My First Period

Our first blog series: The stories of our first periods

I started my period when I was 10 years old. My mom never talked to me about what a period was or why I bleed in the first place. I was only told what to do when I bleed. I used the same product that mom used, which were pretty thick maxi pads. I was taught that this was a discreet thing, that no one needed to know that I was on my period. So, if I started my period away from home, it was a nightmare. I was so afraid to tell the adult I was with, I didn't tell my sisters, I didn't know how to take my pad to the restroom with out someone noticing. I would spend weekends bleeding through toilet paper and underwear because I was so afraid to ask someone for help. I couldn't tell anyone about the cramps, then they would know I was on my period. It was a dirty secret and I had NEVER heard anyone talk about periods except my mom and that awful video we had to watch in 5th grade. 


I remember a girl being in the bathroom at school and she heard the wrapping paper from my pad. I was mortified, she started snickering and asked if I had started my period and if I knew what it meant. She told the whole class...

One of my friends who was a boy stopped talking to me. Kids literally scooted away from me. The girl thought that starting your period meant you had to have sex. I didn't even know why I had my period! How could I have explained myself? I didn't have the knowledge or the voice to defend myself. 

- Shannie J.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who are we?

Image
Striving for menstrual equity in Arkansas through donations, education, and legislation. The Arkansas Period Poverty Project was founded in 2018 by Katie Clark after she read "Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement" by PERIOD founder, Nadya Okamoto. She began by reaching out to all of the public middle and high school principals in Little Rock and asked them if their students struggled with period poverty, a majority said yes.  She created a GoFundMe, had friends and family donate, purchased products, and donated them to schools in Little Rock. In 2019 we grew, adding on an Education Coordinator, Communications Coordinator, and Outreach Coordinators. In October 2019, we helped put on the first Arkansas Period Action Day rally with speakers, giveaways, and over 100 attendees. In 2020, just like everyone else, we had to pivot. We no longer held educational meetings in person, but started interviewing experts on topics like PCOS and endometriosis and posted those v...
Read more

Reinvest in Conway Partners with AR Period Poverty Project

Image
 *Originally published on UCAnews.live* By Torrie Herrington A donation box for the period product drive sits under a table in Righteous Remedies. Photo by Torrie Herrington Reinvest in Conway is a local grassroots organization that advocates for social change. For the month of September, they have partnered with AR Period Poverty Project to supply the Conway community with essential menstruation products. AR Period Poverty Project is an organization that aims to create menstruation equity throughout the state of Arkansas. Stephanie Gray, co-founder and lead organizer with Reinvest in Conway said that the two organizations partnered because their goals align.  ”We were in talks with the Arkansas Coalition for Reproductive Justice over the summer and they informed us of the awesome work of the Period Poverty Project,” Gray said. “Their mission really aligns with ours in terms of intersectionality, mutual aid and body autonomy.” One of the main goals of Reinvest in Conway is to ...
Read more

Arkansas Period Action Day: Closing Speech 2022

She still remembers the first time she got her period on a December morning in 7th grade, horrified as she quietly struggled, grappling with intense pains throughout the entirety of her lower abdomen. While she was unsure of what exactly was happening, she knew that it was meant to remain a secret. A secret. She accepted that it was a secret—not to be shared. She was okay with sacrificing her desire for knowledge to elude societal embarrassment. Even at the age of 12, she acknowledged these hefty restraints. As questions swirled throughout her head about what was happening to her, she wondered if she was dying. Would she be okay? Why could she not figure out what was wrong with her?  She genuinely was questioning whether something was wrong with her –whether she was broken. This is the story of too many young individuals, myself included. All of these issues could have been avoided by improving menstrual education in schools and implementing comprehensive programs. Our menstruator...
Read more