Menstruation - common misconceptions

[lilliesnremains.livejournal.com]

Hey all, if this isn't allowed, go ahead and delete it, but I read the rules it it didn't say no, so here goes.

I'm taking a human sexuality class this semester in college, and while i was originally going to do my term paper and oral presentation on "Female sexual abuse and later sexual dysfunction" i have since changed my mind and decided to do "Menstruation-How society views coming of age".

Here's where you guys come in. I have a basic outline of thing I want to talk about in the oral presentation portion, one of which are common myths associated with getting your period, or images displayed by the media. I'm looking for stories of your first time, and how you felt. i'm also looking for how you felt the first time you used a menstrual cup for those of you who use them.
Also, any links you have floating around that you think would be helpful to either suggest to the class or for me to use information from for my presentation.

What i'm hoping is that not only will many people benefit here from this, but that i will be able to change some peoples' minds about it in my class (i'll be talking about things like menstrual cups, cloth pads, and having sex while a girl is menstruating).

(on a somewhat related note, how do you pronounced menstruation? 3 syllables or 2?)

Comments

[aechei.livejournal.com]

4 syllables-- men-stroo-ay--shun

[lilliesnremains.livejournal.com]

thanks, its always bugged me because i hear it said differently everytime i hear it. like, "mens-tration"

Hi!

[rolersk8ngrl.livejournal.com]

My first time was a little over a year ago. I was 3 1/2 months premature @ birth, so I got my period just after my 19th birthday (yes I'm not joking!) I actually lost my virginity 2 weeks before I experienced my first period...so my fiance and I believe he 'jump started' me.
My period to this day has been regular (every month on time.) I'm on BC for anemia and to keep me regular (not for protection, I can't get pregnant naturally, my fiance had prostate cancer last May and they removed his prostate so now I can't get pregnant.) My flow is so light I can't use tampons @ all. I use pads, the light petite Always with wings =)

Also about the having sex while menstruating... I ♥ it. I believe that is when my fiance and I have the BEST sex. He doesn't mind it, which is why I don't!

I pronounce menstration men-stra-tion, so three.

Also- you're going to be talking about sex on your period and stuff in class? WOW...that's gutsy, I couldn't talk about that in front of a class of my peers- I mean, willingly. If I had to, I would...or is this just a term paper submitted to the teacher...or does a presentation go along with your paper?

BTW, you can use my first name or whatever. My name is Nikki, I'm 20 and from NH.

Re: Hi!

[lilliesnremains.livejournal.com]

its a presentation in front of a Human Sexuality class.

i'm not too worried about it. our first guest speaker was a sex toys party lady, and the first class meeting we had a brainstorm of all the slang used to describe sexual play. most people in the class are very open and well knowledgebale about the subject.

[besttocomply.livejournal.com]

I got my period for the first time when I was at a summer camp 4 hours from home. I remember that I wasn't really upset at all, but I called my mom to tell her and she just kept saying "I am SOOOOOOOOO sorry Jonna" like it was something awful. All of the female counselors were treating me like my dog just died, or something.

After feeling my cup pop open for the first time, I thought "Oh wow! Why doesn't every woman use a cup?"

[imindiaunajones.livejournal.com]

After feeling my cup pop open for the first time, I thought "Oh wow! Why doesn't every woman use a cup?"

HAHA! I laughed out loud when I read that. =D

[https://users.livejournal.com/-anxi0us/]

I had been lead to believe that getting your period was a joyous occassion, so when I had my first period, accompanied by cramps, I was not too thrilled. My mom made me call all my aunts and tell them the "wonderful" news. And I made my mom tell my dad because I was too embarrassed to tell him. But now that I'm sexually active, I'm thrilled every time I get it.

And you can use my name and stuff. I'm Faith, 19 years old, from MA.

[robynchick.livejournal.com]

I got mine a week after I turned 13 at a choir function: we got to take a school-day off and we went to the hospital to sing christmas carols to people in long-term care.

All of a sudden I started to feel crippling pain. I had to use the bathroom like nobodies' business and eventually I saw blood. I knew what was going on so I asked My choir teacher for a pad because I just started my period. She hugged me and 'welcomed me to womanhood'!

