I got to teach one of my favourite ever lessons today. I got to teach my yearly lesson on PERIODS to my year 5 girls. As usual I stick to the ‘script’ (the SRE curriculum is stiflingly stuck in the dark ages) but then the fun starts. We talk chocolate and donuts, pmt, the magnificence of our own bodies, poo, bloating, why not to go swimming wearing a pad, how many holes we have ‘down there’ and testing the absorbency of tampons by dunking them a glass of water and wringing them out. Aside from the all the fun we have (because it is so important no child leaves their first lesson about periods feeling scared or anxious) it is incredibly important to me that my lessons are inclusive so I choose and adjust my language accordingly. I do my best to discuss the female body and people who menstruate not women and girls (it’s hard to unlearn and I still slip up sometimes) and I’ve done my best to understand menstruation in relation to the majority of the children’s religion because I knew that they would have questions about it.
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I was also asked my one of my Mighty Girls today why women had to walk the streets with keys between their fingers. This girl is ELEVEN years old and already aware that we teach girls how to stay safe and not teach boys how not to harm them. We talked about this for a while and then I asked her whether she thought it was acceptable that she has to think about these things as a child. Its not ok that our children are growing up waiting to be assaulted and knowing that this is the toll they pay for being a girl.
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📷: @bloodygoodperiod
#periodpositive #periods #periodpower #endperiodshame #menstruatewithpride #menstruationeducation #sexeducation #endstreetharassment #feministteacher #teachlikeagirl #feminismintheclassroom #empoweredwomenempowergirls
In a week that has seen women’s rights removed at a terrifying rate (my heart aches for every person having their bodily autonomy stripped from them), Louis Theroux investigate postnatal mental health and everyone posting about #MentalHealthAwareness in every corner of the internet, I’ve had a bit more time to think about these things than I usually would as I am signed off work (something I have been embarrassed about). What I have found interesting about the idea of raising awareness and talking more about mental health is that it seems to be only the more palatable symptoms we can cope with discussing and accepting. Anything beyond ‘I’ve been having a hard time recently’ which impacts your relationships, ability to do your job and even leave the house will still cause others to throw around judgements and think they know better. We are still not beyond the point of understanding that mental health issues reach much further than having a cry after a bad day. When pregnancy, that age old condition that allows everyone and their dog to have an opinion on how you should be feeling and coping, the judgement increases. My body is not public property. No woman’s body is. My emotions are not turned on and off by a switch as and when I need to be a fully functioning member of society. I have found being pregnant hard enough without the weight of other people’s expectations. When I have not met those expectations, the consequences have been devastating. I have lost friends, family and I am having to think carefully about the future of my career on top of preparing for my first baby. So when we talk about mental health awareness, you need to understand that it is so much more than someone having ‘a bad day.’
📷: @thesweetfeminist
#pregnancydoesnotmakeyourbodypublicproperty #antenatalmentalhealth #postnatalmentalhealth #maternalmentalhealth #keepabortionsafeandlegal #mybodymychoice
