Are we talking about periods too much?
Or are we still missing the point?
The viral TikTok of model Brooks Nader bleeding through her skirt at Wimbledon made the rounds last week.
Naturally, it attracted a lot of attention.
I felt it was a bit of a casual win for menstrual visibility.
But then someone shared with me an article written by Katie Glass at The Spectator, titled...
“Period talk needs to stop. Period.”
Hmmmmm (instant red flag).
I won’t lie, it hit me like a damp squid.
What I was hoping might be an interesting take on period conversations turned out to be a binary monologue, rooted firmly in internalised misogyny.
It framed period talk as attention-seeking, painted menstrual visibility as reductive, and completely overlooked how different this conversation looks depending on your culture, your identity, your diagnosis, and your access to care.
But OK, I’ll play along...
Are we still fighting the right fight?
Sometimes it’s good to stop and check in and ask...
Are we still fighting the right fight?
Is what we’re doing (especially around inclusion, equity, and visibility) aligned with the context we’re living in now?
Sometimes we fight so hard, we forget to pause and ask whether the conversation is still serving the people who need it most.
Are we adapting with the times?
Are we still rooted in the right place?
What was once a push for progress begins to feel less relevant and impactful because it doesn’t reflect where people actually are or what they truly need.
So I pondered (something you may know I love to do) and I’ve been mulling it over for a week.
That article made me pause.
Not just because I disagreed vehemently with her perspective, but because it showed me clearly why these conversations still matter.
Why visibility still matters
A while ago, I shared a photo of when my period arrived unexpectedly.
There were white hotel sheets, and a surprising flash of shame (even for me).
Naturally, I wanted to share it, and I chose to post the image.
It wasn’t random, it was intentional.
It’s part of my work.
And yes, some people probably thought it was an “overshare.”
Sucks to be them. (You can always unfollow lol.)
But instead of the keyboard warriors jumping in to tell me “this is LinkedIn, not Facebook”, I received a deluge of supportive, reflective comments.
People told stories of shame they’d carried since childhood and thanked me for showing something they’d been taught to hide.
Here are just a few things people shared...
🩸 It’s crazy how much of a taboo this natural part of the reproductive cycle has become...
🩸 Love that image! And love my periods! I wish I could rewind time so I can do my period all over again...
🩸 Last week my 12-year-old daughter described an embarrassing period scenario that totally resonated...
This was not about seeking attention.
I did it to remind people that they’re not alone.
And if anything, it showed me... we’ve barely scratched the surface.
Periods are just the start
The thing that really gets me is that this article reduces the menstrual experience down to one thing: bleeding.
But here’s what I shout about on the regular...
Your period is just one part of a much bigger cycle.
One small part of a continuous, shifting experience that influences your mood, motivation, and mindset (whether you’re tracking it or not).
We have four phases in the menstrual cycle, and you live within one of them every single day of your bleeding years.
And if you’re neurodivergent, like me, that rhythm is LOUD a lot of the time.
Cycle awareness is sooooo much more than knowing when your period will arrive.
What’s far more interesting is energy mapping.
Learning to understand how your body works, how it shifts, and... how you choose to respond.
There’s nothing reductive about honouring what your body is telling you.
Understanding your cycle helps you understand how you move, rest, focus, connect, and lead.
And there’s power in refusing to shrink ourselves into silence just because it makes someone else squeamish.
It’s not about being “defined” by our hormones.
👉 It’s about reclaiming the choice to be in relationship with our bodies, instead of constantly overriding them to meet someone else’s version of “professional.”
And no, not everyone will want to share. That’s OK too.
But visibility should be a choice, not a controversy.
We’re not there yet
In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need these conversations. It would be so normal and so embedded that it wouldn’t even come up.
But we’re not there yet, friends.
To silence the conversation now, before the world fully supports it, isn’t progressive.
It’s regressive.
The bigger question
So… are we talking about periods too much?
Hard no.
But maybe we’re still not having the right conversation.
Maybe the better question is...
Are we spending too much time talking about the periods and not enough time understanding what’s happening the rest of the month?
I think the more interesting (and liberating) conversation is how we navigate the other three weeks of the month.
How we honour our energy, work with our inner rhythm, and stop performing through pain for the sake of productivity.
Because this isn’t just about periods.
It’s about how we move through our days, how we care for ourselves, and how we challenge the expectations that ask us to override our needs in order to appear “professional” or “capable.”
Or at least, for me, that’s where the real power lives.
You can read the original article HERE, and the TikTok that sparked it HERE. And if you're curious, my Hotel Mishap post is HERE
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