Well if that was womanhood: constant pain and diarrhea then I sure as hell wanted nothing to do with it. I stayed home the next day and curled up on a ball on the living room couch feeling like I was going to die. Fortunately, my mom had experienced those same symptoms as a child and helped me (when I finally told her) to manage the cramps with Ibuprofen. To this day it's the only thing that helps much. Even so, the first day or two can be really miserable.

Another interesting thing: at the age of 13 I was considered "too young" for tampons so I was stuck wearing the disposable diapers we call 'pads' which leaked and crinkled and made me sweat. Eventually I was allowed tampons (more like declared I was going to use them) and my step-mom gave me some of hers. That's what I used until college, when I discovered my Diva Cup! I love it, it isn't perfect, but it's really freeing to be able to go all day without even thinking about it, except to pop an occasional ibuprofen. I think every single woman should be offered one of those, and a full regimen of cloth pads as soon as she feels ready. I use my diva, and some cloth pads that I made now.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Cloth pads. *giggles*

I've resorted to cloth diapers folded up (think the kind people tend to use as burp clothes, lol), and those work pretty well. :)

[like-the-chorus.livejournal.com]

i hope this will help a little! :)

i was ten when i got my first period. i was at an acting workshop, it was shakespeare based (english nerd in the making). it was just during the day at the local community college, but it made me nervous. i think that might have had something to do with my terrible stomach pains when i DID start. anyway, it was early in the morning and i woke up and there was blood on my underwear. i began developing early, at around 8 i started developing breasts and i gained a lot of weight really quickly so i had a lot of stretch marks. i knew it was coming.

my mom didn't really make a fuss about it. she just kinda laughed and said we had to go to the store because she was all out of pads. i think she was just shocked her TEN year old had her period. i walked around with toilet paper in my underwear for two days because she kept forgetting, so i finally walked a few streets over to my grandma's house and used her old ones (ewwww).

[lilclerk.livejournal.com]

I was at an acting workshop my first time too! What a place to get it, huh? haha.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

My first time was hell. I was 8 years old, and I had just lost my mom and brother. (which I think may have brought it on...)

I went *nuts*. I had no clue as to what was going on with my body. Nobody had a clue I would start that soon, so they didn't talk with me about it yet, and I thought I was dying. D:

Blood from *where*?!?!

Finally, someone explained what was going on, that I would live, and that I was perfectly normal. Lol.

I kinda feel that we need to be instituting health class in some lower grades now, because many girls are starting their periods at much younger ages than previous generations, and are lost to whats going on when it does happen. My mother, for instance, started at 15!

And I say men-stray-shun. :D

[wish-this-true.livejournal.com]

I don't really have a great story to tell or anything, but I'll throw in my story incase it does help.

My first menstruation was when I was in sixth grade, or eleven years old. I felt like an outcast because no one, that I knew, had started it yet. I was scared, but later learned it to be a natural part of life.

I've never used the cup, but I use Tampax Pearl. I don't know if you need to know that, but there it is.

My name is Laura, I'm 20, and I'm from NH.

[ticktockman.livejournal.com]

I use 4 syllables. Merriam-Webster online shows the 4 syllables and also a 3 syllable prononciation. (as if it were spelled "menstration"). They also have an audio function so you can listen to the word being spoken. I don't have speakers at my desk, so I can't listen. http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/menstruation Click on the little loudspeaker to hear it spoken.

I went googling under "menarche" and I ended up at http://www.celebrategirls.com/index.html which is the site of a company called First Moon. They created a ceremony to celebrate a woman's first period, and they are selling kits to help with the celebration.

g'luck

*daha*

[paintedblue120.livejournal.com]

wow... a celebration. I wish I got to have a party when I started mine. Except not. I would not wish that on anyone. How embarrassing!!!

