Star athletes like Dina Asher-Smith and Eilish McColgan are at last breaking the taboo around periods and sport. It seems such an obvious conversation to have had before now but it’s a reflection on just how Victorian our attitudes to women remain.
A few years ago, the word “period” wouldn’t even have been printed in a family newspaper and was a subject female journalists might discuss in the toilet, but never in the newsroom. I grew up in an era where sanitary products were slipped discreetly into a brown paper bag in supermarkets in case, heaven forfend, a fellow shopper might see them.
The potential repercussions of being spotted were never discussed. Perhaps we pictured a tannoy announcement of “bleeder in aisle two” as terrified shoppers grabbed the kids and recoiled in horror.
