Be loud with your period

I don’t remember the first time I heard about “period panties” and like everyone who menstruates I was immediately both curious and slightly horrified. What do you mean, a change in my habits? I’m not ready to change those.

I’m 53 and nearly 2/3 years old and I’ve been dealing with periods for more than four decades. Maxi pads when I started needing them were half the thickness of the local phone book, and about as comfortable sticking in your knickers. Not that they did stick that well, particularly if you did anything daring and unladylike, such as walking. Tampons came in rough cardboard applicators. Doing any sports or swimming during those days was a hassle and a half.

Of course we in North America — at least the corner of the continent where I was learning to handle an active and sporty life with this monthly blight — hadn’t heard of menstrual cups. The first time I wore one was in October 2016, the day of my first round of kata competition at my first world karate championship. Here I was, in my crisp white gi, period having started that very morning, trusting my pants to a bell-shaped piece of silicone I couldn’t even feel.

It worked, and it changed my life. (Find out more about cups and why they’re fantastic.) Well, that and “sports” tampons that are designed to stay where you need them to be through high-impact activities like running, martial arts and frisbeeing, all of which I do on the regular.

Menstrual underwear is like regular underwear but it absorbs menstrual flow and keeps it away from your skin. Once it’s reached its capacity, you rinse it out then toss it in the laundry. You can buy period undies in a wide variety of shapes and absorbency levels and they can be worn in addition to tampons or cups, to catch potential leaks. Which, if you happen to be a human who has passed giant melons through their birth canal, do occur on occasion especially if you engage in wild and unladylike activities such as sneezing.

I finally tried those when Knix opened a store in Westboro. Knix was founded by a Canadian woman, Joanna Griffiths, who wanted to “transform an underwear market that had too much frill and not enough function.”

There are two things I love about that company. One is that they are determined to make everyone — regardless of needs or body shape — feel their most comfortable and absolute best and two is that they use real women of all ages, sizes, backgrounds and abilities as models.

Actually, make that three things. Knix just launched a campaign for athletes to talk about their period because one in two teens will skip sports because of that. Knix teamed up with the gorgeous and awesome Megan Rapinoe, two-time World Cup Champion and former Olympic Gold Medalist soccer player, to talk about their period as though it was the most natural thing in the world because it is.

As we get ready to watch the Paris Olympics, remind yourself that many among the athletes offering their best performances will be doing so while menstruating. I want to help normalize talking about it so that nobody ever feels the need to avoid the sport they love because of their period. Thank you, Knix, for the nudge.