PERIOD EMOJI AND NO MORE TABOO

So for some reason periods are still a bit of taboo. If you're reading this and thinking "not in my house" well then good for you! But be sure that for many people this is still something best kept a secret and not discussed at the dinner table. Too far? Okay, point is, it's still a bit of a 'no no' topic for many people and I for one think it is ridiculous. I have a few friends who have yet to discuss it with their daughters even though they see them every month with their pads and tampons. Personally, I don't know how it can be hidden. My own kids asked me if I wore a diaper first time they saw me sat of the loo changing my pad (they walked in on me as kids do). I felt there was no shame so I said 'I'm on my period'. They asked what that meant so I told them. Straight up, looking them in the eye as a matter a fact, cos guess what? It's natural. Just like snot.

They know now (aged 7 and 5) that one day they too will get their period and yeah, they still yell a collective "gross" whenever it comes up but my point is it was never hidden away.

Apparently, or many young women talking about their periods is also a struggle which is why I think it's great that after more than 55,000 people called for a period emoji to be added to the global emoji keyboard last year, as part of a campaign led by global girls' rights charity Plan International UK, with the goal to help break down the silence, stigma and taboos surrounding periods, it has finally been added.

Lucy Russell, Head of Girls' Rights and Youth at Plan International UK, says: “The inclusion of an emoji which can express what 800 million women around the world are experiencing every month is a huge step towards normalising periods and smashing the stigma which surrounds them.”

The new period emoji is meant to make it easier for woman to talk about their periods to friends and family, even if it's just by text I actually think that sometimes a little emoji can say a lot - like, 'piss off I'm on my period, unless you have chocolate don't even bother me'.

And as there is literally an emoji for just about anything you can think of, it does seem like this one was well overdo!

With periods being a normal part of every day life for 800 million woman in the world, isn't it time we stopped feeling 'uncomfortable'?