The first time I discovered period sex, it was impromptu and with someone I loved. I was really aroused by the idea of it.

Content warning: This article contains details of gendered violence and discussions of suicide.   When I first bled, I was sitting on my bed wearing yellow floral underwear. The pattern matched my soul. I was 12, and mature enough to know what it was. At school, students like me were taken to the dark and dusty …

It was only when I stopped calling myself a woman that I started bleeding like one. Ever since I’d first started menstruating, aged 13, I’d gone years at a time without regular periods. First there was the anorexia-induced amenorrhea that lingered for much of my teens. In my 20s, when I swapped food restriction for …

The first time I got my period, my mum cried. I had woken up to find a red stain on my cotton briefs when I went to the bathroom, quickly hauled my PJ pants back up and dashed to the front door where Mum was just about to leave for work. ‘Mum, it came, I …