I’ve had a handful of friends, a cousin or two, and even my dad once, very sweetly and nervously ask me what having a period feels like, and honestly, I love them for it. Not just because it was nice that they were trying to empathize, but also any platform where I get to talk/complain about my period is cathartic. The fact that it was them approaching me as opposed to me forcing them to listen made it all the better. That being said, I had about 12 seconds of talking before they became very uncomfortable and I could tell that all they wanted was for the conversation to end. I don’t blame them. It’s not easy to fully explain a period if you’ve never had one. To fix this problem, I came up with a way to explain a period to cis guys using male characters from classic or soon-to-be classic movies that they’ve already empathized with and therefore may make it easier to understand just what happens. Enjoy.
Even though a good amount of us have our periods on trackers and can pretty much pin the day we’ll get it, we never know when the first pangs of period pain will hit, and when it does it’s a doozy.
The pain is different with every person and every period and changes day to day. Sometimes it feels like this.
Somedays we literally cannot move.
Sometimes it’s little to no pain and is just sort of an inconvenience.
Either way, we have to go about our day doing all normal tasks regardless of how bad the pain is.
The first day is usually the heaviest.
Getting it in the middle of the night and not realizing until the morning really fucking sucks.
At times we can completely lose control over our emotions and can start to cry at things we wouldn’t normally cry about. (Personally speaking, any given commercial, random historical content, or thinking about how far women have come.)
Sometimes we overreact.
Sometimes if we don’t get the exact food we want at the exact time we go a little crazy.
We make questionable food choices and combine things that on any ordinary day would be a big mistake. But we do it because we feel that if we get the combination of food just right our bodies will stop trying to destroy itself.
We’re told a million things about what to eat and what not to eat. For example, bananas will stop cramps.
Caffeine will prolong them.
And not to drink alcohol.
But honestly, we just have to find what works for us.
Okay, glad we had this chat.
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