Doutzen dares

After posting photos where she is breastfeeding her child, Doutzen dares to knock down another sacred cow: menstruation. Something that often seems to not exist in the outside world, while for many young girls it oscillates between horror and hassle.

There are girls in Africa who have to spend their menstruation in isolation. During that period, you could make people sick and therefore you have to stay away from the group. Some girls thought during their first menstruation that they had sat on a nail. Fortunately, we are light years ahead, but it remains a significant issue. I will never forget the story of my dear friend J. Her mother passed away when she was only ten, and a year later the bleeding started. J had no idea. She changed her underwear extra often and at one point it stopped. When the ritual repeated itself a month later, she knocked on her father's door. That poor man had everything ready for her. Sanitary pads, panty liners; the whole shebang. But he had no idea that his daughter would start menstruating at eleven. A sad and sweet moment.

Doutzen shows a video on her Instagram in which she is interviewed about her menstruation. That she thinks she doesn't act unpleasantly towards her husband during her menstruation. That he says she does, so it must be true. That she understands that your first menstruation can be strange and a bit frightening. That fluid comes out of your body and it is red too. That it seems weird but is normal. That is what she wants to convey.

My daughters also think of blood immediately as ‘ouch’. So when I change a tampon again (yes sorry, in our house the bathroom door is always open), they look at me with pitying eyes. Now I could strategically use this to ask them to clean their room/load the dishwasher/take the dog out, but that would be going too far in terms of parenting.

When my youngest girl looked at me again with tears in her eyes as I wrapped my OB in a piece of toilet paper, I decided to explain it. That your body actually builds a nest every month. A nest for the baby. But that if you are not pregnant, that nest is broken down again. And that, that is the fluid and the blood that comes out. Nothing to worry about.
My girl looked at me. She nodded. She seemed to understand. Then she straightened her cardigan and proudly said: “Then I have a baby in my belly. Because I have no blood in my pussy.”

Well. I think I will send her to Doutzen's desk. For lesson 2.