[paintedblue120.livejournal.com]

I got my period when i was 13. It was during the summer, at home. My dad was home from work because he was using a sick day and my mom was at work, so when I started my period I didn't tell anyone for two days because my mom was so busy and I didn't have time to tell her. I was in the kitchen washing dishes and all the sudden I felt like I had peed, but I knew I didn't so I went to the bathroom to check and it was running down my legs. It was terrible. I cleaned myself up and cried a little and changed clothes and then ran to my mom's bathroom where she had pads and tampons and stuff, I was scared to use a tampon so I grabbed a pantyliner which was no use whatsoever. I went back to washing dishes and a few minutes later I had to change to one of those huge maxi pads. I hated it so much that on my first day I tried using a tampon, and I was so dumb... I actually wore the cardboard applicator inside me. Oh my god... the pain. I took it out a couple of hours later after I finally finished the dishes and then read the instructions properly. Then 2 days later I told my mom and she felt SO bad for not being home for me. Then I called my best friend and told her about it.

Some common things guys tend to believe about periods from what I've heard:

They think that if a girl has a period you'll always be able to tell because she'll smell like fish. My boyfriend told me a joke that went something like this: "A blind man was walking past stalls in the market one day and walked past one that smelled like fruit, so he went to the stand and bought some oranges. Then he walked past one that smelled like bread, so he bought some bread. Then he walked past a fish stall and he said, "Hello ladies". Guys at school used to always stand next to girls and sniff the air and be like, "nope" or "yep" at thier friends... gross.

They think that if you are on birth control you don't have your period at all. I told my ex I was on bc, and then a few weeks later I had my period and he wanted to have sex so I told him I couldn't and he thought had lied to him about being on bc because he thought that if you had bc then you didn't have your period. Lots of other guys I know have thought the same thing.

One guy friend asked me once which hole it came out of. He goes, "When a guy is eating a girl out is he licking the place where she pees or where she has her period or what? Does it come out the big one where the dick goes or your butthole or what?" We were like, 16... so I guess maybe his youth was the cause of his ignorance.... althought older men don't seem to know much more.

I think some guys think we are making it up about the cramps. I used to get the eye roll and the "yeah right" if I told my ex about cramps.

I think some guys think that if they mention PMS or anything about moodiness or a period in general that we will fly off the freaking handle and bite their heads off.

I told my boyfriend I was thinking about getting the menstrual cup and he was like, "OMG no that would be SOOOO gross" blah blah blah. Guys wig out over blood way way way more than girls do it seems.


Ummm... I think that's it.

OH MY GOD! I also hate how its talked about in school. Like in health class or science class or whatever when you learn about it for the first time in school all the way up to graduation exams when they want to glance over all the subjects in prep for the exam to make sure you know it all. None of the teachers I ever had wanted to tell us anything that had to do with the reproductive system. They'd be like, "alright.. um... just read pages 14-18 and you should be good to go". Even the science books were the most uninformative worthless pages of crap ever written. "These are fallopian tubes. This is a uterus. This is a cross section of a flacid penis male reproductive organ. Put it all together with your own imagination."

[lilclerk.livejournal.com]

Snopes.com has a whole section on myths surrounding menstruation. I'll find the link for you...

This (http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/pregnant.asp) is myths about pregnancy, and this (http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/menses.asp) is "a compendium of menstrual superstitions."

[lilliesnremains.livejournal.com]

Awesome thanks!

i shoulda thought of that *hits head*

[plastic-love.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if you're open to talking about how different societies view menstruation and the rituals around it but this would be a very rich discussion. For one of my University courses, I wrote a major term paper on the Navajo Native Americans and their rituals around menstruation.

[lilliesnremains.livejournal.com]

Yes please.

I'm going to do 5 sections: What it is and function, historical perceptions and superstitions, products(including the diva cup and cloth pads), modern persectives, and questions.

[fshk.livejournal.com]

My parents sat me down when I was about 9, and we had this whole elaborate discussion of menstruation (with pamphlets and visual aids, and I'm totally not kidding... they did the sex talk first with children's books and then with PBS specials on teen sexuality, so we were well informed) and I remember walking away from that conversation horrified, but I'm glad I knew what to expect. First, it gave me a sense of smug superiority in fifth grade during the time when the teachers separated the girls from the boys and the school nurse came to explain menstruation, because I knew all about it but very few of my classmates did. Second, when it did happen, I just kind of sat there and said, "Oh, there it is," without any major trauma.

