For anybody who has never had a period before, let me tell you what you’re not trying to do on day one of your cycle.
It’s run 26 miles. That’s for sure.
Yeah, let's do it.
Shall I move a little?
Huh. Let me think for a second.
How am I gonna say that? I feel ...
Can you clap?
I was at the start of the London Marathon
realizing I was on day one, and I remember going through my options.
You know, a pad, you know chafing is very uncomfortable on a marathon course.
A tampon, I guess so ... I didn't want to run with an extra one.
So I decided
to just bleed freely,
just bleed freely and run.
And I knew it was a radical choice because we as women are not taught to prioritize our own comfort over the comfort of others.
We never have been.
My mom has always given me
the guidance that as a woman you don't ever speak of your period,
and you almost have to pretend like you don't get it.
And so if you have a partner, you never mention that you're on your period.
You never leave like a box of tampons or anything visible.
I didn't know what a uterus wasn't I was 18.
So I was raised a very conservative environment.
We did not have any sex-ed.
I think my mom maybe gave me a brochure.
We had no resources to learn about what it's like to get your period while not identifying as a woman
because that was completely out of the out of the options.
I grew up between New York City and Mumbai, India.
In both places you cannot talk about your menstrual cycle freely, you just can't.
There's something like 5,000 ... 5,000 euphemisms for periods:
Shark week, code red, people will say that "Aunt Flo's in town,"
One of my favorites "Carrie at the prom."
I think there was a time when I was younger. I may have called it like
the red monster.
Even the way that it's branded on television
it's all about how much you can conceal it.
I call it out. I'm getting my period, I'm menstruating.
I think it's really important to use that language.
I think I talk about it all the time, like openly, casually.
So many times when I was growing up
there would be some bleeding through my shorts or whatever.
It's part of life. You know, it should not be something that's so shame and fearful.
You know, it should be instead something that's like
"Oh, let me go and take care of that, let me go and fix that."
A) It's not a big deal. B) It's not gross.
It's just part of the lives of half of the population.
I'm trans, and I menstruate. So I don't identify as a woman.
Every month I have to deal with that cycle, deal with the effects on my body.
I have this thing that I call "the candy bar dilemma."
Which is when you're in a stall in a men's bathroom
And you kind of make that crinkly noise with the tampon when you're opening it,
and they're like, "What's that?"
And you're like "Oh, it's just a Kit Kat!"
You have to cover it up. You have to figure out a way, every time you're on your period,
to hide that and to keep yourself safe.
We will have moved the needle on combating the silence around menstrual shame and stigma
when we see the experience of a period so normally woven into the day-to-day expectations of life
that we don't use weird phrasing like "feminine hygiene products."
When we no longer see advertisements that use a blue liquid to symbolize very natural healthy blood
that's a normal part of life.
In most of the United States, tampons and pads and menstrual products are not exempt from sales tax.
They're not considered necessary such that they qualify for the exemption.
People call it the "tampon tax."
If we spoke more about the experiences that people have when they're on their periods,
we would be leading to better innovation, and we're seeing it now.
We're seeing period underwear with unique innovations in fabric.
We're seeing organic cotton tampons really push their way to the forefront of the market.
In the past few years I've grown to really enjoy that time of the month.
It gives me kind of like a reason to slow down and rest and focus on myself.
My relationship to my period has changed in terms of me A) feeling more comfortable with my body.
Also linked to coming out, which was really a change in how I saw myself and was more reflective of myself
and more appreciative of my body.
As a kid it was exciting to get my period.
As a young adult I'd usually be relieved when my period came.
It would mean my body was healthy, I wasn't pregnant.
Trying to have kids, a whole different relationship.
You know, hoping your period doesn't come.
Now as an older person, as its winding down,
you know, maybe slightly nostalgic. I don't know about that, maybe not.
Our menstrual cycles is what enables us to reproduce and have babies and be in the world as a species.
And so many reasons to be, not just comfortable with it, but actually really appreciative
