Gleeful Exaggeration #9 (TMI)
WARNING: If talking about menstruation disgusts and/or offends you, click the back button or close the tab now. Read no further, and for God’s sake do not read the comic. You won’t be doing yourself any favors.
This was back before I started taking birth control for my cramps and had a really heave flow. Thanks to having anxiety issues, I was always really paranoid and afraid that (among other fears such as the possibility of a bloody stain on my pants, walking funny due to wading in my own fluids, audibly gasping or shuddering everytime I stood up, and missing the pad and having trails of blood going down my legs) everyone around me somehow knew I was having my period and thinking about how disgusting I was. No matter how well I wiped myself off in the bathroom, I always felt like there was a strong stink of blood and ick clinging to me and creating an aura of offensiveness that everyone just pretended not to notice because it would be really awkward to point it out.
I was so self-concious that I decided to try scented pads to cover the smell I was convinced hung over me. Those pads were an AWFUL idea. They didn’t cover up jacksquat. Instead of smelling like blood and filth, I smelled like blood and filth that had been marinating in a field of orchids in the middle of summer. Changing pads became an even worse nightmare because the smell seemd even worst and stronger than it was before.
I was completely mortified when one of the other girls in the bathroom commented “It smells like period in here.” My paranoia was proven justified; other people really could smell it! I immediately froze up and couldn’t bring myself to leave the stall after I changed. I just sat in there and waited for all the other girls to leave because I felt so humiliated. Looking back on it now, I doubt they would have known I was the one reeking of menses, but at that time I was just horrified and afraid they’d know it was me and mock me or give me dirty, judging glares and leaving in a hurry so they could gossip about the stinky chick. DDX It was awful.
Next comic should be much less disgusting.
Omg, I can sooooooo relate to this! In some ways I was grateful that my periods became more and more infrequent because of PCOS, and later stopped altogether because of birth control. I have a hyper sense of smell, so I’m always worried about my own body odors of one kind or another. I finally had to make a mental inventory of how smelly other people were in general, before I became comfortable with the idea that one shower a day was more than enough that others wouldn’t be offended. In fact, I think our society is a little too obsessed with how we smell, since, for reasons of health, we shouldn’t really have to shower more than about twice a week unless we’ve just done heavy labor or exercise.
