Good Girl, Bad Period. Breaking the Silence on Misogyny and Gaslighting Through the Lens of Endometriosis

BY SILVIA YOUNG.

"It's Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me Margaret meets Gloria Steinem's Revolution from Within."

Good Girl, Bad Period is a collection of stories breaking the silence on misogyny and gaslighting through the lens of endometriosis.

Along with curricular commentary and narration guided by Silvia Young, the anthology projects a snapshot in time with over 80 stories of vast lived experiences at the forefront to nurture conversation, community, critical thinking, and a generation embarking on patient-centered solutions It also includes turn-key proposed legislation called ‘Empower Pupils Women’s Health Training’ Readers are equipped with the tools to impact policy change in their regions.

Providing an authentic perspective from the inside, Good Girl, Bad Period promotes intersectional feminism, and a sense of cultural, historical, and personal identity.The counternarrative will also call attention to many of history’s most prominent women writers and organizers whose work attests to the themes this book intends to destigmatize, proving just how much history repeats itself under a patriarchal system.

More than 80 contributors and six interviews, across four continents, 13 countries, and 22 states, represent not only 200 million people with endometriosis, but also billions more trying to access healthcare globally.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Sex assigned at birth is not always consistent with gender identity. As such, this body of work is intended to be inclusive. Any use of terms related to ‘fem’, ‘female’, ‘girls’, ‘woman’, ‘women’ or ‘women’s health’ used herein i.e., in referential citations or colloquial text is intended only as a theoretical and historic framework. Such use is not intended to trivialize any and all lived experiences trying to access healthcare in a two-gendered system or the many intersections facing added discrimination, including but not limited to ethnicity, race, culture, size, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disabilities, and socioeconomic bias.

Endometriosis is a disease that faces institutional gaslighting, with society being led to believe it is “just a bad period” with the protocol being to “control” the period in order to “control” the disease and if that doesn’t work, to subsequently further gaslight the patient as psychosomatic. Within a twogendered society this disease has historically faced widespread

misogyny through many tactics. The limited data is only based on bodies assigned female at birth, but endometriosis is not a menstrual disease - it is a disease that may have menstrual pain among its many symptoms, and for some, the disease may present at menstruation.

EXCERPT FROM GOOD GIRL, BAD PERIOD

Growing up I was taught to be a "good girl." Indoctrinated to be quiet and polite, to never speak out of turn, and to always put the needs of others before my own. I was taught to be ashamed of my body and its functions, and to hide the evidence of my monthly period and pain from the world.

But as I grew older, I realized this "good girl" mentality harmed not just me, but all women and society I realized the silence around socalled women’s issues, specifically the taboo topic of menstruation and pain, is oppression.

It's a well-known fact that women are more likely to be dismissed and ridiculed when seeking care for their own health. This is a problem that needs to be addressed and taken seriously. It is time to break the silence and speak out about the injustices faced by women in the realm of healthcare. It is time to see the gender role and mental prison of a “good girl”, as well as the dismissive slur of “just a bad period”, for what it is - misogyny and gaslighting.

It’s time to teach into diseases like endometriosis as a social justice movement.

Endometriosis is a chronic and often debilitating condition that affects an estimated nearly 200 million girls and women worldwide and unmeasured amounts of transand non-binary individuals. Despite its prevalence, endometriosis is frequently misdiagnosed or overlooked, with many patients going years or even decades without receiving an accurate diagnosis This is a result of the systemic misogyny and gaslighting that plagues society and the medical community, and perpetuates the notion that women's pain is not to be taken seriously. All health conditions facing gender bias and discrimination are social justice movements. Collectively we all need to fight for the rights of those who are suffering.

In the words of feminist writer and activist Audre Lorde, "I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own."

GOOD GIRL, BAD PERIOD GOOD GIRL, BAD PERIOD WILL BE AVAILABLE ON WILL BE AVAILABLE ON AMAZON MAY 16, 2023!

Silvia Young (she/her) is a writer, legislation organizer, and nonprofit founder and president of FemTruth Youth 501(c)3 based in California. Good Girl, Bad Period is her fourth book under FemTruthTM, she also wrote Gaslit, a 3-Act Play.

Silvia was diagnosed with endometriosis after 25 years of medical gaslighting. She also brings her biracial and multicultural life experience to her writing and activism.