By -Saesha Sharda, Grade 8th
When I was a little girl, I wasn’t really encouraged to talk about menstruation, especially in front of my older family members. Not only was I confused about why periods occur, but also why I wasn’t allowed to talk about them. Now that I’m older and understand periods better, I can comfortably discuss them with my parents whenever I have questions or concerns.
Menstruation is a fascinating process that happens to almost every single woman on the planet, and I don’t understand why we get shunned for talking about it. Periods aren’t “gross” or “weird”—they’re actually pretty cool! We need to empower women and encourage them to speak up about everything, from normal, everyday topics like periods to much heavier social issues.
My artwork on women’s empowerment ties directly into the concept of women helping women. In my piece, I’ve shown three women helping each other climb a cliff surrounded by fire. The cliff represents the normal hardships women face every day, and the fire represents how the outside world makes it even harder for us to achieve our goals. I used acrylic paint to create silhouettes of the women against a rich, textured background. Addressing these topics through art is such an important form of expression, and I feel it’s a big step in the right direction.
Women are awesome! While I understand that older generations were raised not to talk about women’s issues and menstruation, it’s time for that to change. Our periods are not a weakness, but a strength—and it’s amazing that we get to experience a cycle that literally keeps the entire human species going!
