Periods: It’s not pretty. It’s sometimes painful. And we’d be lying if we didn’t admit that the first time was oh-so embarrassing. Maybe that’s why so many of us shy away from talking — and learning the truth — about our periods.
Suits star (and Prince Harry’s main squeeze!) Meghan Markle has decided it’s time for us to come clean by penning an empowering essay about the stigma women face for having their periods.
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As an ambassador for World Vision, the actress visited Delhi, India earlier this year to learn about issues affecting women and young girls in local slum communities. The 35-year-old actress then wrote a piece for Time magazine inspired by her trip — specifically about women’s hygiene, healthcare, education, and development in India.
During my time in the field, many girls shared that they feel embarrassed to go to school during their periods, ill equipped with rags instead of pads, unable to participate in sports and without bathrooms available to care for themselves, they often opt to drop out of school entirely.
She concludes the essay urging readers to help women in impoverished regions around the world gain access to education.
As a female in India, the challenge of survival begins at birth, first overcoming female feticide, then being victim to malnourishment, potentially abuse, and lack of access to proper sanitation facilities. Beyond India, in communities all over the globe, young girls’ potential is being squandered because we are too shy to talk about the most natural thing in the world.
For way too long, girls have felt like they had to get information about their periods from whispers in toilets among friends or hushed up conversations with their mothers. We’re doing our bit to get women to talk openly about menstruation by dispelling some period myths that you seriously shouldn’t fall for: