“New Normal” Feature

Menstruation isolation

by christina canalita

This isn’t a relief period, not an inconvenience, surprise, or stress period. No—this is a quarantine period. Forget the sweatpants, unwashed hair, and bare face period; this is a strictly no leak-checking, seat-checking, awkwardly-feel-myself-up-checking zone. 

Wake up and give my cramps the finger; lay off my PMS and tell my cravings to fuck off because not even mother nature can ruin this serenity. So disturb my sleep! Interrupt my conversations and suspend my pilates—it’s just you and me now, honey. 

No more layering tampons and pads and panty liners, scheduling bathroom breaks, smiling through the incessant aches and spasms as if my uterus isn’t scraping me dry from inside out. The menstruation unit has come to its collapse; consumers aren’t buying into the nuisance, and all tempers and composures have been mitigated in isolation. So congrats to every woman out there, every unsolicited whisper from the nearest stranger in the bathroom asking for a hind scan. No more bending, spreading or lifting in this quarantine period.

Instead, I make breakfast with my lower back pain, start the laundry with constipation, treat the breakout twins to a face mask, and snap at my boyfriend only once. The nausea neighbors help me with some reading while my hoodie offers some sympathy to my what feels like bruised bosom, and by the end of the day, Mr. Fatigue puts me straight to sleep.

For the first time in my entire life, I haven’t had to run to the restroom, carry an extra pair of underwear, or wash every inevitable stain from the crotch of all my jeans. For the first time since I was thirteen, I haven’t had to pretend that it doesn’t hurt, poison myself with ibuprofen, and continue on like everything is fine in this dystopia of distorted homeostasis. For the first time in my entire life, I’ve been at the same pace with my period, maybe even ahead. I’ve finally understood what it really means to be a woman, and I can’t believe it took a fucking quarantine to get it.

Originally from San Francisco, Christina Canalita is an incoming graduate student at the California State University of Fullerton. After obtaining her Bachelor's in English, Christina plans to focus on earning her M.A. in Creative Writing. 

Christina donated to the HeathWell Foundation.