Periods In Fiction
I just read A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert, and here’s what’s surprising: the heroine had her period. It shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. And that’s because I can’t remember the last book I read where the heroine menstruated. Can you?
I’ve always wondered why. Why is menstruation rarely referenced in books? There’s the argument that that time of the month is as routine as urinating or brushing your teeth, and since it’s mostly assumed that characters do those things, they need not be mentioned. It’s a somewhat compelling argument, but it’s not nearly enough.
Sure, there are people who breeze through that time of the month. Perhaps for those people, menstruation is as routine as using the loo. But that’s not the case for everyone. A lot of people experience consistently crappy periods. The cramps, the irritability, the irregular flows, and the overall icky feeling of bleeding from your nether regions. As one of those people, I can testify that periods are anything but routine. Every month comes with different un-routine like sets of problems.
There are some books that reference periods. Mostly books that have heroines miss their periods in order to move the plot along and foreshadow a pregnancy. I can’t tell you how much I hate it when the only hint that the heroine menstruates is when she bumps into her crush and the tampons in her purse fly out into the open, leaving her mortified. In a few YA books, usually of dystopian or fantastical nature, the author might remember to include how the heroine copes while on her period. However, such stories are not even common.
Haven’t you ever wondered about scenes that have heroines on some long journey through a wilderness-type situation? When the journey goes on for over a month, do you wonder how the heroine applies her stellar survival skills to Aunt Flo? Sometimes, authors even take care to show how the character has to relieve herself under some shady looking tree. How she has to weave some leaves into a makeshift skirt and skin a strange animal to make a blanket. Does the leaf-skirt come with an absorbent crotch? Does the character stop seeing their period as a result of starvation or stress? Or does menstruation not exist in this fictional world?
A lot of YA stories are also coming of age stories. Especially contemporary coming of age stories with characters who are navigating school and crushes and cliques. Some of them are getting the birds and bees talk for the first time in their lives. Why don’t we see them get stained in school or have cramps for the first time or even just have PMS induced mood swings? Where are the scenes where they decide if they want to use tampons or pads? If it’s a parallel universe with no menstruation, which I’m all for, shouldn’t it be mentioned somehow?
And it doesn’t only apply to Young Adult stories. If a character has irregular periods or cramps, some things would be affected when it’s that time of the month. Their period might come a week early when they’re at a work function or on a date, and there’re no pads around. They might have debilitating cramps that prevent them from going to school or work. You know, the kind of cramps that have you moaning and writhing in agony on your bathroom floor? That’s definitely not as routine as passing gas, is it?
Even if the character happens to be one of the lucky ones that menstruate routinely, I think it should still be mentioned. Why? Because referencing that periods happen is one of the steps towards removing the shame attached to it. No matter how you look at it, routine actions like urinating don’t have stigma attached to them. I can tell my date that I need to pee, but I can’t tell them that I just got stained. If I were in public, I’d feel the need to pull some 007 moves to hide that I’m taking a pad into the loo. Why is that? How come something perfectly natural is so taboo? And why do we keep enabling this stupid way of doing things, even in the world of fiction?
And then there are some other things to consider, like:
- Why do most stories have characters using tampons even though there are more pad users in the world? (This isn’t really a big deal, but I’m just curious).
- Do some erotic stories conveniently skip periods when the heroine is menstruating? Or is it just me?
- Endometriosis. Do you even know what that is? I’ve only ever read about one character that went through this. Maybe if books talked more about periods, it’ll start the conversation about serious conditions like endometriosis.
- What about books with non-cisgender characters who menstruate or may have menstruated in the past? We read about other specifics, which is great. What about menstruation?
- Young bookworms read books to see how certain phenomena are dealt with by characters. If all they read about is people laughing at a character for getting stained or characters being embarrassed by an involuntary body function, what are they supposed to learn from that?
Basically, what I’m trying to say is that there should be more menstruation references in books. It doesn’t have to be big, but a small, meaningful mention would go a long way to normalising periods and making people feel less ashamed about it. Besides, if a story is supposed to be realistic, why skip mentioning it? And if the world building involves no periods, an explanation would be nice. And I’m not talking about weird explanations like Rowling did with the pooping in Hogwarts thing. That was too convenient.
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Have you noticed the lack of period references in books? What do you think about it?
22 Comments
Clo @ Book Dragons
I AM HERE FOR THIS POST!
Honestly, it bothers me A LOT that periods just get swept away and only pulled out as like a reference point to acknowledge that they do in fact, exist in this book you’re reading. I actually stumbled across what endometriosis was from watching a YouTuber, she actually found out that’s what she has. But it’s not something talked about like, at all, it was never mentioned to me. So like, if it’s not mentioned to me by school or my parents (who thankfully actually explain everything I ask them to me properly) how am I meant to know about this serious condition?
Periods being a taboo still, is something which grates on me. Not nearly as much as how much tampons are pushed in the general media though, think about it in movies and TV shows the character usually will use tampons. What’s wrong with having them use a pad?
Loved this post!
Ibukun
Thank you! It’s even weirder because most of the books I read are by female authors and I wonder if they even notice what they’re omitting. And the tampon pushing. Ugh.
Haley
I always thought it was weird that mundane things were so often left out of books and movies, like I don’t need it every page but, where are the toothbrushes, pads, bathroom breaks, do these things never happen to characters in books? I also think they’re missing out on a great way to help YA target audiences understand that this is not something to be ashamed about or hush up, it’s natural, it’s part of growing up if your body does it, but, I guess we’re still progressing toward that.
Ibukun
Yes we are progressing, albeit slowly!
