Camp Gyo

Periods have always been something akin to Fight Club.  I know you're laughing and I know men are shaking their heads and saying, "Eww, no" but I'm serious.  Men's responses of "eww" just proves it because for most women if you say fight club we roll our eyes and say, "Eww, the movie where they beat the shit out of each other?" 

Still don't believe me well let me prove it.  The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club.  First rule of Periods is you don't talk about Periods.  Periods are that thing that women hint at--time of the month, monthly visitor.  Men make crude jokes about it--on the rag, never trust something that bleeds for a week...you get the idea.  The thing is we rarely call it a period or menstruation.  It's this huge taboo subject.

When I was in the fifth grade one of my classmates went to the girls' room and after about five minutes she was screaming hysterically.  She'd gotten her first period and thought she was bleeding to death.  Her mother hadn't told her about periods.  So it was up to some very distraught teachers and a school nurse to explain what was happening to her.  I was lucky because my mother was a little less secretive about her period and while she didn't go into great detail I did know what it was and that I should hate it.  

A few weeks after my classmate's nervous break down the school decided they needed to show this film about "sex education" to all us girls and boys.  They got parental consent forms from each of us and we were separated into a room for girls and a room for boys.  We where shown a terrible film and given an equally unhelpful book neither actually told us a thing about sex.  It was all about body development and maxi-pads.  At recess we compared notes and traded books with the boys.  They weren't told about our periods and we weren't told about their voice changing.  However, we all concluded that the girls got a raw deal in this growing up thing.  

From that moment on we treated each other differently though.  Girls weren't suppose to talk about their body changes and periods.  Periods were gross and disgusting and we needed to keep that shit to ourselves.  Mothers had private teary eyed, "becoming a woman" parties with tampons party favors.  Males teased a female if they found out she was menstruating so we learned to keep our fucking mouths shut and we grew to hate our periods and believe it was a curse.

The thing is it's not a curse, it's just part of who we are as women.  I mean sure it's not the best part and there are days when I really wish I wasn't a girl but over all I'm pretty proud to be a menstruater.  I mean I really can bleed for a week and not die.  That's pretty bad ass.  I bet Chuck Norris can't do that shit.  

It took me a long time to get to this point though.  I had years of being told that periods are awful and shouldn't be spoken of to anyone.  And if you do speak of them the door should be shut and you need to whisper about it.  I hate that we feel like we need to be secretive about something natural.  Guys don't have to hide in dark rooms when they talk about their pubic hairs.  And don't try and say pubic hairs are different because they're not.  If they're not kept under control then they gross just like periods.  

When I saw this video I thought, "Yes, we're finally making some progress."  I love this girl's enthusiasm and her pride at getting her period.  I love that instead of hiding indoors she sees it as the Red Badge of Courage.  She lets everyone know and becomes the Camp Gyno.  And she's not afraid to use real words instead of stupid nicknames like curse or we-we.  She says period, menstruation, gyno, vagina.  

 

This is what we need in our lives.  We need honesty and pride.  We need to stop being embarrassed and uncomfortable with our bodies and be proud of their unique abilities which include menstruation.   I wish when I was a kid I'd had Camp Gyno as my role model and inspiration.