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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GIRLS AND PUBERTY: PUBIC HAIR

Girls, too, begin to grow hair during puberty. In girls the pubic hair begins to grow on the vulva. For some girls this is the first change they notice as they begin puberty.

Just as doctors have divided the growth of the male sex organs into five stages, so they’ve divided the development of female pubic hair into five stages. Stage 1 is the childhood stage. It begins at birth and continues until a girl reaches Stage 2. A girl doesn’t have any pubic hair during Stage 1. Stage 2 starts when the first curly pubic hairs appear, which is generally about the age of 11, although it can happen earlier or later.

During Stage 3 the pubic hairs get darker and curlier. There are more of them and they cover a wider area. Girls usually reach Stage 3 around the age of 12. In Stage 4, which usually occurs between the ages of 12 and 13, the pubic hair gets still thicker and curlier and covers an even wider area.

Stage 5 is the adult stage. The pubic hair grows in an upside-down triangle pattern. In some women the pubic hair grows up towards the tummy button or out towards the thighs. The typical girl reaches this stage around the age of 14.

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WHEN YOU HAVE AN ERECTION

When you have an erection, one of two things will happen. First, the erection may go away all by itself. It may take a few seconds, a few minutes or even a half-hour or so before your penis is completely soft again. But after a while the muscles at the base of your penis will relax, allowing the extra blood that was trapped in the penis to flow back out so that the penis becomes soft and floppy again.

The second thing that can happen is that you will ejaculate and/or have an orgasm, after which the muscles at the base of the penis will relax and the penis will become soft again. As we explained, one thing that can cause a male to have an orgasm and to ejaculate is sexual intercourse. During sexual intercourse the man puts his erect (or at least semi-erect) penis into the woman’s vagina. The vagina is a hollow organ. Normally, the vagina is like a collapsed balloon with no air in it; but it is very expandable, so the penis can fit in there. The vagina fits snugly and tightly round the penis. During intercourse a man moves his penis around in the vagina, which stimulates the nerves in the penis. When the penis is sufficiently stimulated, the man usually ejaculates. It’s possible to ejaculate without having an orgasm. It’s also possible to have an orgasm without ejaculating. But usually when a man is having sexual intercourse, he both ejaculates and has an orgasm. Soon afterwards, his penis becomes soft again.

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BODY HAIR, FACIAL HAIR, PERSPIRATION, SPOTS AND OTHER PUBERTY CHANGES: DEODORANTS AND ANTIPERSPIRANTS

If you are bothered by the odour or amount of your perspiration, you may want to use a deodorant and/or an antiperspirant. There are a number of these products on the market. They come in aerosol cans, non-aerosol sprays, sticks, creams, roll-ons – you name it.

Some are ‘un-scented’, and some have a scent added to cover up the smell of the product. Some are advertised as being ‘a man’s deodorant’, but there generally isn’t much difference between a so-called man’s deodorant and a woman’s deodorant.

Deodorants are aimed at covering up your body odour with the supposedly more pleasant odour of the deodorant. Antiperspirants also have a substance to dry up perspiration. The most effective antiperspirants have a substance called aluminium chlorohydrate. Some people think that the aluminium can soak through your skin and get into your bloodstream, and that this may be harmful. Other people disagree. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you want to use this kind of product.

Whatever you decide, be sure to read the label. You may find that it is better not to put the deodorant or ‘antiperspirant on just after you come out of a hot bath or shower. If you perspire immediately afterwards, the deodorant/antiperspirant may just wash away. It might be better to let your body cool down a bit first.

With the way we’ve been going on about deodorants and perspiration here, you may be thinking, ‘Oh, I’d better run straight out and get some.’ Please remember, though, that body smells are natural and normal, and unless your odour or the amount of perspiration bothers you, it’s not really necessary to use anything.

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CHANGING SIZE AND SHAPE

People often say that girls start puberty a year or two before boys, and we must admit that we used to think the same thing. We were really surprised to learn that the first puberty changes that take place in girls (the development of their sex organs, the growth of pubic hair and the development of their breasts) happen at just about the same age that the first puberty changes in boys (the changes in the testicles and the growth of pubic hair) begin to take place.

People get the idea that girls start puberty earlier than boys for two reasons. First, when a girl’s breasts start to develop, we can see that this change is happening even though she is fully clothed. Most boys’ testicles are starting to grow at the same time, but unless we see a boy naked, we are not aware of this change in his body in the way we are aware of a girl’s breast development. Besides, the change in a boy’s testicles is not as dramatic as the changes that take place in a girl’s body at the very beginning of puberty.

The second reason people think that girls go through puberty earlier than boys has to do with the ‘puberty growth spurt’. During puberty both boys and girls begin to grow taller at a faster rate, and a girl’s growth spurt usually happens about two years before a boy’s. This gives people the idea that girls start puberty before boys. But the growth spurt is just one of the changes that happen during puberty. The other puberty changes – things like the development of sex organs, of pubic hair and, in girls, of the breasts happen at about the same age in both boys and girls. Of course, some boys and girls are early starters and some are late starters, so everyone doesn’t start at the same time. Still, the average boy and the average girl begin puberty at about the same age.

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