Period: 8 facts, we wish men would know

"Can't you just keep bleeding until we get home?"

1. It's not gross

Bleeding every month without dying is a fascinating thing, and the reason we all exist here in the first place. A little more respect, please! By the way, we don't bleed blue either – as adverts lead us to believe. Our bleeding is red and nothing to be ashamed of.

2. Our rule is damn expensive

According to the start-up "Strawberry Week", we spend around 2,500 to 5,000 euros on tampons, sanitary towels and panty liners in our lives. If you add pain pills or contraception, you can pay up to 8,000 euros. A small car for you men, tampons for us women.

3. "Works for you, right?"

Do not bother! We know your jokes. We've all heard it several times and we didn't laugh the first time.

4. We are not crybugs

Cramps, period pains, malaise – you can't imagine any of this and we'd be exaggerating anyway. Nothing there! Now there is scientific evidence. The British professor John Guillebaud of University College London has found that the level of pain that women endure during period pain can be compared to that after an operation or after a heart attack.

5. I irritated? Fuck off!

The majority of women struggle with PMS (premenstrual syndrome) before their period. Typical symptoms: breast tenderness, craving for sweets or being slightly irritable. It's because of the hormones. Finding out about it and keeping it in mind is not wrong, as it helps to get around the next point.

6. "Now she has her days again"

Actions like rolling our eyes when we let go of a bitchy comment or blame it all on our period-dependent mood swings hurt us personally. Not every bad mood has to do with the cycle. Stupid sayings like "Are you back on your days" only stir up the well-known gender clichés, which we can do without!

7. Typical myths

A woman on her period is not a free pass to unprotected sex. Depending on the length of the period, you can also get pregnant. And a little hint about the most famous myth – the hymen. Because that doesn't exist, at least not as many imagine it to be. It is not a fine closure that needs to be "penetrated". It is more of an elastic skin that can tear – but doesn't have to. Accordingly, it can happen that women deflower themselves with a tampon.

8. Men can menstruate too

Trans men can also get their periods. This is often stopped by taking testosterone, but it doesn't have to be.