Everything We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Periods

Culture Study Podcast

Anne Helen Petersen

Fashion & Beauty, Society & Culture, Arts

4.6 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This isn’t a bleak episode about period pain. Yes, we talk a LOT about death cramps — and all sorts of other symptoms that accompany menstruation. But we also talk a lot about how ridiculous it is that we don’t talk about these things — at least not publicly, and often not even with our close friends and family members. Kate Helen Downey, host of the incredible new podcast Cramped, joins me to talk very openly about all the things we usually don’t talk about and why. I learned so much in this episode. But I also laughed a lot, too. Pain isn’t funny, but hanging out with others who get it — it’s like a giant, glorious sigh of relief.

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Get $75 off the Mill food recycler at Mill.com/CULTURE.

Ancient Nutrition is offering 25% off your first order when you go to AncientNutrition.com/CULTURE.

Head to Graza.co and use promo code CULTURE to get 10% off of TRIO which includes Sizzle, Frizzle, and Drizzle, and get to cookin’ your next chef-quality meal!

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	So I was 14. I had gotten my period before this. Like I had maybe had one or two like starter periods that were, you know, very, very light flow, like enough to be like, oh, you got your first period, but not like the full experience.
0:19.3	And I was in eighth grade science class and I started getting like really sweaty.
0:29.0	I started having full body sweats.
0:31.5	My stomach really hurt.
0:33.3	I couldn't figure out like what was going on, but I felt like I might have to throw up.
0:36.8	And so I asked to go to the bathroom and realize as I was going to stand up, I couldn't figure out like what was going on, but I felt like I might have to throw up. And so I asked to go to the bathroom and realize as I was going to stand up, I couldn't stand up all the way.
0:42.7	I had to kind of like hunch and waddle like out of the classroom.
0:49.0	And I just have a very clear memory of having one hand on like the lockers in the hallway and trying to like walk
0:56.1	down the hallway and having to stop and like bend over and wait for the wave of nausea and cramping
1:04.4	to pass and halfway to the bathroom I just was like I don't think I'm going to make it to the
1:09.7	bathroom I'm going to go to the nurse's office instead and the halls were empty and I was, I don't think I'm going to make it to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the
1:11.3	nurse's office instead and the halls were empty and I was like, I don't know if I can make it.
1:15.9	Like I don't know if I can get there. Just like, how do I move? I had never felt pain this bad.
1:21.8	And I had had a friend a few months before who had had her appendix out. And I was like, oh, this must be my appendix
1:31.6	person. Totally. Totally. And so I had this like fantasy of like, I'm going to get to the
1:36.2	nurse's office. She's going to see how much pain I'm in. I'm going to tell her where it hurts.
1:41.3	She's going to call an ambulance. I'm going to go get emergency surgery.
1:45.5	Like, they're going to tell me what's happening.
1:47.4	And then I got to the nurse's office.
1:49.5	And she asked me a couple questions.
1:51.6	I threw up in her bathroom.
1:53.4	And she was like, oh, are you on your period?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Anne Helen Petersen, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Anne Helen Petersen and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.