This was inspired by my wife’s work tackling menstrual stigma in schools.
Check out @periodpositive for more.
It’s also about the way social survival takes precedence over personal values in secondary school.
The book was amazing. Feminism sounded great. She’d been absorbed all lunchtime.
Dampness between her legs informed her that the blood from the last half-hour of her period had not. Her skirt now sported a motif – an asymmetrical heart – that matched her maroon blazer; all the feminist theory in the world wasn’t going to prevent the social mortification that loomed.
She pulled off a friendship bracelet and unraveled it.
She borrowed a needle and stitched a scarlet border. If a teacher saw the modification, she’d be in detention, but that was a desirable disgrace.
Sighing, she left the book behind.
Tom Juniper Poetry 