Period by Kate Farrell

Author:Kate Farrell [Farrell, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250141958
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

The Homeless Period: It Doesn’t Bear Thinking About and That’s the Problem

KYLYSSA SHAY

There are a lot of things I’d rather forget about from my time spent being homeless; my menstrual periods are certainly one of them. Periods aren’t particularly pleasant to put up with anyway, but adding the complication of homelessness brings inconvenience to the level of misery.

Human beings prefer to be clean. It affects how they feel, physically and emotionally, and how people treat them. Having a period while homeless is more disturbing, upsetting, and crude than having a period while homed and possessed of all the gleaming white cotton and superabsorbent miracles modern society has to offer.

On the street, it’s also an unpleasant reminder of vulnerability. Nothing else so absolutely ordinary reminds you that you have a vagina—something other people are quite willing to viciously harm you for—quite like having a period while homeless. When you’ve suffered indignity heaped upon indignity compounded by lack of sleep and the apparent absence of all human love from your world, the only thing you can realistically hope to hang on to is a desire to handle what you can’t avoid with grace.

TOILET PAPER DOESN’T CUT IT, FOLKS

People with uteruses have been dealing with blood, fluids, and tissue coming from between their legs since before Homo sapiens were even a thing. They have used moss, feathers, leaves, wool, natural fibers, old cloth, milkweed fluff, and probably dozens of other things to soak up their monthly spills of uterine lining. So you’d think toilet paper would be the Holy Grail compared to an old handkerchief or a wad of reindeer moss. It is and it isn’t.

The toilet paper you have in your home has been gently handled since you’ve gotten it, hasn’t it? It hasn’t gotten wet and it certainly hasn’t gotten dirty. That stuff wouldn’t be too bad for swabbing below the decks and plugging any leaks. It’s still a pain in the arse to keep in place when used as a sanitary napkin and not easy to remove when used as a tampon.

But the toilet paper homeless women have access to isn’t nice toilet paper; it isn’t your toilet paper. It’s often stored open in dirty back rooms or alleys. It’s been lugged around and set down anywhere before the maintenance person gets it to the restroom.

HAVING A PERIOD WHILE HOMELESS IS MORE DISTURBING, UPSETTING, AND CRUDE THAN HAVING A PERIOD WHILE HOMED AND POSSESSED OF ALL THE GLEAMING WHITE COTTON AND SUPERABSORBENT MIRACLES MODERN SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER.

After it’s been installed, it’s been touched by strangers who’ve gotten feces, urine, or menstrual blood on their hands. It also receives a filthy baptism of vaporized dirty toilet water on it every time someone flushes.

You don’t even want to wipe with public bathroom toilet roll anymore now, do you? Imagine that definitely nonsanitary stuff making rude contact with the lady parts of someone you love. The vagina is like the perfect warm, moist petri dish for growing all the bacteria that public restroom toilet paper brings to the panty party.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.