Emily+V’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2017

I’ve been looking forward to this speech because I’m passionate about my topic: periods. Most of you are probably thinking: “That’s so weird.” Right? WRONG. They are really cool. So I’m super excited now, however, I can tell you that Tuesday, December 11, 2012, I was not so excited about periods. Yes, that was the day I got my first period. And I remember it so well because I was terrified, as most young girls are. No one had ever really taught me what to expect. Only a week before, my mom had given me a few spare pads just in case. Coincidentally, that day, we were beginning the unit on female puberty in my science class. I had an opportunity to ask professionals questions, but I didn’t even raise my hand. I was embarrassed because it felt like to talk about periods was to expose a secret, gross, ugly side of myself. And honestly, I kinda feel like that now even though I shouldn’t. Because no one ever talked about periods to me. Any menstruation education from parents and teachers was minimal. I didn’t even know that my best friend had gotten hers a whole year before I did and she had never told me. The only person I told about my period was my mom and that was only because I needed more pads and tampons. Periods are the biggest secret that everyone knows about. Although every girl will go through it, we all think we are alone in our experiences. If you are watching me and thinking, “What a weirdo, periods are gross” then you are part of the problem. Society places a stigma upon the most important and natural processes known to man, or at least known to women. But even to women, periods are a mystery. In fact, the whole cycle is a mystery. So this is the basic overview of one menstrual cycle: First, the menstrual phase. This is the one that people are most familiar with. The egg was not fertilized so the endometrium(psst the lining of the uterus, not the vagina) starts being broken down. Cramps are the body’s contractions trying to shed this lining. Every body is different but for most, this lasts for about four to seven days. Collection methods range from pads to tampons to menstrual cups to menstrual sponges. Once again, everybody is different and many women use a combination of these methods. Whatever works best for you. Then comes the follicular phase which I think is super cool because it defines the length of the entire cycle. I’ll get to that part later but basically the pituitary gland releases the follicle stimulating hormone(FSH) which stimulates the ovary to produce follicles on the surface of the ovary. One of these follicles will mature into an egg and the release of this egg is ovulation. Ovulation day is not the only day that you can get pregnant though. The life of any egg is about 24 hours but sperm can live in the cervical fluid for up to five days so this entire window is considered the ovulatory phase. Signs of ovulation include cervical discharge resembling egg whites, increases in your basal body temperature, and if you can listen to your body closely enough, you can feel the pain of egg release. The pain is called mittelschmerz and most of the time, I could tell you the day I ovulated and which side the egg came from. One time in a cram session, I was having this pain and my friend, Noel, turned to me and asked if I was okay and I said I had cramps. She was like “Oh I’m sorry. Are you on your period?” and I said “No, I just ovulated.” The final phase is the luteal phase. This phase lasts a set number of days and it ends when the bleeding begins again. That’s why the follicular phase defines the length of the whole cycle. [pulls out board] So let’s say that you have a menstrual phase that lasts five days. Then your follicular phase is about 11 days. Then you ovulate and your luteal phase is 9 days. This gives you a grand total of a 25 day cycle. But maybe the next cycle, the follicular phase lasts fifteen days. The length can be influenced by stress, sleep, diet, exercise, travel or medication. With a fifteen day follicular phase, this bring the cycle total to 29 days. Crazy right? The body does amazing things. So why don’t we teach our girls this. We are keeping them in the dark by not spreading this information. It is out there, we just need to teach it. Over the last year or two, my perspective has been completely changed. By embracing my period, I feel empowered. I talk about it with my friends and I’m not hesitant to ask around for a spare tampon anymore because frankly, I’ve realized that no girl should be. I want to live in an America where girls are raised to appreciate their bodies, not be afraid of them. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to our daughters to teach them to respect the natural processes of their bodies. Guys, you too. You have sisters and moms and aunts and you will have wives and daughters and nieces. Let’s not keep them in the dark. Because I think, us girls, we have all been there and it is a scary place to be. And as my final note, enough with the silly names. It is not my “Aunt Flo visiting” or “that time of the month” or “Monstration”. It is my period for goodness sake and I shouldn’t have to feel ashamed of it. Ladies, if we don't take our own menstrual health seriously, then no one else will.