Ida Tin’s “Dear Men” Series: Part 23 of 29 – Periods are Still a Thing
Dear Men, as we go through this journey of what it feels like to have a woman’s body I need to just briefly remind you that while all the stuff has been happening; the sex, the cysts, the conditions, the breasts being there, the aftereffects of giving birth – periods are still a thing:
Typically, you bleed 4–7 days, then a week alter you ovulate, then two weeks later it starts over. It’s fairly often, sometimes it feels like it’s all the time. For the ones with short cycles, spotting, irregular cycles, long and heavy periods, things being a mess with abortions and change of birth control methods, or just the usual cycle variation caused by life’s stress and sickness – periods (and the whole menstrual cycle) may come too often, not often enough to become pregnant, or take us by surprise.
And for some a very painful one. For others a troublesome messy one, some get iron deficiency, some find it challenging to go to school or work. For some, it’s a worry when it’s late – did I become pregnant? Am I healthy? Will I ever ovulate and be fertile?
And then in the perimenopause phase of life (that’s the years before the cycle stops all together) the periods might come so often that it feels like yore bleeding all the time. They might also not come…
And yet, for many the monthly bleeding is an important marker of the cyclical nature of our lives, a moment we connect with our bodies and maybe feel our ability to create life.
You get the picture, periods are still a thing!
Artwork by Kyle Leuck
-This post by Ida Tin is shared on LinkedIn and is republished here with her permission. The SheSight Team has not made any changes to the content.
