‘Tampons? What are those. We don’t say those words out loud.’

Professional yogi, Steph Góngora sent her 260,000+ Instagram followers a powerful message this week when she posted a confronting video of herself performing yoga moves in white lycra whilst visibly bleeding through her pants.

The poignant video has already been viewed over 230,000 times and attracted over 5,000 comments from viewers largely impressed with Góngora’s bravery at bringing the taboo topic of menstruation into the limelight.

In her moving post, the yogi argues for the importance of destroying the pervasive social stigma responsible for embarrassing misunderstandings about how the female body actually works and the perpetuation of sexist enforcements like the tampon tax and banning of menstruating women from public pools, when it comes to how we collectively think about periods.

‘I am a woman, therefore, I bleed,’ Góngora writes.

‘It’s messy, it’s painful, it’s terrible, and 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. Tampons? What are those. We don’t say those words out loud…Over 100 million young women around the globe miss school or work for lack of adequate menstrual supplies and fear of what might happen if the world witnesses A NATURAL BODILY FUNCTION. . WHY?’

Preach, girl. ?

You can read her entire statement and watch the Insta video below.

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. . Tampons? What are those. We don’t say those words out loud. Hide them. In the back pocket of your purse, in the corner of the bathroom drawer, at the very bottom of your shopping cart (please let me get a female cashier). . Events or engagements get missed. I’ll tell myself it’s the PMS, sure, but it has more to with the risk of being “caught,” at what…I’m not quite sure. . And I’m lucky. . 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. . WHY? . Because hundreds of years of culture have made us embarrassed to bleed. Have left us feeling dirty and ashamed. . 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. . This #StartSomethingSunday , I want to highlight @corawomen . . Cora Women is a 100% Organic tampon company. . But that’s not all. They are also breaking barriers. Making it ok to talk about periods, even on social media. Providing personalized, delivered tampon/pad orders right to your door. AND for every box purchased, donating a box of sustainable pads to girls who can’t afford menstruation products. . Fuck yeah. That’s the kind of stuff I can galvanize behind, no money or even product needed. Just a mission I support on a topic we should ALL be talking about. . More ⬇️

A video posted by Steph Gongora (@casa_colibri) on Feb 5, 2017 at 11:06am PST

Image and media via instagram.com.

Comment: Do you try to hide your period, or are you open about it?