6 Women Share How They Handled Period Leaks In Public

“I’m a sexologist with 25 years of professional experience in sexual dysfunction, STIs, women’s health, and sex education. Now, I have a slightly different take on my latest public period stain. Mainly because I saw it as an opportunity to teach my tween girl about a fact of life.

“I had bundled the kids into the car and we were off to the 9 a.m. swimming class. I walked in with the kids and as we walked over to the seats, I became aware of a wet sensation on the back of my dress. I sat down with the kids, helped my son get ready and he jumped into the pool. I then sat quietly and in between waves of panic and shame, tried to think of how to get out of this one! So, I stood up in front of my 11-year-old daughter, and said ‘Hey, I think I have blood all over the back of my dress, what can you see?’ She of course says ‘Yes, it is blood.’

“I quickly sat back down and tried to think of possible ways to get out of this situation. It was then that I realized that my daughter was actually watching me to see what I was going to do, and that how I managed this situation would shape her future beliefs and attitudes about periods. So what did I do? I said to her, ‘Okay, I will go to the bathroom and see if I can wash the blood off.’ She nodded, I stood up walked past all the other mums (with my big red blood stain) and headed into the women’s bathrooms, pulled up my skirt, washed the stain out, wrung my skirt dry and headed back to my seat in my wet skirt.

“Once I sat down we then had a chat about how embarrassed I felt, about the fact that these sorts of things happen to all women, and that it isn’t really the end of the world! Even though it may feel like it at the time!” —Cath

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