Since I got my first period at 14, I’ve had a complicated relationship with it.
Right away, it felt like a burden. Honestly, I wanted a hysterectomy so I wouldn’t have to get my period anymore.
I wondered if anyone else felt this discomfort too and just wasn’t talking about it — or if I was the only one.
Looking back, I think this was related to my non-binary identity (which I didn’t know about until last year).
I thought getting my period was something inherently womanly, and it didn’t feel right in my body (along with other “womanly” things like wearing a bra and shaving my legs).
The truth is, though, that anyone of any gender can have a period!
I’m genderfluid — I feel like a woman sometimes, but not all the time. But even when I’m not a woman, I still get my period.
Trans men can get periods. Non-binary people can get periods.
And, not every woman gets a period. Trans women are still women even if they don’t menstruate!
And for cis women, there is an inevitable end to getting your period — menopause — but they’re still women even after that.
I wonder how I would have felt about my period growing up, had I not believed it was solely for women.
I can’t say for sure, but what I *can* say is that I’ve noticed a huge difference in my relationship with my period in the past year — from discovering my gender, and then changing my period routine to better fit my needs.
I used to just wear tampons but I have a heavy flow so it would inevitably leak into my underwear — which only worsened my experience.
But over the summer, I started also wearing KT by Knix’s period proof underwear (here, I’m wearing their sleepover shorts) — which eases my mind because I don’t have to worry about an inevitable overflow (pun intended).
My relationship with my period is so much better than it used to be — I don’t dream of a hysterectomy anymore!
And I hope that anyone who gets their period can have this same sense of relief ❤️
This underwear was gifted to me by KT by Knix. If you want to get your own period-proof underwear, you can use my code ZOESWIM15 for 15% off!