Leaks and Geeks

Oh, gosh, your account of your first vacation made me grin. Reminds me so so much of my first vacation. That was on my third period and we went to Cali, to the beach. My mother knew but the rest of my family, being male, didn't. I didn't want to go to the beach and walk around with shorts all day, so I decided I'd stay in the hotel. My family was opposed to that. We got into a fight and yelling ensued, until it dawned on my mother what was going on. In front of the whole family, she asked me if this was about my period. I was mortified.
Makes you kinda wonder why all of this has to be so secret and embarrasing. It's *natural*, for chrissake.

Andrea, I officially love you. This piece made me laugh so hard because I remember going through situations like that and how much easier it would have been if these subjects weren't so "taboo." My mom gets really angry when my sister leaves her tampon wrappers in the trash, and we can barely bring up anything that goes on in the vulva region (from bad cramps to UTI suspicions to the world's worst allergic reaction to a tampon---I kid you not), I guess because vagina = dirty, dirty sex.

When I was in sixth grade, probably around my second or third period, I decided "screw it!" and wore tight, khaki capris to school. Of course I leaked all over them and had to do a quick change into my nasty, skanky, 3-weeks-old-no-washing gym shirt becuase it was the only shirt long enough to cover them. So of course after that, I only wore the giant, extra-long, super thick overnight variety of pads. (And then I got into tampons, which is an entirely different story...)

haha thanks so much! I'm *still* afraid to wear pants of the white/khaki origin because of all the horror stories i've heard and experienced first hand. and oooooh...a vacation period with a family full of boys...that's harsh!

...there's another common thread, Adrienne.

The "Hide it, HIDE IT!" stuff. Even coming -- often coming -- from women in families. That was SP prevalent in my mother's house, that after a few years, once I'd had it up to here with everything there, I started just leaving used pads, outright, EVERYWHERE.

And Andrea, I feel you. Your white pants story is my very first period story, almost to a T. Save that the only pads AVAILABLE to me were what both the nurse's office at school had, and my mother had, given nearly everything in our house came from the hospital, since it was free. They don't even make these anymore: the fat, fat pads that attached to a big elastic BELT.

(Though oddly, when I think about it, those resembled the world's biggest g-string before there even were g-strings. Weirdness.)

I had so many issues with this when I was younger. To start with I had to do my own laundry even before I got my period, which means it almost never got done. As a result I had several pairs of pants ruined by blood stains. I seemed to have leaks every period when I was younger. I don't know why this is, but I am guessing it had alot to do with my teachers almost never giving us bathroom breaks. I also think that maybe women's periods are just heavier when they first get them. After years of having it, I know the deal and have no problems. I am a little scared of white pants still, but if I do get a leak I usually catch it before anyone can notice.

I loved reading this. You tell your story so down to earth, and it really made me laugh. I agree with you, women should feel like they can be more open about periods, sex and their bodies and I'm sure their future daughters would thank them for it. By the way, your mother on that holiday? Inexcusable. Why be angry about sharing pads with your own daughter?

As for leakages, I had plenty too. Bedcovers, jeans and towels all got their fair share. But I'm with you on the awkward tampon moments. I was slow at catching on how to use them and hated wasting such expensive things, so I often ended up in the bathroom for several minutes in awkward positions trying to rectify a badly inserted tampon. Those applicators are more confusion that they're worth!

Hee, I had the same problem with the applicator the first time I used a tampon. Of course, the reason I was using a tampon was because that was all my gym teacher had when my period made an unexpected showing.

(To be fair, asking her for pads wasn't bad. She'd made it clear on the first day that she had a variety of hygiene products that were ours for the asking.)