I got my first period when I was 11, in the middle of a week that I was home from school with the stomach flu, so in retrospect, I'm wondering if "the flu" was just cramps and nausea related to my first period. My mom found my bloody undies and came into my room and said, "You know what this is, right?" I replied that I did, and that was basically the end of that. (Although, until I got to college, I had kind of a menstrual products crisis, because my mother only ever used pads and my stepmother only ever used the OB tampons without applicators, so my teenaged self had to sort of figure out which was better for me. The only menstrual cups I've used are Insteads, which I never really got the hang of. The Diva Cup is next, though, as soon as I have some spare change to put towards it!)

[imnotyourstarx.livejournal.com]

my experience was similar. my parents (or mother, really, to be more fair) tried very hard to prepare me. she also found my undies, and i also suffered no more trama than, "oh, there it is." i remember just sticking a pad on my undies like an old pro and forgetting about it.

the coolest thing was i got it on new years eve when i was in 6th grade. i thought i was special. :D

[alliemolloy.livejournal.com]

I honestly cannot remember how old I was when I first got my period! Somewhere between 11 and 13, I think. It was in the middle of summer... I remember I had to pee, and when I wiped, there was a lot of brownish blood (and on my underwear, too). I sort of figured it was my period, so I took one of my mom's pads. But I was sooo embarrassed. I didn't tell anybody. I threw the underwear in the garbage! Later that day, Mom called me into the bathroom, and was like, "I bought you a box of tampons. I can't use them, myself, but I thought you'd like to try them." I cried! I was so embarrassed that she found out. She got the tampons because she and Dad were going away for the weekend, and my grandmother was coming to look after us. She thought I'd be really upset if everybody else got to play in our pool all weekend and I was stuck on the sidelines.

I ended up not going swimming anyway, because I was just too afraid of the damn tampons. I got one in alright, but it hurt so much when I tried to take it out. After I did, I went right back to pads.

I finally did get the hang of tampons, and used them up until this month, when I got my DivaCup. I got it in and out with no problems, and had the cleanest, most pain-free period I've ever had in my life.

[like-the-chorus.livejournal.com]

my first experience with tampons was when i went swimming too.
i cried, no, SOBBED when i took it out the first time.

[klemptor.livejournal.com]

I'm Kate. I'm 24 and from New Jersey, but I live in Philly now.

I was twelve. My three closest friends had gotten theirs before me. We had this thing where we knew that if a friend was wearing a fanny pack, she had her period that day. (Hey, gimme a break. It was the early '90s.)

When I was about eleven, out of curiousity, I went into the bathroom cabinet and took out a pad, and taught myself how to stick it to my underwear because I figured it would be good information to have.

I remember that, before I had my first period, every time I sat on the toilet to pee I would hopefully peer down at my underwear thinking, "maybe this time!" And then, whaddya know, one day it was there. I was home that day because there was an inservice or something at school, which was lucky. And so I went into the bathroom, contemplated the box of tampons that my mother had under there from the 1980s (I kid you not - she hated tampons and never used them, but for some reason she could never throw them away - she still has them under the bathroom cabinet in her new house), shuddered, and reached for a pad. I still maintain that those tampons are instant TSS if you even look at them too long.

Anyway, I called my mom at work and told her, and there was silence on the other end of the line, and then it was all, "Oh. Wow. OK. Are you OK?"

And then she told her co-workers. Seriously. It was all, "Well, I just told Barrett and Roberta, you know, because they're women too, and they have daughters. It doesn't matter." I was mortified!

There was none of this "oh, you're a woman now" crap like I saw on Blossom (wherein there was the most false father-daughter interaction ever, with him braiding her hair while they talked about how quickly she was growing up). I never had any misconceptions like Rudy Huxtable, when she thought she had to eat five beets for every day that she was on her period (to "keep the blues away"). My grandmother said she didn't believe cramps really happened, and that my mother had made it up when she was a kid, and that I was probably milking that now too. And my mom told me that I could only have two Advil per day (because they'd damage my liver - which they will, in like super huge amounts - and because "it's not good to rely on those things") and that tampons were not an option. And that was that.

(My mom = dysfunction 95% of the time.)

