Written byPanpan Wang

But First, A Brief Anecdote About (Fake) Murders and Period Blood

Last Halloween a friend of mine, Chase, came dressed to the office as Jason. Or Freddy Kreuger. Or one of those types of characters. He had a plastic knife strapped to his belt and fake blood smeared on his face and body. It was a pretty aggressive costume for the office, but also pretty rad.

Chase just goes for it.

Near the end of the day, a female colleague who hadn’t seen Chase said to him as she walked by,

“Wow. That time of the month at home, huh?"to which he responded, “Oh man… that’s over the line, don’t you think?”

I don’t blame him for thinking this. I kind of thought this, too.

Even as you read this, you might have even thought to yourself that her comment was pretty gross.

“Wait… are you serious?”, she responded. “You have smeared — on your person — the blood of someone that you supposedly murdered by hacking them to death with a machete, and me joking that it’s from your girlfriend’s monthly cycle is over the line?”

Ignorance is Not Bliss I get to talk about menstruation on a near-daily basis, and most of those conversations are with women. Much of the time, the women are apologetic: “Oh, I’m sorry, I know this might be kind of weird or TMI…” Or ashamed. “I hope this isn’t too awkward.” Or just simply visibly uncomfortable with talking about this with a man. It saddens but doesn’t surprise me that this is the assumption that most women have when talking to a man about this topic.