I DID A THING: I Really Don’t Feel Empowered About My Period

I Did A Thing is our weekly advice column where the Her Campus editorial team helps you out when you ruin your own life (hey, we’ve been there). Email advice@hercampus.com for any and everything you need help with. We’ll answer you (anonymously!) on hercampus.com so we can all learn, together. We’ve got your back.

@weirdshame: I know I shouldn’t, but I still just feel so awkward and ashamed about my period. It makes me feel gross. I’m supposed to be #empowered but like, I’m just not. Help?

@Blume: Firstly, you should never feel bad about the way you feel about your body. It’s so easy to see posts on social media about being #empowered, and loving our bodies and our periods, but in reality, social media is a highlight real and many pages and posts don’t show the work that went into getting to a place where you feel proud of things like your period. We all have different relationships with our bodies and our periods, and getting to a point of feeling proud doesn’t always happen overnight. 

I have PCOS (cysts in my ovaries) and believe it or not, 1 in 5 women do too. Yet, when I first got diagnosed, I barely even talked about it with my mom, let alone my friends. It took me almost 2 years before I really started opening up and talking about my experience with my period and in doing that I felt more #empowered. 

If you are feeling awkward or ashamed about your period, try to ask yourself why? Is it because of the way other people perceive periods? Or maybe there’s some reading you can do to help better understand your period? I was always told to not talk about my period growing up, and it was something I handled in silence. But, as I grew older, and saw so many incredible womxn talk about their periods and why it makes them feel empowered, I started learning more about the magic that is our bodies and the beauty in periods. Try opening up the conversation of periods with people you’re comfortable with to see how they feel. Alternatively, there’s some great pieces online about periods, like Rupi Kaur’s poetry. 

The road to accepting and loving all aspects of ourselves is long and confusing and can be difficult, but it’s important to remember that you shouldn’t feel bad about not feeling a certain way because society says you should.  

Check out more advice from @helpmehc. We’ve got your back. Plus, get more from today’s guest columnist, Blume, a company that provides safe, sustainable period products for women and girls who believe in the power of their choices.

• body shaming
• period
• periods