This project by Mathilda & her partner, aims to end the taboo around period.
By sharing pictures of my blood and my monthly experience with my period I am trying to show people how normal bleeding is, and that nobody should feel ashamed by it.
I am 19 and I have had my period since I was 11. When I got my period for the first time the only thing I could feel was disgust and shame. It took me by surprise and I didn’t know how to react.
Being so young I rarely heard anyone talking about periods. The few friends who menstruated also held it a secret. And when we did talk about it, we hid and only dared to whisper about it. When I got my period at school and had no pads, I preferred “making” my own pad with toilet paper instead of asking someone. I was just too embarrassed.
Every month I bled, I was disgusted with myself. I felt unclean and ashamed. It took me a long time to feel comfortable about bleeding. I now know which period products and painkillers work for me, that I should take a day off the first day of my cycle and just take it slow. I started to feel almost good about having a period, it makes me feel healthy. But I still hate the pain it brings every month.
Still, what I hate most is how society deals with periods. How it still makes us feel ashamed, and weak for bleeding. Why can’t we handle it as something normal without having to refer to it as something disgusting and bad?
