at least tell her what will happen to her body in the coming years. And when she gets it, I will buy us a New York cheesecake and binge-watch rom coms. So when someone asked on Reddit how their first period was, women shared unabashedly.
Panic!
A woman shared how she and her parents didn’t talk about these things. “I was 10yo. I came home from school and had blood on my underwear. Since my parents never talk about serious issues I panicked and didn’t want to tell my mum that I had my period. I made a “pad” with toilet paper and tape that was extremely uncomfortable (and wouldn’t have worked). It was a false alarm. I think now that I might have broken part of my hymen and that’s why I bled,” she wrote. She further added, “I got my real period when I was 12yo. This time I knew how uncomfortable my ‘homemade’ pads were so I knew that I needed to tell my mum to get proper pads. She congratulated me (never understood that) and bought me a box of small pads (for like spotting). I had huge periods but it took me a while (and several dirty trousers) to convince her to buy me bigger ones.”
“It was Halloween and I was dressed as a bag of jelly beans. It was my first time ever being allowed to trick or treat. I thought I had been cursed thanks to no sex education,” a woman shared how she thought her first period was a curse!
Bad timing
A user wrote, “14, studying for my freshman year biology midterm. But biology chose me that day.” Another woman wrote, “I got it on a family vacation in the mountains when I was 11. Can’t recommend. My mom was amazing about it, but dealing with it all while being stuck in a tiny hotel room with my family and my brother banging on the single bathroom door was decidedly not ideal.”
A woman shared how she missed an opportunity because of her first period! “Ooooooh boy I was like 9 or 10 and I was just about to perform with my dance group on live tv for some kids show or something. I started bleeding while backstage all over my blue outfit and couldn’t go on to perform. I cried and I didn’t really understand what happened, I thought I was sick.”
Someone’s date looked like a battleground! “My first real date. It happened during the movie. I had no clue that I had saturated my khaki shorts in the back. I can still hear the gasps from the ppl that saw, of course I wasn’t paying attention to them at the time. I was so embarrassed when I got home and realized. He even called and asked me out again but I was to embarrassed to say yes. It was a horrible experience,” she wrote. At least he wasn’t all weird about it and at that young an age!
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Then there were those who weren’t clueless
“Yeah I got a hug which I felt was pretty awkward. I was older, 14, and I knew where my mom kept her pads and tampons so I grabbed some,” a woman wrote. That’s smooth! “I was 11. My cousin was spending the night. I woke up and discovered it. I was aware of what was happening, so it wasn’t like a big shock. I told my mom and she proceeded to call every single female in the family. I was mad at her about it, but she made me a cake. I still don’t fully understand why it was something she needed to tell everyone, but I am glad that we had discussed it a lot. I can’t imagine not understanding what was happening,” another woman shared. At least she got cake.
