By Sasha Bourne, October 2018

Have you ever felt uncomfortable just taking a tampon or a pad out of your backpack in the middle of class and going to the bathroom to take care of those feminine needs?

Well, I don’t know about you, but whenever I need to pull out a pad or tampon I feel as if the whole class is going to look at me like I just said that Tupac is the worst rapper of all time. For as long as anyone can remember, having a period has been just about the most–frowned–upon thing for a teen besides getting pregnant at 15. It seems like there is a sort of stigma around having a period, especially when we’re being open about it.

As a personal choice, I don’t carry a purse with me at school, so I keep my feminine items in my backpack. Therefore, if I need to change my pad or tampon I can’t just take my whole backpack with me to the bathroom, nor will I try to sneak a pad out of the room under my jacket or in my binder.

Why the embarrassment?

If this generation is all about dropping the social taboos and stigmas, then everyone should accept the fact that it’s just a tampon. Making me feel embarrassed about needing to change it and properly take care of my body is definitely not embracing the “abnormalities” floating around in current times.

There was one time, in my cafeteria study hall, when I pulled out my see–through pouch with all my pads and tampons in it. At that moment, I felt like the entire study hall was looking at me with distasteful eyes. It was the most awkward thing I had ever experienced. Even though it’s possible that no one was actually watching, I felt almost embarrassed for keeping up with my feminine hygiene. Crazy, right? Well, can you really blame some young women for feeling uncomfortable?

Change the stigma

I don’t understand why some people feel grossed out when even just the topic of periods comes up in conversation, or why some people shame or taunt women for a natural bodily function. Women should not be looked at a certain way because we have periods.

If people can learn to get over other stigmas and social norms in today’s society, they should be able to face the fact that women bleed. Some people might think that the thought of changing a pad is gross and taking out a tampon from your bag in public is “unladylike.” For them, I have one question: How would you feel if women didn’t take care of changing their pads or tampons? Seems like we’re “damned if we do and damned if we don’t”.

Accepting who you are

Us growing girls have all been through the embarrassment of our period occurring when we’re not prepared for it. However, what we shouldn’t have to be embarrassed about is that we have periods, period. It is completely normal and we shouldn’t have to hide because of society’s viewpoints towards pads and tampons.

Yes, they are products used by girls and women in private, but that shouldn’t mean that we should feel grossed out or ashamed when purchasing or talking about them. Clearly, it’s not like people don’t want us to take care of our bodies, but then they shouldn’t make us feel uncomfortable when we do!

Sasha Bourne is a senior at Benjamin Franklin High School and editor-in-chief for her school’s newspaper. She is also co-captain of the Franklin Dance Team and a member of the Peer Assistance Team, UNICEF, and Youth Rebuilding New Orleans. She plans to major in pre-med and minor in journalism at Howard University. 

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