[419.livejournal.com]

I started mine when I was 11, shortly after my mom died. I knew what a period was, but I didn't really get what was going on when mine started. I changed my underwear about five times before it clicked, and I asked my grandma for a "sanitary napkin" (I was really, really embarrassed).

As for myths, my ex claimed he could smell when a woman was menstruating... and my cousin was absolutely convinced that women only got pregnant while on their periods, sort of like dogs in heat. I tried and tried to explain the whole process of ovulation to her, but she wouldn't believe me.

[newperspectives.livejournal.com]

It was the summer after 6th grade and I was 11. And even though I'd had the "this is going to happen" talk, I really didn't get it, fully. Bled, made a mess, got confused, freaked out at my mom, got all cleaned up, and then expressed relief that "at least it was over"--- and then she clarified that it was going to continue for *days*. I was horrified.
My best friend kept phoning to see if I wanted to go swimming- the answer to that being a resounding NO, and I spent most of a week sitting on my bed reading books.

A couple years later, I taught myself how to use tampons while away at summer camp. There was a lot of trial and error and near panic involved, but I eventually figured it out. I college, I got a Keeper and some natural sponges, and those have contributed amazingly to my sense of body image and my willingnes to talk about menstruation (4 syllables!). I'm much more confident now about this 'curse'; the shame finally lifted.

[toothpaste4life.livejournal.com]

I got my period in the summer, and I was 11. Of course I had the privledge of getting when I was away from home. I had been staying with one of my best friends who had moved and lived about 30 minutes away from me.
I knew what periods were all about, but I don't think there was even anything to prepare me for what I was experiencing. I went to bed that night with really bad cramps, with no idea as to why. I woke up in the morning with my underwear stained, and honestly, the thought that went through me head was "oh my god, I'm dying." I called my mom because I was in pain and wanted to know what was happening. I had to ask my friend for a pad because I wasn't prepared at all for getting it at 11, because I really was expecting it around like 13 when the health classes I had told us that would be. Needless to say, I was embarassed about asking for one. Then my mom came and picked me up because of the amount of pain I was in.
I went home grouchy, in pain, and not thrilled at all as to this is what I get to experience for the next 45 years of my life or so. And everytime I have my period, that's the kind of thought goes through my head.

[luna-chang.livejournal.com]

I got my first period when I was 12; it was Father's Day, my father's birthday, and the exact same day his mother died. I have two older sisters, so I wasn't suprised or anything, just annoyed. I had to go through all the funeral stuff in a skirt with pads :( It only made the experience of losing my favorite grandparent that much worse. And to top it all off, my mother couldn't be ther fo rme because she was in the middle of a cruise in Bermuda and couldn't even make the funeral.

[terrenepixy.livejournal.com]

Your icon has officially terrified me. O_O!!!!

[damonsgirl.livejournal.com]

i started my period when i was 13. i was told it would start at 15. or well i wasnt told, my mom was told. i didnt know what was going on. my parents never had that talk or the sex talk with me. my mom didnt notice until she did the wash when she asked me and im like "i dont know". i didnt want to use tampons, they scared me then and im scared of them now. so she bought me pantyliners. um ya did not work id have to use 10 to even last an hour, but i was too embarrassed to say anything. eventually i switched to pads and now i use Always with Wings overnights. day and night (i switch obviously). my hormonal levels are F'd up so naturally i only get my period 2 times a year if im lucky. i was put on BC to regulate it (im also infertile) i was just taken off of BC for medical reasons (recently found a blood clotting gene) so i think i had my last period for awhile. i will never use a cup or anything that you stick up there...the only person i let up there is they gyno and my bf and my BF will not insert sanitary products in me. its been a pain in my whole body since then. HORRIBLE dibilitating (i cant spell) cramps, huge mood swings. the works.

