A 30-year-old yoga instructor recently posted a video to Instagram that was filmed during her period.
In the video she wore white leggings and let blood soak through her pants as she moved through challenging yoga poses.
Cue the internet going into absolute meltdown.
Stephanie Góngora who goes by the username @casa_colibri has more than 256,000 Instagram followers. The video has been viewed over 200k times and has received more than 4500 comments.
Góngora captioned the photo: “I am a woman, therefore, I bleed. It’s messy, it’s painful, it’s terrible, & it’s beautiful. And yet, you wouldn’t know. Because I hide it. I bury things at the bottom of the trash. I breathe, ragged and awkward through the cramps, all the while holding onto this tight lipped, painted on smile.”
Góngora then went to explain why she made the video: “Over 100 million young women around the globe miss school or work for lack of adequate menstrual supplies, & fear of what might happen if the world witnesses A NATURAL BODILY FUNCTION,” she wrote.
“STOP PRETENDING. Stop using silly pet names like Aunt Flo because you’re too afraid to say “I’m bleeding” or “vagina.” Stop wasting so much effort hiding the very thing that gives this species continuity.”
“START talking about it. Educate your daughters. Make them understand that it can be both an inconvenience and a gift, but NEVER something to be ashamed about. Educate your sons so they don’t recoil from the word tampon. So when a girl bleeds through her khaki shorts in third period (pun intended), they don’t perpetuate the cycle of shame and intolerance, ” she added.
Reactions to Góngora's post have been mixed. Some have praised her for her bravery and thanked her for uh, spreading such an important message.
"Didn't know what to think at first but your caption is amazing. It offered so much clarity. All the people saying it's disgusting obviously don't understand what you're trying to say. I get it," someone commented.
"Thank you for this video.. It is not disgusting it is normal. I am sure stain like than is very known to all women. Panties get destroyed," added another.
"She's making a point guys. She doesn't want to show off her period blood. She just doesn't want girls to be scared to accidentally bleed through a pad or tampon. It should be considered natural, not something to hide."
Others were, well, bloody horrified by Góngora's message. Red Flags and Red Rags on Mamamia Out Loud.
"People follow you for Yoga not your view on tampons. This is so disgusting and trust me when I say, no one wants to see your period blood," one person commented.
"Some things we all know but don't necessarily have to picture. We know we all deficate: do we need to view it? Yuk." said another.
"Umm gross... everyone takes a sh*t and it's "natural" so we gonna walk around with soiled leggings? What is the world coming to?! Honestly," added another.
While some folks seemed to have a very limited knowledge of how bodily functions worked: "So what you had a leak? Do something about it. It's disgusting. Let's just all piss ourselves and wait to clean it up," ranted one confused Instagrammer.
"This isn't a lesson of some sort this is just disgusting, control your body" added another.
What do you think?
Top Comments
Shame... if only she ended her post before launching into her product placement, I'd be completely on board.
The last comment is ridiculous "control your body" soz mate, we can't control when we bleed! We can however control wearing tampons/pads to stop this situation happening, as I really think this woman should have done. The comment/caption alone would have been enough.