In short, yes. We’ve come a long way, I can’t deny that. But we have an equal amount of stereotypes, mockeries, and absurdities to get rid of. Females are constantly excluded from society because of this natural occurrence that women have to go through every single month for 40 years. And while period stigma may seem like a minor problem because they only affect 50% of the world’s population, it is a very significant one and stems from a historically male-dominated society. Due to the period stigma, girls constantly hide that they’re on their period, women stuff their pads or tampons into their shirt’s sleeves so no one sees them, people can’t freely talk about their period without the conversation getting awkward, and some females from poorer countries are forced to stop going to school once they get their menarche (but that goes beyond stigma).
First of all, the way periods are referred to in day-to-day life show how much disgust there is towards them. Aunt Flo, shark week, that time of the month, girl flu, etc… are all used to refer to menstruation. And while there is nothing wrong with using such euphemisms, they definitely demonstrate how women are expected to hide their periods from society. I believe that we should stop using all these “childish” euphemisms, which do nothing but degrade the biological nature of a woman, and start using either the words “period” or “menstruation.” Being more open about these natural processes in females will be better, periods are not something we should (feel we have to) hide. Plus, you will never hear a man say Uncle Hard is here when referring to an erection, so why should we women use other expressions for the word “period?”
The way menstruating women are represented in the media also questions the “unexistence” of period stigma. On TV, women on their period are portrayed as hormonal, hysterical, always hungry, wearing ugly sweatpants and a messy bun, crying their eyes out while eating an entire tub of ice cream. This contrasts with how women are represented in tampon and pad ads; dancing, smiling, and overall acting like their period pain isn’t there, not to mention that most female hygiene product ads feature only pubescent young girls. Either way of representing menstruating women isn’t realistic and further contributes to the period stigma. The female hygiene product industry is rightfully blamed for supporting the stigma: they use an inexplicable amount of plastic to wrap their products, just so women can hide them. Because indeed, why would we show pads and tampons openly to the world?
Sex education in schools is also a key factor in the continuation of this stigma. Boys and girls are separated to be explained the same knowledge: boys have penises, girls have vaginas, girls get periods and can get pregnant. When separating the kids, the boys assume that the period is something private to the girls and that they shouldn’t talk to them about it, and the girls assume that it’s something they should keep to themselves. And that’s the key point. We shouldn’t separate young children to explain human bodies because it shouldn’t even be awkward in the first place.
Periods aren’t something to be ashamed of. Stop the stigma.