Im rachel, age 21, and from CT

[imindiaunajones.livejournal.com]

I got my first period when I was 12, it was like, a month before I turned 13. It was on a Friday evening and the only reason I know this is because I was watching TGIF. I put on either a pantyliner or pad of my mom's and didn't say anything until the next morning. The next morning I just kind of shyly went up to my mom and said, "I got my first period." She didn't do a whole lot, she just made sure that I knew where everything was (pads wise...) and she had prepared me for it and everything. I read a lot of books and I had a subscription to this magazine called New Moon. I don't even know if they still make it or not...
Anyway, I was excited for a couple of reasons. My mom had told me that she wouldn't let me shave my legs or get my ears pierced until I had gotten my period. So I was ecstatic that I could finally have smooth legs and pierced ears. Also from reading New Moon, they kind of hyped up menstruation to be a bit deal, "entering womanhood" and all that jazz. None of my friends felt the same way of course, so that mentality made me embarassed to ever talk about it. And I really didn't too much until this year or maybe last year I think. I think there's a big cultural stereotype in the U.S. about the whole deal.

I used pads for a year or so, maybe longer, but they didn't work well for me. I had a problem with major leaking and ended up with more than one embarassing situation at school with bleeding onto my jeans. I finally started using tampons when I went to a pool party of one of my friends and even with tampons, I had problems! I would bleed right through big ones within an hour or two.
Finally, when I went to college I got on birth control which significantly lightened my period and then just a couple of months ago I started using the Diva Cup and I swear, I will never go back to pads or tampons. That little cup has got to be the greatest idea ever! Plus it's fun to talk to my boyfriend about it. Haha. =D
But seriously, on the note of the Diva Cup, I never really had any negative thoughts about using it. I mean...it's basically the same thing as a tampon. It's kind of large, but I was already sexually active, so it wasn't as if it was that scary. =) I was a little weirded out at how thick the blood was when I first dumped it out, but I'm used to it now.

[poppleshatesyou.livejournal.com]

I used to get New Moon as well! I think they might still make it..i'm not sure though.

[poppleshatesyou.livejournal.com]

I started my period when i was 13, i don't really remember very many details about the actual starting of my period. I remember it being brown and thinking that was strange. But my mom had fully prepared me on the topic of menstruation by the time i was 11 or so. I distinctly remember telling my mom about it, because she made a big deal (in a good way) about it. I got to get my ears pierced a second time (which was way more exciting then my actual period), and we got to do special things together as a way to celebrate my womanhood..or something along those lines. My mom turned it into a very positive experience for me. I'm pretty sure i used pads for the first few periods i had, they were pretty sporadic for awhile. Then i figured out tampons, and then by the time i was 15 i was using the non applicator kind and organic at that because sticking cotton in my vagina kinda freaks me out.
Now i use the Keeper though, and i love it!! I'll also occasionally use cloth pads that i made as well. I dont think i could ever go back to tampons or regular store bought pads.

As far as sex while menstruating, i think it's possibly the best sex.

Oh yea! and for more info on cloth pads and menstrual cups, have you checked out the menstrual_cups community or diy_pads ?? i'm sure they'd be more then willing to give you information as well.

Good luck with your presentation and paper!!

[poppleshatesyou.livejournal.com]

oh yea...I'm Caroline, i'm 20 and i'm from MI originally but i live in CA now. And i pronounce it men-stray-shun.

[lileprechaun.livejournal.com]

First off a link for you: the Museum of Menstruation (http://www.mum.org/) (I'm surprised no one's mentioned that one yet).

I was a late bloomer - I got my period when I was 15. I'm glad it turned out that way because I was much more prepare psychologically/emotionally. I hear a lot of stories about young girls getting their first period and thinking they're dying. Not the case with me at all; I knew exactly what was happening and was quite relieved. Anyway, I got mine when I was babysitting for my cousin and his wife. Nothing spectacular - went to the bathroom and noticed a small amount of blood in my underwear. I finally got to put to use the pad I'd been carrying around in my purse for two years lol. When I got home, I told my mom and we both celebrated with a glass of red wine.

The first time I used a menstrual cup...
I used Instead first. I don't really recall how I felt about it. I do remember being mildly grossed out the first time I went to empty it and the contents leaked all over my hand. The first time I used my DivaCup was much more profound. I was both relieved and scared. It took me a long time to insert it, most likely because I was (and still am) a virgin. It took two weeks of trying before I was finally able to get it in. I was scared because I wasn't sure I would be able to get it out (I had no trouble though) and relieved because, well I had been trying to get it in for two weeks! At that point I had already been using cloth pads for a few cycles so I was happy to add another reusable form of menstrual protection to my arsenal.

