— lookbookdotnu: Olympic Museum (by Camille Co)

Shit No One Told Me About My Period

rootfauna rootfauna

I knew the basics before I got it, but I had no clue…

* The blood wouldn’t necessarily be red. When I first got my period, I spent a few min looking at my underwear wondering how I shit myself. I didn’t know the blood could look brown, or be thick.

* That tampons weren’t a good idea yet. I was 10 or 11 when I got my first period and physically smaller than an adult woman. My first attempt at inserting a tampon was very painful and unsuccessful. I wouldn’t use them until I was around 14 or so.

* That when you use pads the blood can get on your bottom and I’d have to occasionally clean off the toilet seat after using it.

* That getting your first period DOES NOT mean you’re fully developed and fully able to bear children. I could have technically gotten pregnant at that age, but I was still a child and pregnancy would have put my life in danger because I was still physically immature.

* That it wouldn’t be regular for another few years.

* That very painful cramping is NOT NORMAL once you reach your 20s and is cause for concern.

* That the blood and tissue you pass can look chunky or stringy and not like blood from a cut.

* That stress can halt your period for months BUT

* That doesn’t mean you can’t get pregnant

Feel free to add your own

mskiarafan1

Relatable

angelsaxis

-passing blood clots is completely normal

-that your period may straight up skip a month when you first get it

-and then it’ll happen twice in the same month

-getting your period does NOT automatically make you a woman

martee-bee

Painful cramping isn’t normal in your 20’s? That’s a little concerning, mine have been getting exponentially worse

phinarei

It is NOT normal.

I can 100% guarantee you have endometriosis, PCOS, or another hormone problem. If your doctor says it’s normal, DEMAND a second opinion.

Thinking that it’s normal is how people end up infertile or dead. It’s why so many women under 40 these days are having an almost impossible time either conceiving or preventing conception. Because no one teaches anyone that it’s the sign of trouble that can very seriously hurt you.

Anyone who has severe cramps, heavy bleeding, or irregular periods after about 19 years old should seek medical advice. None of those are normal.

If you have skin tags, a hard time losing weight, migraines related to your period, depression that is amplified when menstruating, severe mood swings, sleep disturbances that get worse with menstruation, or any other significant health problem that started with puberty and is worse when hormones are fluctuating you need to be checked.

None of the things that people relate to women on their periods is actually an example of a healthy woman. It’s an example of people who need one form of treatment or another.

colt-kun

Do NOT go to a general doctor. Find a women’s health center. Obgyn doctors. ASK SPECIFICALLY FOR A FEMALE DOCTOR. (Also helps with creating a demand for female doctors, win-win)

And if the doctor you do see tried to write you off as “nothing” or “its normal”? Politely insist for another doctor. People forget: you are paying them for a service. If you believe the doctor is not taking you or your problems seriously, ASK FOR ANOTHER DOCTOR. Specifically, “Do you have another doctor on staff who is more experienced with female health”. It is WELL within your right to change doctors as you see fit - you owe no loyalty to one specific doctor if they aren’t meeting your needs.

master-yen-sid

Reblogging for all my followers with vaginas. I have so many sisters and friends with vaginas and I didn’t know most of this. I turn 30 soon. You’d think I’d have pick up these bits of information over the years in conversation.

luckystarchild

Hey!! Hey everybody with periods!!! If you have a period you should read this, because it’s helpful, and people with periods really aren’t taught enough about their own bodies.

daddys-chaton-noir

even if u personally don’t get a period, someone u know/care abt prob does & u should pass this along

women’s health is health & we should all know these things, i feel

Dear Men Writers

annerocious

Lesser known facts when writing women:

High heeled shoes don’t become flats if you break the heels off.
The posts of earrings aren’t sharp.
Nail polish takes a long time to dry and smudges when wet.
You can’t hold in a period like pee.
Inserting a tampon is not arousing or sexual in any way, ever.

Feel free to add your own.

deliciouspineapple

- Bras leave red marks on the skin under and around boobs and it is a magical experience when taken off.

- Make up can take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes depending on how skilled you are.

- Taking hair out of a ponytail after wearing it for hours does not make it perfectly straight when it comes down.

- Hair when wet sticks to the skin it no longer flows, idiot.

-When women with long hair kiss, turn around, do anything, their hair falls in the way.

- Stockings are itchy and tear like wet paper bags.

ivegotthetriforce

- Pantyhose, tights, leggings, and stockings are each different.

- Waxing hurts and leaves red skin for a while afterwards while shaving leaves stubble

- Most can’t run in heels unless they have been VERY worn

- Insecurity in appearance doesn’t mean “buy me a drink”

- EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT TASTES IN EVERYTHING

mistytang mistytang

-Having large breasts sucks. It sucks beyond belief. If a garment happens to fit your large chest, odds are it won’t fit the rest of you. Underboob sweat is real and terrible. Bending over for extended periods of time will tweak your back out. Running can be painful due to boob turbulence. Bras are hella expensive. Big breasts are not fun.

angryschnauzer

Putting a tampon in isnt a quick bend-poke-done kinda deal. It involves cubicle yoga, messy hands, numerous curse words as you realise it isnt in correctly and have to take it out and start again with a new one.

cassiopeiassky

Yes to all of this. But also:

