Tag Archives: puberty

Michigan Mother Is Very Concerned About Anne Frank’s Clitoris

Jessica WakemanApril 29, 2013 //
anne frank

Meet Gail Horalek, the busybody parent to top all busybody parents. She is very concerned that her daughter’s copy of The Diary Of A Young Girl is pornographic. It would seem that it’s not offensive enough that a vibrant young woman was a victim of the Holocaust. It’s also very offensive that Anne Frank played with her clitoris.

Horalek’s 7th grade daughter chose to read the newer, unedited “definitive edition” of Diary Of A Young Girl for a class project. This version was long blocked by Anne’s father (the only surviving member of the Frank family) because it contained more sexual themes; however, schools have been reading it for over a decade now. But Gail Horalek will not abide this smut! Keep reading »

The Top 7 Most Absurd Puberty Videos

Megan ReynoldsMarch 11, 2013 //
Your Hair Down There...
What it says about you. Read More »
Tampon Lessons
Amelia reflects on the past 20 years of her period. Read More »
Stupid Period Ads
These menstrual ads are the dumbest. 9 Photos »

A special experience in every woman’s life is the day she sits through a 45-minute sex ed class in middle school, trotting out after the fact clutching a plastic bag with deodorant, a tampon and a pamphlet called “What’s Happening to My Body?”  Sex ed class is something that no one really remembers, only because the education presented is so bizarre. To commemorate this special time in everyone’s life, here are the seven most absurd puberty videos YouTube has to offer. Keep reading »

9 Books That Made Us Terrified Of Puberty

The Mary SueJuly 15, 2012 //

One of the things that comes along with being a young and voracious reader is that people give you books to read, or recommend books to you, or require you to read books when they haven’t really thought about the consequences. After all, if it’s got a Newbery medal on it, it can’t be that bad. And so with all the lovely books we read as kids there are a number that we’d rather have not, and that we’d rather only be given to kids if you’re going to have a serious talk with them afterwards about what the book may or may not be implying about their bodies, their lives, or their futures. Read more…

Would You Throw Your Daughter A Menarche Party?

Amelia McDonell-ParryMarch 20, 2012 //
Your First Period
panties photo
What was your first period like? Read More »
Stupid Period Ads
These menstrual product ads are dumb. Period. 9 Photos »
Period Love
If you love me, you'd better learn to love my period. Read More »

Ahh, periods. The first time Aunt Flow comes to town is a momentous and sometimes upsetting experience. But it doesn’t have to be! A company called Menarche Parties R Us wants to help you create a lifetime of memories by feting the first expulsion of the uterine wall. Play games like Pin the Ovaries, the Puberty Marshmallow Game, and Menstruation Trivia! Eat (what, red stuff?) off of speciality plates and send guests home with “Private Days Feminine Disposable Bags”! Ensure that your teenage daughter never, ever, ever speaks to you again because you threw such an extravaganza on an already confusing occasion!  Keep reading »

Soapbox: Pulling The Mommy Card On Reproductive Rights

Veronica ArreolaJanuary 2, 2012 //
I Took Plan B
Our writer took the morning-after-pill to thwart unwanted pregnancy. Read More »
Plan B Progress?
The FDA considers making the morning-after pill over-the-counter. Read More »
FDA Overuled
The government says the morning after pill cannot be over-the-counter. Read More »

This is not the change I voted for. Nor how I thought the year would end for women’s rights in the USA. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius recently overruled scientists at the Federal Drug Administration and blocked a move to allow for Plan B emergency contraception, also known as the morning after pill, to be sold over-the-counter without age restriction. Her rationale was to protect 11-year-old girls from taking something that might harm them. President Obama backed her up, asked us to use “common sense” and pulled the daddy card.

