Let’s put an end to menstrual shame. Period. | Molly Fenton | TEDxNHS

[Applause] how many of you are on your period right now I can see heads turning looking down now isn't the time to tune out I do understand the reaction after all this is a very private matter but why why should something as normal and essential as menstruation be shrouded in silence this isn't just a women's problem it's a human problem despite gender and across [Music] Generations you feeling a little awkward uncomfortable good that reaction is exactly what we need to talk about half of our human population experiences periods in fact the United Nations population fund

tells us that 800 million people are on their period today but that's probably not something you would choose to share it's not exactly dinner table conversation is it growing up in the 21st century I've had the women in my life conceal this Crimson curse such a secretive matter from the moment it began and we do go to some Extraordinary Measures to not even say the word period The Blob Shark Week Gil flu code red and potentially the most creative I have heard explosive pum pum time I'd like you to think back those of you in

the room who have periods do you remember when you started menstrating I believe many of us would associate periods with pre-teen maybe 12 years old some of you may have been older some may be younger in my case I was 4 years younger at 8 years old I started my period I was in year three it was a terrifying and quite frankly traumatizing experience I had never been told what a period was so I thought I was going to die I'd learned to associate blood with trauma and I knew it was always a bad sign

so I panicked not knowing what to do stuck in those Junior School toilets we'd only just moved up to in year three so I couldn't put my feet on the ground I knew I had to get back to the classroom worried my teacher was going to shout at me for being too long yet tears were streaming down my face because this Blood must be bad it wasn't long after the stomach pain began and I was sat hunched over on the toilet in too much pain for my small body to handle at that age now I

know what you're thinking 8 years old that's extremely young isn't it and you're right it is but it is in the healthy limits for a child to start their period however in May 2024 period education was proposed to be banned until year five 9 and 10 years old under the new draft guidance of the sex education Plan band strong word isn't it what is so inappropriate about periods about a girl understanding the the expected changes that will happen to her body that the topic itself cannot be brought up despite many starting before that time I

didn't learn all that much about periods in my 15 years of education 10 of them I had periods four 15 years on from my first period and lessons still have not been learned from the girls that went home from school crying to their parents thinking they were going going to die when I was in school the period chat came under PS personal social health and economic education but we all just refer to it as sex head and yes periods came under the sex education bracket but I propose that this is part of the cause of

the stigma and the sexual objectification in itself and we really have to separate perod periods and sex especially in the education setting as a teenager I was taught how to use a condom on three separate occasions but no one ever taught me how to use a tampon or any period products for that matter quite an alarming gender education Gap there wouldn't you agree one where a girl's sex education is more focused on contact with the opposite gender that than her own body my friends and I now joke and laugh about waddling awkwardly like penguins the

first time we'd inserted tampons incorrectly I'd gone swimming with my dad and had unexpectedly started I was too embarrassed to say to him so I went to go buy tampons because I didn't want to miss out in the fen I stood in the shop with an array of brand sizes colors and scents being sold to me and ended up buying the heaviest flow and biggest tampons available I used a YouTube video in the changing rooms of how to put it in me it wasn't a great experience I was 14 years old by this point I

had been taught how to use a condom but not a tampon I remember in school when the instruction manual was removed from my box of tampons just in case the boys got hold of it implying that the sexual nature of these anatomical diagrams of how to safely use tampons was a bigger concern than the safety of my physical well-being these period products were provided under a free period product scheme mainly for disadvantage and underserved School pupils with potential of negative hygiene practice infections and even Toxic Shock Syndrome from using products like tampons for too long

you would have assumed that this would be a priority for girls health and not a potential pornographic exposure we leave open a large gap for myths and misconceptions to be perceived as reality and passed down through generations a misconception I hear all the time is around the use of tampons taking away virginity which in itself is an extremely complicated social and cultural construct but it is damaging to the right for us to have the correct information about our bodies the use of tampons has nothing to do with virginity and educating about these topics means that

we can reduce and even end this cycle of misinformation on the flip side of all this where and when did the fascination of periods in a sexual light be inflicted onto the boys it's hard to blame them being curious to a certain extent when we deny them the correct information of what periods are and what they really mean they'd see the girls be taken into a separate room for a quick Girls Talk they come out horrified died and they're told not to talk about what came up in that room on the playground afterwards automatically those

of us in that room think that what came up is wrong to talk about and we're embarrassed and this only made the boys even more Curious see we're identifying a cycle and not one that just makes this a girl's issue I truly believe that the sexual connotations we have around periods are adding to this cycle of objectifying a woman's body except now it's a girl's body it sounds so wrong linking sex to First periods doesn't it in my case we're talking about linking sex to an 8-year-old child but that is what is happening of course

you wouldn't Teach an 8-year-old about sex but I don't understand why we wouldn't teach them about periods and the normal changes that will happen to their bodies and I'm not talking about the science and getting a 3D pelvis out but more that big sister like chat so that when these changes do happen to them they don't scare them in my time in sexed I was taught about condom use recycling consent and drug and alcohol use when I was 13 years old I was taught how to use a condom properly for the first time no one

taught me how to use a tampon or any period products before leaving education at 18 years old why do we learn about condoms and how to use them properly for our health and safety and so we have to learn about periods and what these changes in our body are supposed to look like without this education around periods we don't know our normal we are deprived of the opportunity to help ourselves live the same quality of life on our periods as we do off in order to be and stay healthy we have to establish what is

okay and what isn't period pain it's very common so it must be normal right as with heavy periods very common must be normal this is just what we call the joys of being a woman it's normal for a girl to miss up to a week off school every month vomiting passing out scared to leave her house because she seems to leak through every pad and tampon available right right this is how I live my life for my period And I know I'm not the only one the charity well-being of women's December 2023 study of 3112

to 18 year-olds revealed that 97% experience painful periods 92% have such heavy periods that they have to change their daily activi ities chronic menstrual conditions are seen as just a period the charity endometriosis UK documents the average diagnosis time for endometriosis in the UK as 8 years and 10 months the 2024 survey of more than 4,000 people with the condition revealed that almost half visited their GP 10 times s or more before being diagnosed period inequity is quite literally taking away the right to a Young Person's education PHS group our leading provider for Hygiene services

in the UK documents in October 2023 that an average of three days per term is missed of school because of periods that's more than the common cold my last intention is to make anyone feel uncomfortable but we're all deeply ingrained with this fear-like perception of menstration women and people in the room who have periods stop hiding it paint the realities of menstration to people around you it will probably make your lives easier and Men it's blood we see an abundance of it in traumatic ways on television so we can start to accept that menstruation is

normal and it's actually played an essential part of why we are all able to sit here today I still cannot believe that it wasn't until 2016 an actual period pad was shown on television and it took until 2017 for red and not blue liquid to represent periods periods are not a weakness what do you mean I get to bleed for a week every month and not die how awesome is that I do wish someone had painted it to me as that strength when I was that scared 8-year-old girl periods include us all and and if

we continue to treat them as something that should be whispered about or ignored then we miss out on the opportunity to normalize them to educate properly and to remove the stigma for the 8-year-old girl that's about to start her period prioritizing her equality over our discomfort [Applause]