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Teaching Little Boys Shame About Periods

Last night I was shopping in Costco (#HumbleBrag) and a young boy asked his parents, "Why do all those boxes say Always?" The parents looked from the massive wall of tampons to each other. The father gave an uncomfortable laugh and said, "We'll tell you later." The mother said,"It's part of being a woman."

None of this satisfied the boy's curiosity, who continued to ask. The father said sternly, "You can talk about it with your Mom in a few years. Come on!"

This was probably the boy's first introduction to tampons and now he knows little more than it is something you don't discuss in public and has a weird awkward shame attached to it.

Those parents acted like 99% of parents would in that situation. Uncomfortable shared moment followed by deflection. But I doubt that would be the case if a young child asked about almost any other product in the store.

The shame around menstruation is learned. We teach it to each other and to our children. Until we can answer the question, "Why do those boxes say Always?" with open honesty and lack of shame -- menstruation will continue to prevent girls and women around the world to feel fully empowered.

#WeAllBleed #Shame

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Ordinary Guy Understanding Menstruation (OGUM)

I believe that the fact menstruation involves a woman's vagina, it has been incorrectly lumped in with sex and the taboos that surround that topic.

Like sex, I learned about menstruation through off colored jokes, locker room talk and snippets of overheard adult conversations peppered with innuendos and cryptic code words.

So my knowledge of both sex and menstruation were gained through a fractured prism -- the equivalent of learning the human anatomy through the reflection of a funhouse mirror.

When I discovered pornography I thought, "Finally! I can learn what sex really is!" I studied porn the way a basketball coach studies game tapes. Many years later I realized that learning about sex through porn is like learning how to play basketball by watching the Harlem Globetrotters. "Those guys are much better than me! Also, I'm gonna to need a bigger ladder."

Until we can talk openly and honestly about our bodies and our partner's bodies, we will be a society of people fumbling in the dark and believing a distorted and incorrect world colored by shame and misinformation.

Let's talk. Let's stop being ashamed. Let's stop shaming others.

#WeAllBleed #OGUM #MenstrualShame