This Shocking Video Reveals Just How Little We Know About Periods
With periods getting prominent media attention in the past few years — thank you viral first period stories and #realgirl Barbie dolls — we would have thought that the uncomfortable silence surrounding “that time of the month” would be fading. Unfortunately, a recent video produced by the period-tracker app Clue found that not only is talking about periods still squirm-worthy, but most people — women included — don’t even know the proper terminology.
Clue stopped people on the streets of New York, London and Berlin and asked them to answer the simple question: What is ovulation? Although a few people got it right, a whopping 64 percent of people asked by Clue had absolutely no idea how to answer the question.
And while some of their guesses were hilarious — no, ovulation is not a cream or a Tom Cruise film — the take-away from the video is actually quite disturbing. It reveals a widespread lack of education about this important women’s health and pregnancy topic. For instance, one young woman’s response when asked what ovulation is, “My school doesn’t really teach us that.” Thankfully for those of us who want to get the DL, there’s a handy explanation of ovulation at the end of this video.
Also, most people who were asked about female reproductive health on the street became embarrassed almost immediately, even though a good handful of them were women. As the video said, “Reproductive health shouldn’t be a mystery” or a taboo topic.
Women’s health advocates are not giving up. From taking simple steps like openly grabbing your tampon en route to the restroom instead of hiding it up your sleeve, to bigger conversations about your body and cycle with your partners and friends, there’s still a lot we can do to help educate ourselves and others about women’s health. Keep up the good fight, menstruation mavens!
Could you tell someone what ovulation was if they asked you on the street? Tweet us by mentioning @BritandCo.
(Featured photo via Getty)
