school management
However , she could not miss her classes every time she experienced period pain and had to put up with “ incomprehensible teachers ”.
“[ I found ] sport teachers are the worst , for some reason they are so obsessed with making you continue to do the sport even though I told them that I was in a lot of pain ,” Constanza told Education Review .
“ They would just tell me , ‘ it ’ s fine , exercise helps ’, ‘ drink a lot of water , take medication ’.
“ But , there ’ s nothing that can really help you at school .”
In addition to not feeling supported by her teachers , Constanza believes another barrier to menstruating students ’ comfort is the state of the bathrooms .
The state of school bathrooms has been an issue across the country recently , with students refusing to use them due to them being filthy .
“ In my previous school , for a long time , our bathrooms were not really fixed that well , they didn ’ t flush all the time .
“ And then the bins as well , they would be full and then you ’ d have nowhere to put your used sanitary protection .
“ Which is obviously very bad if you ’ re in your period , because you don ’ t want anyone to see that .”
The young women believe that the stigma around periods can be eased with age and maturity , especially when it comes to disclosing being on your periods .
“ I ’ ve learned more about myself and I understand my needs . If I ’ m feeling bad , I either don ’ t go to school or if I ’ m there already I just tell someone so I can go home . “ I don ’ t feel embarrassed anymore .” Constanza also believes the school ’ s attitude has changed toward her needs as she has grown up .
“ I do think that they take senior girls more seriously ; I think that it has to do with the fact that they probably think that we ’ re growing into women now .
“ Which is really stupid because you can have problems with it at any age .
“ I definitely think that if I told them I was experiencing cramps or something , they would just probably let me go home , I guess , in an easier way than they would let someone younger ,” she said .
All around the world , girls are experiencing periods differently , with the median age for first period being 12 , but some get their first menstruation as young as eight years of age .
The need to educate younger girls is real , as not all parents have ‘ the talk ’ with their children .
“ Growing up , I didn ’ t really see anyone talk about periods at all , and if my mum didn ’ t tell me about periods when I was younger , before I ’ d gotten it , I don ’ t think I would ’ ve known what it was ,” Constanza said .
“ School doesn ’ t teach you anything about periods in primary school until you reach year six , but some people get it before that .
“ I think I would have benefited from that when I was younger .” ■
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