Well, I’m pulling the mommy card. Keep reading »

Girls Who Start Menstruating Early Are More Likely To Suffer From Depression

Amelia McDonell-ParryJanuary 5, 2011 //

I got my first period when I was 12 about to turn 13. I, of course, felt like I was the last one. My friends Annie and Sarah both got their periods before me and, I swear, it bonded them in a way that made me insanely jealous. I wanted blood to flow out of my vagina too! I wanted Kirk Cameron to respond to my fan mail and I wanted to be a woman, dammit. When it finally happened, it didn’t take long for me to realize that having your period is basically a complete bummer. And it’s especially a bummer for girls who get their first visit from Aunt Flow at a younger age. According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, a survey of 2,000 girls found that those who got their first visit from Aunt Flo before the age of 13-and-a-half were more likely to suffer from depression than girls who got their periods later. This is likely because menstruation comes as part of the package deal known as PUBERTY and puberty sucks. And if you’re going through puberty before other kids your age, well, that’s even crappier. “Early maturing girls may feel isolated, and faced with demands which they are not emotionally prepared for,” said Bristol University research Dr. Carol Joinson. There isn’t a conclusive link, however, between girls who got their periods early and depression in adulthood, but I’m pretty sure I can blame my mental issues on my hippie mom making me wear pads instead of tampons. [Daily Mail UK] Keep reading »

Did Your Mom Prepare You For Your Period?

Joanne HinkelNovember 19, 2010 //

In my middle school years, I learned about the menstrual cycle the same way I think most of my girlfriends did — through biology class, Judy Blume books and gossip. My mom told me zilch. My older sister prepared me for nada. Of course, parents these days, a generation later, are much more proactive in talking to their kids about sexuality, and at an early age, well before puberty hits — which I’m pretty sure is a good thing. On Psychology Today’s “Owning Pink” blog this week, Dr. Lissa Rankin has 12 tips for how to prepare a daughter for maturing, including “Take her on a tour of her body” and “Give her permission to tell you anything.” Wow, if I had gotten one such tip from my mom in the mid ’80s, I probably would have felt less shy about my changing body.

Keep reading »

Were You Clueless About Sex Growing Up?

Jessica WakemanJune 22, 2010 //

My first introduction to s-e-x was at the New England Aquarium in Boston when I was in 4th grade. My friends and I were on a Girl Scout trip and let’s just say us Girl Scouts knew about more than just tasty cookies after watching a pair of rock hoppers in the penguin pen. The next year, the health teacher separated the boys into one room and the girls into another room for the big puberty talk. By that point, I had read enough Judy Blume books to understand about menstruation, but fun facts about sexual activity — in humans, of course — were news to me.

I wasn’t the only kiddie who grew up naive about the birds and the bees: the Facebook group, “We bet we can find 100,000 people who were clueless about sex growing up!” has 120 members so far and is growing. After the jump, read a couple funny — er, funny/sad — stories from the sex ed trenches. Keep reading »

Quotable: Kim Kardashian Tried To Pray Her Breasts Away

Annika HarrisMay 19, 2010 //

“I remember crying in the bathtub. I took a washcloth, made it hot, put it over my chest and prayed, ‘Please don’t let them grow any bigger. They’re embarrassing me.’ All my friends were super skinny, and that just wasn’t my body type. But I watched my mom, who was always comfortable with herself, and she helped me with my outlook.”

– Kim Kardashian talks to Shape about being uncomfortable with her developing body when she was age 10. Now, of course, her assets are her biggest money makers. [E! Online]

How did you deal with your developing (or non-developing, as was my case) body? Tell us about your puberty experience in the comments. Keep reading »

Puberty Is Horrible, But These Stories Are Funny … Now

Annika HarrisFebruary 24, 2010 //

Puberty sucked on so many levels. Even if your mom (let’s face it, moms were usually on puberty duty for their daughters) prepared you with every book and lecture possible, you, no doubt, have at least one puberty horror story, too. It took a long time to get over the embarrassment of sprouting breasts, periods, zits, and awkwardness, but we’re finally at a place where we can laugh at ourselves. And we invite you to have a chuckle, too, by sharing your stories in the comments. Keep reading »

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