Why our #wombstories need to be heard
We tell girls a simple story:
Get your period around twelve. Deal with some pain. Have some babies. Then more periods. And then around fifty your body is meant to politely retire.
But it’s never that simple. The unseen, unspoken, unknown stories of our periods, vulvas and wombs - our wombstories - are so much more complex and profound.
They are real stories of love and hate, of pleasure and pain and pain so severe it's a disease with a name, endometriosis, it's stories of longing and trying for babies. And of never wanting children. Ever. The joy of birth. The pain of birth. And the silent devastation of miscarriage. Stories of clockwork periods. And haywire ones. Of awkward beginnings and roller-coaster peri-menopausal endings. Good stories. Bad stories. Mundane ones. Profound ones. The bitter. And the sweet.
And all of them, all our wombstories are as valid, as normal, as real as any others. And none of us should be made to hide what we feel inside.
Because to know each other, to help each other, to see each other, all our real #wombstories need to be heard and shared.
If you have any concerns related to the topics touched on by #wombstories, please refer to the NHS website’s resources on period problems, and talk to a medical professional. You can find information and support for gynaecological cancers through the Eve Appeal. For body-positive inspiration that leads to perspiration, get your body jiggling, sprinting, kicking and moving with This Girl Can.
