I had a “remember when” moment today. Remember when the gym teacher came into the classroom and took all the boys with him (he was invariably a man) and the school nurse came and took all the girls with her (the school nurse was invariably a woman). Ooooh! We were going to learn about our bodies! Woohoo!

This experience was somewhat mortifying for a youngster who was raised in our sexually repressed society. I mean, why else would they make the girls and boys be separate? Obviously there was something that us girls were to talk about the boys shouldn’t hear and vice versa. For the record, I still am not positive what the boys talked about.

But us girls learned all about our periods. We learned that once a month one of our ovaries would release an egg and if it wasn’t fertilized (by some act that we won’t actually talk about), then the lining of our uterus will shed, causing us to bleed. Sitting there all, embarrassed and sheepish, we were taught that - no really, our bodies weren’t broken if they bled. However, it was this somewhat clinical, rather gender separate experience that I believe causes young women to be embarrassed about the changes in their bodies. Girls will stealthily put a tampon (hopefully organic) in their pocket without anyone seeing. Boys pretty much pretend that the whole thing isn’t happening. And why should they acknowledge it, they weren’t made to watch with period video with all the girls, so they can claim ignorance. If we remove this taboo about menstruation at a young age, maybe our children won’t be so freaked out by it when they are adults?

Anyway, I digress. Recently, this video clip was brought to my attention by former GladRagger, Sara (Green Light Design). The video is a 1940’s Disney/Kotex production called The Story of Menstruation. It is a delightful look at how our bodies change with the onset of puberty and things to remember when attempting to avoid cramps and stay healthy and happy. This is just the sort of video that I watched sitting with all my female classmates, most definitely embarrassed of my body. Alright folks, grab some popcorn and Dots candy and enjoy The Story of Menstruation (see below)!

 -Jodi

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kWR-rIKRe4[/youtube]