We are not giving you “attitude.” If I get mad it does NOT mean you have to go and think that I on my period. I’m sorry that you men have not felt stomach cramps, bloating, acne breakouts, and bleeding two gallons of blood in a week. 84 days out of the year. Eighty – four days of the year.

Take a moment to let that sink in. Good? Great.

It’s a part of our life. Unless you can appreciate this natural experience that we have going on, then you have no right to judge me on this and blame my period as the reason I’m yelling at you. Most likely the reason I’m yelling at you is because you’ve angered me greatly, not because I’m on my “shark week.” If you don’t respect the blood that I bleed, let me punch you in the face for 84 days out the year and see how much pain I cause you.

Sometimes, it isn’t all your fault guys that we snap at you when we’re on our period. It’s just that our uterus feels like someone is stabbing fifty nails into it and now we either have to deal with it or walk like ten miles to the nurse for Advil and then wait twenty minutes for the relief to kick in. The nails – in- the- uterus feeling is called period pain.

According to PubMed Health, “Period pain might only affect the lower abdomen, or it might be felt in the back or legs too. It can cause nausea, vomiting or diarrhea in some women, as well as headaches or general discomfort. Women who have heavier periods often have more intense pain too.”

It also stated, “Sometimes friends, relatives, colleagues and even doctors do not take period pain seriously. But severe pain that affects a woman’s everyday activities on several days a month, maybe even preventing her from working, is not something that has to be put up with because it is “natural.” A lack of understanding might make women hesitate to get enough rest, seek medical advice or find a suitable treatment.”

Hiromi Ozaki a Japanese-British artist created a device is intended to let men feel the pain of a woman’s period. A guy named Takashi tries it out. Soon poor Takashi is overcome by cramps. He retreats to a restroom, writing in pain. Whenever you mumble about me being on my period, which I can hear you guys say by the way, I’m going to look at you and imagine you in this menstruation device.

Women in the U.S. aren’t the only ones in pain. “A year’s supply of tampons and pads costs upwards of $70 and is not covered by food stamps. For homeless women, the problem of lack of access to menstrual hygiene care is often compounded by “minimal access to safe sanitary spaces” like toilets and showers,” writes Jennifer Weiss-Wolf.

She continued with, “One in ten girls in Africa misses school for the duration of her period each month. In Bangladesh, infections caused from filthy, contaminated rags are rampant. Menstrual hygiene has been linked to high rates of cervical cancer in India.” As you can see guys, not only do periods cause inner pain to women – they cause outer pain and problem too.

To end, let’s remember, using the words of Emerald Pellot, “what’s happening underneath these clothes and with my body is none of your business. I never ask you guys if you’re feeling particularly TESTOSTERONE-Y today,” do I?