Meet Love Your Menses.
First, tell us about your own period. Love / Hate / endure - break it down for us!
I have a unique experience with my period. Growing up, I hated my period due to the pain I experienced each month. It wasn't until I got to college and had honest conversations about my period with my closest friends did I begin to learn more about my body and how to be more in tune with my menstrual cycle. I vividly remember my friend asking me if I pooped a lot on my period. At first, I was caught off guard. But then, I did research and learned more about what was physiologically happening in my body which caused those unpleasant symptoms we rarely talk about, such as period poop, bloating, and fatigue. Now, I can proudly say I love my period. Although I still may experience unpleasant symptoms from time to time, I love myself enough to continue becoming more in tune with my cycle and advocating for my reproductive health.
One of the mission statements of Love Your Menses is to flow through life unapologetically - share with us how you work to achieve this?
We believe everyone who has (and had) a period deserves a safe, brave, and uplifting space to share their experiences and get access to the resources they need to thrive. We do this work by holding intergenerational community conversations where youth, parents, grandparents, aunties, cousins, etc. can engage in meaningful dialogue as we work as a collective to destigmatize menstruation and normalize talking about our periods and supporting other menstruators.
What is 1 out of many goals for LYM this year?
We want to provide young people with more opportunities to lead within the organization and engage in meaningful activities so they can be agents of change in their communities, whether that's through education, technology advancement, policy, or community service.
Tell us 3 things you love about your community?
I love that my community is intergenerational, uplifting, and trailblazing.
In an ideal world, a period is something you experience - not something that defines who you are.