My mom told me when I was in third grade, "Hey, girls bleed out of their hoo-has when they grow older and it's called a period. You stick a pad over it like a little Band-Aid until it clears up in about a week, but you probably won't start it for a while yet."

I remember the fear and the shame that I was a guy with a period (I'm transgender). I was scared shitless — or should I say bloodless — at the thought of wearing menstrual products and the cramps I might have to deal with.

I can't bring myself to talk about it to anyone at all because I'm then perceived as a cisgender female instead of the transgender man I am. I get enough backlash from just about everyone I know for being myself as it is, and I don't need to be even more dysphoric just because I can't afford hormones quite yet.

I spend way too damn much on menstrual products. It's insane. Being practically homeless doesn't leave you with many options. Torn-up socks, toilet paper, fast-food napkins — whatever you can get your hands on when you're low on cash works.

—Blue, US