I can recount every single incident of bleeding my pants since I got my period 9 years ago. I’ve had the same pad, tampon, and pantyliner hidden in a little red bag in my backpack since the beginning of the school year. I use a menstrual cup, but I keep the pad and tampon on me in case someone else needs one because that’s one of the countless unspoken rules of having a period. I’ve been on the pill since I was 15 years old and I have no idea what would happen to my body if I stopped taking it now at 22. Would my weight change? Would my temperament change? Would I ever want to take it again? Despite being on the pill for 7 years I have never used it to skip a period. I don’t know what that would do to my body either because the pediatric dermatologist who prescribed it to me never mentioned it. Shame and missing information seem to be rampant in my experiences of menstruation and that feels scary to me. I don’t know if everyone else is scared too because we’re not supposed to talk about things like that (it’s another one of the rules), but I’d like to explore it as loudly as I can just in case.