Emily
I came across this post on twitter and I just knew I had to read it! Thank for saying everything that I’m always thinking! I have had heavy periods all my life and I would really love to read some characters who go through the same thing! And I don’t even need it to be an embarrassing leaking moment, I just would like some acknowledgment, particularly in those sci-fi novels where, like you said, the characters go through treacherous journies.
I also found it interesting how you mentioned that often times only tampons are mentioned! I am a pad user and I definitely feel like that is very underrepresented in YA.
Ibukun
Thanks for stopping by! It’s great that people can relate, so I don’t feel like I’m reaching.
Pad users are very underrepresented, which just sucks for us.
Lindsay @ Trulybooked
I had never thought about this until you mentioned it. It’s ridiculous that it isn’t brought up more. Maybe I read about it in a Judy Bloom nove– no wait, I think it was the adult Judy Bloom novel called “Wifey” where a guy pulled out a tampon with his teeth… I don’t remember. I was young when I read it and it put periods in a really weird light.
Ibukun
I don’t know about pulling out a tampon with teeth 🤔
But since it’s a period mention, I guess I can’t complain.
Jamsu
I think I can only name one book that has period in it. I remember when Beth in Transcendence traveled back in time and Ehd realized that she was having her period and he knew better how to deal with it since it’s timetravel book.
I think it’s subject that you’re not really supposed to talk about in real life so writers try to avoid it, maybe even find it something to write about. But how can they write erotica or other difficult subjects if they can’t write about this?
Ibukun
I forgot about Transcendence!
True about writers seeing it as a topic to avoid, since it’s not spoken about in real life. But like you said, other topics that are supposedly taboo in real life are written about in books.
Lauren
hate to be the 453th person to say thisd but off the tiop iof my head the only book i can think of that talks about it is throne of glass :’)
great post and i agree w what u had to say
Ibukun
Thank you! I haven’t read Throne of Glass yet, but it sounds like I should.
Para
An interesting thing I noticed, quite a few fantasy books with female MCs written by women do mention periods at least briefly…but it’s very very rare in books written by men. Example, Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky, centers on a woman soldier among mostly men and is decent regarding that, except periods aren’t mentioned even once – it’s especially jarring since I read it very close to a nonfiction book about the same subject (The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich, highly recommended) and periods clearly WERE a significant thing for women in similar situations.
Ibukun
That’s true, male authors largely overlook periods in their stories. But even the female authors that don’t mention it make me wonder why. Do their editors discourage them? Or do they just forget about that part of a female’s life (which would be hard to believe, since they’re female themselves)?
I’ll make sure to check out The Unwomanly Face of War.
Evelina @ AvalinahsBooks
Wonderful post!! And so true!
Maybe they’re assumed to be taking pills in a way where it makes your period go away. That’s the conclusion I always jumped to xD
But anyway. I recently read Heavy Flow by Amanda Laird, I’ll be reviewing it next week and it’s basically a book about period stigma and why it’s a thing. And also loads of good useful stuff about periods that most of us don’t know. I loved it, can truly recommend.
It is true that periods need to be talked about more. I think it’s already starting, but it’s just going to take a while to get rolling.
Ibukun
Thank you! lol I wouldn’t mind the pills explanation, if only they’d explicitly state it.
Heavy Flow sounds like a book everyone should read right now. I’ll look out for your review 🙂
Dellybird
I remember some of the Sarah J Maas books mention periods (I’ve not read them in a while so I can’t remember exactly which). The best way to normalize periods is to talk about them and YA books seem to be a great way to reach the right audience! It would certainly be nice to have more references that don’t involve embarrassment. A lot of adverts focus on fear, ‘don’t worry nothing bad will happen if you use our brand – wear white shorts & go cycling…’ It is important that periods can happen without the threat of something ‘going wrong’. I will have to check out A Girl Like Her.
Ibukun
It’s probably Throne of Glass (I haven’t read the series). And the fact that something that’s a part of most girls’ lives is seen as such a taboo topic is baffling.
You should check it out! If romance is your thing, you’ll probably like it.
Stéphanie
Wow! Now that you’ve mentioned it I’ve never come across a book where the main character has her period. Only one paragraph mentions it in Throne of Glass by Sarah J.Maas but that was all. And that realization kind of shocks me right now xD Period is something common in our daily lives (at least for us women) so why are our female heroines not having them? How the hell are they coping in their daily lives while menstruating? My period hurts as f**k and I’m always relieved when it is over. I can’t even imagine fighting with it. So yeah, this absolutely has to change. Menstruation with female main characters should be a must or at least mentioned in it. It is something normal after all! Now I want to read “A Girl like her”.
Great post by the way! 🙂
Ibukun
Thank you! 😀 I think a lot of people don’t notice the lack of period mentions until they happen to read a book that has it. You should read it! It’s a pretty quick read, so it won’t take much of your time.
Ashley @ Bubbly Booknerd
I love that A Girl Like Her began with Ruth frantically needing tampons/pads! There is period positivity in A Lady’s Guide to Petticoats & Piracy (and A Gentleman’s Guide)!! The Poet X addresses period shame and education when X gets her first and doesn’t know what to do so gets tampons and is punished by her mother for not using pads… and I’m always scratching my head over SFF books because I want to know how they can go on adventures across unknown lands and space without menstruating woes for months on end 😂😂😂
Ibukun
Right! The fact that it started that way just made me like A Girl Like Her instantly. I really should read A Lady’s Guide (I’ve heard such great things about the series) and The Poet X.
And SFF books like that make me wonder, especially when they’re written by women.