GIRLS AND PUBERTY: MYTHS ABOUT MENSTRUATION
People used to believe all sorts of crazy things about menstruation. Primitive tribes used to think that you’d get sick if you ate food cooked by a menstruating woman, that her glance could wither a field of crops, that having sex with a menstruating woman could make a man’s penis fall off. Some tribes even banished women to menstrual huts each month during their period. The slang term used for menstruation – ‘the curse’ – reflects these old, negative attitudes towards menstruation.
Today we know that none of these things is true. A woman can have sex while she’s menstruating and no harm will come to her sex partner. In fact, a woman can do anything during her period that she’d do at any other time. Old notions have a way of hanging on, though, and there are still some people who think that a menstruating woman shouldn’t have sex, take a bath, wash her hair, drink cold drinks or exercise, and that doing these things will cause a heavier flow, make her period last longer or give her pains. None of these things is true. In fact, sexual intercourse and exercise are often helpful for women who are troubled by period pains.
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