Oh and my name is Kathy, I'm 20, I started using alternatives when I was 17-18, and I pronounce it 'mens-tray-shun'.

[yourkisshello.livejournal.com]

My first period was when I was 13, in January of 7th grade (I turned 13 in September). It happened on a Sunday, and my parents had a few friends over, because it was football season, and they were having a "Steelers party". (I'm from Pittsburgh, what can I say??) I felt something wet in my underwear and rushed to the bathroom. Lo and behold, it was blood. I was a little freaked out, but I had been waiting for it. I ran up to my room where I had some pads (my mom bought me some 'just in case'). I didn't want to tell my mom then becuase there were other people around. The next few days were pretty much hell. I had the worst cramps I've ever experienced in my life. The next day, Monday, was the day of my science class's "Mock Trial". So I had to dress up and wear a skirt. After I was 'questioned' I ran to the nurses office and told her I had just got my period, and she gave me a new pad, some pain pills, and a gel pack thing that you can heat up as a heating pad. I curled up on a plastic bench/cot and tried the best I could not to cry from the terrible pain. To this day, the first two days of my period are the absolute worst... terrible, terrible cramps, even on birth control. But anyway, as I was changing my pad, soemthing that I will always remember happened... I got a bright pink little piece of uteran lining on my hand. Anyway, that's not really that important, just something that has stuck in my mind.

I told my mom a few days later and she was a little hurt that I didn't tell her right away. She went out and bought me a really pretty gold bracelet, a book of "growing up" prayers (I'm not religious, but they were written by a woman for her daughter, and they are beautiful), and a book on Teen Sexuality. It was a little awkward, but it was one of those mother-daughter bonding moments.

I used pads up until college, which started almost a year ago. I never really wanted to use tampons because I am a self-professed former vagina-phobe :\ I really had this huge phobia of sticking ANYTHING up there (I still have a slight phobia, but I have for the most part gotten over it). I remember when I was maybe 14 or 15 my mom tried getting me to use tampons and I passed out on the toilet trying to use one because I was so scared, lol. Ah, well... I've grown up now, and tampons have made my life so much easier. I really don't mind them, though I doubt I will ever use a DivaCup. The idea just isn't too appealing to me, I guess. *shrug*

Sex while menstruating... I only do it in the shower to avoid the mess. As my boyfriend likes to say, "You're not a warrior until you've bloodied your sword." Hahaha. Hope that wasn't too inappropriate, I thought it was funny :P

Hope I helped! You can use my name if you want... I'm Stacey, 19, from PA :]

[robynchick.livejournal.com]

My period is (and was) painful like that too. I was so pissed that I was going to have to deal with this pain for most of the rest of my life...

[greenigma21.livejournal.com]

hey, my name is Heather, i'm 20 and go to school in Delaware, originally from NJ/Philly area.

I actually didn't know I got my period, as silly as that sounds. I was sitting in math class in 7th grade, my least favorite class and I remember feeling like something was trying to wring my stomach into little bits inside me. (I was a young 7th grader so I guess I was 11? 12? I dont know...) I asked my teacher if I could go to the nurse and he said no, I had to finish my exam. I finished, turned it in and said "I failed my exam, can I go to the nurse now?" and he gave me the pass.

A few weeks/days/some amount of time later my mom brought my laundry up to my room and said "you got your period, why didn't you tell me?!" I was like "uhhhh what?" and she said "What did you think this red/brown stuff was in your underwear?" apparently I didn't notice it.

Also, if you google the Vagina Monologues and find a script, look at the monologue called "I was 12, my mother slapped me". It's all of these girls' reactions to getting their period the first time. My favorite line is "I like the drops that fall into the toilet... you know, like paint!"

And I'd never even heard of a menstrual cup until I joined this community. I was quite confused for a long time. And here in NJ/DE we say "men-STRAY-shun" for the most part.

Hope I was helpful! Good luck on your project!

[amazon-syren.livejournal.com]

1) Love your icon (I'm a singer, so... music-love. :-)

2) Re: The drops that fall into the toilet... you know, like paint!

Yes! :-D So beautiful! :-D Love those pretty red drops. :-)