If her hair is in an updo, one does not simply remove a hairpin to send her hair cascading down her back. No. If her hair is an updo, it will take at least an hour and an extra set of hands to remove the 137 bobby pins that are holding her hair in place. Furthermore, there’s probably a can’s worth of hairspray in there, intended to withstand category 2 hurricane winds. There’s no cascading happening here - the best you can hope for is a misshapen nest of hair to clump and poof unattractively in the back while it still remains flat against her scalp.

marvel-lucy

This is one of the funniest posts I’ve seen in a while (especially if you read all the comments), but also really depressing because at 42 I still judge myself as having failed for not matching up to all these mythical stereotypes despite knowing they’re impossible

valeria2067

^^^This though

musicalhell

The odds of a woman having smoothly shaved legs and armpits are directly proportional to the amount of skin her clothing bares and/or the amount of fucks she gives at that particular moment.

GLASSES ARE NOT COSMETIC. If we whip them off, we do not become gorgeous fashion models. We become squinty.

thatsnicebutimmarried

-most women wear bras. Yes, even when they are trying to dress sexy. Because bras make boobs look perkier and rounder, which is something men apparently find sexy, so being a seductress or femme fatale is not an automatic reason for a female character to not be wearing a bra.

-a good bra will hide headlights, or at the very least drastically reduce their noticeability. A women with enough pointy nipple issues will opt for a padded or molded bra to hide them.

-women’s nipples do not automatically become hard pyramids visible through any and all layers of clothing the second they become even slightly aroused. They are not the female equivalent of boners. And even if their nipples do get hard, the bras they are almost certainly wearing (because even a goddamn succubus with big, honkin’ knockers for seducing men is gonna have those painful puppies in some kind of boob sling) should keep those pointy nipples from being visible to every other character in the scene, JIM BUTCHER. YES, EVEN LARA RAITH WOULD WEAR A BRA ONCE IN A GODDAMN WHILE.

ariibatchelder ariibatchelder

if you’re being tied up and tortured in a freezing underground dungeon, then you probably have more important things to pay attention to than how hard somebody’s nipples are, jim butcher

jabberwockypie

- Wearing a bra that doesn’t fit HURTS. It’s not sexy to wear a bra that’s “two sizes too small”, it’d make your clothes hang oddly and you’d have a weird, uncomfortable “quad-boob” effect and your back would hurt, BEN AARONOVITCH.

phantoms-lair

Also, after removing a too small bra, there’s gonne be angry red lines on the boobs and ribs and the lady is not going to want them to be touched by anyone for a good long while

everystarstorm

-Not all women wear heels. Those things hurt and are hard to balance in. They can also mess up your feet and back pretty bad.

hattedhedgehog

-Lips aren’t just naturally red “as if she’d been drinking wine but they were just like that without makeup cause she’s so perfect,” my dear little Kvothe from ‘Name of the Wind’. Also, girls do not naturally smell like fruit or flowers, it’s either perfume or something she’d been eating recently.

generalistherbalist

I’ve been appreciating this post but now it’s back very specifically calling out my problematic faves and I don’t think those male authors realize how much it totally takes me out of the story for a moment when they commit these errors. It does nothing useful for the plot and is annoying for half of the audience

lmorasey

Is it weird that I’m female and wasn’t aware of a solid third of these?

infinitelyblankpage

I mean, all writes take note. I basically live in man land when it comes to protagonists so I don’t know half these things despite being a woman

furryarbiterangel

(Most) Women do not look at themselves in the mirror and compare their breasts to fruit. Any sort of fruit. Especially melons. Please save us from the melons.

Also we are not aware of our breasts at all times. I do not walk down a flight of stairs and think “oh golly my breasts are bouncing so much right now”. They are as much as natural part of our bodies as arms. Do you constantly think about how your arms are moving? Sure you may be aware of them, but paying full attention? Doubtful.

dukeofbookingham

Also: women working out are almost never sexy. They’re not glowing or glistening or (kill me) *sparkling*. They are red and sweaty and gross just like all the dudebros doing their time with the dumbbells. Stop ogling fictional women at the gym, TOM WOLFE.

operahousebookworm

You know, I distinctly remember one occasion where I was walking and noticing how my breasts were bouncing.

I was in college, and had rapidly gained a fair amount of weight between birth control and the freshman 15. This took me from flat-chested to having actual boobs. And I still wasn’t used to the damn things. Like every so often I’d catch them out of the corner of my eye and be like, “Where did those come from?”

So one night I’m walking across the quad in my pajamas with no bra. And every step felt like kaTHUNK kaTHUNK kaTHUNK until I crossed my arms just to keep the things from trying to rip themselves off of me.

In conclusion, experience and other anecdotes tell me that women do sometimes think about what their breasts are doing. It’s usually when their breasts are doing something really annoying.

lady--of--greenwood

Big boobs are always annoying! Also, when a woman has big boobs odds are high they’re gonna be two different sizes (how noticeable that is depends on the person but every woman in my family has that problem to some degree) and its fucking annoying cuz how you gonna buy a bra? Buy one that fits the bigger one and the smaller bounces around the other side like a fucking ping pong ball but buy one that fits the smaller and you’re gonna feel like a squeeze bottle.

Big boobs are so. Fucking. Annoying. I can’t even sleep on my stomach and I like sleeping on my stomach!

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

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Shit No One Told Me About My Period

Dear Men Writers