Ladies, I stopped using the word “period” to describe my monthly cycle and you should too.
Did you know that period is short for what doctors would describe as a “periodic illness”?
Yes, you read that right.
Our monthly cycle, something so natural, something that quite literally creates life was referred to as a periodic ILLNESS by medical professionals, thus leading to us calling this natural thing we do, “our period”.
Say what?!
Yep. In fact, the definition of “period” as “menstruation” in the Oxford English Dictionary still today states ” a subset which is ‘the time during which a disease runs its course… each of the temporal phases distinguishable in the course of a disease.’ Technically, period-as-menstruation is classified a subset of period-as-disease, which speaks volumes about gender and medicine.” (Quote from Brandon Kiley)
Is that insane, or what??
That strikes me in my bones every time I hear it or think about it these days and something in me screams NO!
No, a normal bodily function that all women have is not an illness. It is not a disease and frankly, FUCK anyone who decided to label it as such.
No wonder it’s such a taboo topic and something women hate.
That’s also where the root of shaming bleeding and saying its disgusting, a curse, gross, horrible, etc. comes from. Because if you think about it ladies, isn’t that how it has always been presented to you?
As a problem? As something to be hush about? Something to hide? Almost be embarrassed by? As something to hate?
Well let me tell you, the moment I STOPPED looking, thinking and talking about it that way, it completely changed. My experience changed.
It’s no longer something I dread or really have any ill thoughts or feelings towards at all. I talk about it fairly openly and it is just a PART OF MY LIFE.
Because isn’t it though?
It’s something you do, whether you like it or not so why not embrace it? Why not treat it with the respect it deserves because the facts are that LIFE would literally not exist if women didn’t bleed every month.
That is not gross. That is not a curse.
That is a massive blessing actually.
That is a gift.
That is freaking MAGIC people.
So anyway, that’s why I stopped saying period, or anything else hateful about my cycle. And that’s why I hope now, you do too. Make the decision here and now to stop hating or fighting any natural thing about your body.
I bleed every month.
And that’s nothing to be ashamed of so that’s what I say.
The old-norm of “I’m on my period” is now replaced with “I’m bleeding” and the entire energy shifts.
Try it and see how different it feels.
