Celebrating International Women's Day 2022 got me thinking, what's really the essence of the day? Why is it celebrated? Why do we need to celebrate women? What is it like to be a woman even if it's just for a day?
For history matters, International Women's Day was officially marked in 1911 but wasn't celebrated till 1975. Why did it take us so long to put up the celebration even when we already had it marked off the calendar? I don't know either.
Anyways, we are not here for the history but to get a feel of womanhood.
The other day, a certain man l was talking to was fronting the statement of "what a woman can do, a man can do twice better". From my knowledge, it should be the other way round but l wasn't ready to argue at the moment. Had no emotional energy to go into the depth of what womanhood feels.
PMS - Premenstraul Syndrome.
This is commonly defined as the changes, emotional, mental, behavioural a woman experiences according to her menstrual cycle. It is normally noticed during ovulation and on the days leading to the period.
When the "womanhood" topic comes up in the presence of the other gender, the first thing that comes to their mind is the PMS.
I think l don't have to repeat phrases like;
- Are you in your "those" days?
- That's how women are like when in pz (they will even write it like that)
- Are you in your special days, you know those days?
Something women definitely don't want to hear on their period is you trying to find a better fitting word to phrase it.
Just a mere change of emotion even when one is hungry or don't want to engage in small talk, then it's PMS.
Before you come to conclusions about a woman's mood, first understand how the menstrual cycle looks like and gauge your feelings after then.
So, how well can you explain the menstrual cycle to a non-primary six (middle school) student but rather a grown man?
Explanation of the menstrual cycle to a layman.
Forget about what you learned at school, this is a small depiction of what a menstrual cycle feels like.
The first day of a woman's period is considered the first day of their cycle, but let's start from what leads to that, ovulation.
Ovulation occurs about two weeks after the period. It's not just a matter of the uterus releasing an ovary (not scientifically) but imagine having a kidney failure, or that pain you feel around your kidney area when you run after a long time of not running.
That's the kind of pain a woman feels for about 5 days of pre and post ovulation. That pain is coupled with cramps, a fever, headaches, dizziness.
Now imagine going through all that and a co-worker is calling you out how you don't want to engage in a conversation about why the printer doesn't have paper even when you both know there is paper in the store!
Okay, so now we have battled ovulation, also don't forget that for some women it comes with heavy vaginal discharge and you have to wear small versions of pads or what they call panty liners for all that time like as though you're on your period.
Right when you finally have the energy to move out, pre-period cramps kick in.
Talk about constant stomach aches, headaches, insatiable back pain, joint pain, weakness, butt cramps (feeling like someone is shoving a stick up your butt), lack of appetite, cravings.
We might take a whole day describing cramps.
This is doubled when your period starts. Picture all this pain as you're constantly bleeding. Nasty, right?
On top of that mental picture, add having diarrhoea. Phew! Now keep that picture for 5 days or so, day and night.
Tell me why a woman wouldn't experience an emotional change.
So, the week of the period is done and you have to worry about spotting (mild blood stains when you thought your period is done).
After like 3 more days you get comfortable to wear your white leggings again, after 3 weeks. Just when you think life can be good again, then boom! ovulation starts again and we are back to square one!
In a nutshell, a woman only gets like 5 days of rest from her "womanly duties".
We haven't talked about how this can positively or negatively affect the sex drive, your general routine activities, and all that. This will literally became a fundamental routine of a woman until menopause.
Everyone says we should be used to the pain by now since it is routine and constant, but has anyone ever told you to get used to malaria just because you stay in a place that is infested with mosquitoes?
Yeah, l don't think you can ever get used to this even if you wholeheartedly wanted to.
The next time you throw PMS at a woman just because she looks grumpy, take a second to think about what she might be experiencing.
Maybe some other time we shall talk about pregnancy and giving birth, possibly when we are stronger and more tolerant.
Oh, the topic was women's day but like always, rules are meant to be broken.
I hope you showed appreciation to the women in your life on this day, and to the women, you are strong, you are magical you are phenomenal, continue carrying the entire world on your shoulders even when it shows no appreciation.
Happy women's day!
