Lionesses Leah Williamson and Beth Mead are keeping it real with their unfiltered chat about periods, reminding every woman and girl that periods are nothing to be embarrassed about.
With raw honesty, personal experiences, and a few laugh-out-loud moments along the way, this unfiltered discussion is refreshingly relatable. From unexpected moments to the all-too-familiar struggles, nothing is off-limits.
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With raw honesty, personal experiences, and a few laugh-out-loud moments along the way, this unfiltered discussion is refreshingly relatable. From unexpected moments to the all-too-familiar struggles, nothing is off-limits.
SUBSCRIBE to ensure you don’t miss a video from the England YouTube channel. Hit the bell to get notifications on our latest uploads!
► Subscribe: http://bit.ly/FATVSub
► Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/england
► Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/england
► Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/englandteam
► Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/england
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► Web: https://www.englandfootball.com
#England #Lionesses
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NewsTranscript
00:00One of the girls was taking a tampon out to change it and she dropped it and it rolled into my cubicle.
00:07I was quite inspired by the whole throwing the tampon across the room.
00:10Pretend to tell it when she lays down like, can you see me?
00:14And my gran came down the stairs and my sanitary towel was on the stairs.
00:18My gran found it.
00:25Hello and welcome to the Lionesses Camp here at St George's Park.
00:29Today I'm joined by three wonderful women.
00:32We've got Bethmead, Leah Williamson and health advocate Robin.
00:36Welcome!
00:38Awesome, so today we are going to be talking about women's health
00:41and there are so many topics that circulate around that.
00:44Topics that actually are uncomfortable to talk about,
00:47sometimes a bit awkward and ones that we shy away from talking about openly.
00:51So what we're going to do to decide which one we talk about
00:54is we're going to spin our lovely little wheel and pick.
00:58But before we do that, Leah, please could you read off some of the different options that we've got going on?
01:03So we've got periods, pelvic health, mum life, puberty, menopause and kids.
01:10Awesome and Beth, you please do the honours of giving it a nice spin.
01:16Nice!
01:18What does it say, Leah?
01:20Periods!
01:21Periods! Incredible.
01:23Speaking of periods, do we all call it periods?
01:26Do you call it a period or do you have a code name?
01:29I say I'm on. I call it my period but I say I'm on.
01:33Time of the month, Red River.
01:35I'd say, I call it my bleed or my period.
01:38Bleed, period, I like that actually.
01:40Yeah, I like that.
01:41I think I might go for that because even myself I like to call it a menstrual cycle.
01:45Gives some kind of professionalism to it.
01:47Good, I'm not professional.
01:49Red River survives.
01:51Not good.
01:53And Linus, was it something that you speak about to each other?
01:57Is that something that is brought up on the pitch before you go on to play a game?
02:02I feel like we're lucky in the sense that our work environment, you can't hide from it.
02:07There's no opportunity for us to hide it.
02:10We're in the same spaces, changing rooms, showers, playing football in shorts.
02:18I've never been afforded the luxury of not talking about it.
02:23Yeah, I think it's been very normalised for us as footballers.
02:26It's been normalised but arguably over the last so many years it's been a normalised more so.
02:33Obviously us in the changing room has been a little bit different but to the outside world it's only been probably the last two or three years.
02:39Leah, Beth, do you remember starting your period and what was something you worried about the most?
02:45I start my period on holiday.
02:48My story is quite funny actually.
02:50I think I've heard this story.
02:52Go on.
02:54Story time!
02:56I don't mind.
02:58The fact that I already know this shows that there is really no change.
03:01It was actually amazing to me and I was on holiday in Turkey in a villa with my family.
03:06My mum, dad, brother, grand, granddad, auntie, uncle, cousins.
03:11Wow.
03:12The whole village.
03:15It was so weird that my mum had a feeling I was going to start my period.
03:20So she actually took sanitary towels on holiday.
03:23I came on, I still was a proper tomboy in and out of the pool.
03:28So I put a sanitary pad on, went in and out of the pool.
03:31Then ran back up to the room and my gran came down the stairs and my sanitary towel was on the stairs.
03:38My gran found it.
03:40My gran found it.
03:42My gran was like, two hours isn't it?
03:44Yeah it is actually.
03:46So I had to put a fresh one in.
03:48At the time I was mortified but now I'm just like, it happens.
03:52It's a funny story to tell.
03:54I found it so weird that my mum just had a feeling I was going to come on as well.
03:57Mother's instincts insane.
03:59I was so scared.
04:01I was going on my end of school trip in year six.
04:04I just had this overwhelming fear that I was going to come on my period.
04:07We were going camping.
04:09I said to my mum, what happens if?
04:11We had a little chat about it.
04:14I didn't come on my period.
04:16But the best thing she ever did was she just spoke to one of my teachers.
04:21We say about being embarrassed.
04:23She just asked my teacher, so that she knows she has a plan.
04:28If it happens can she come to you?
04:30Obviously she was like, yeah.
04:33But I just think having a plan, I never thought about it again after that.
04:37Because I knew that if something did happen then that's where I'd go.
04:40But then because I was on holiday, I had to...
04:42Amanda, genius.
04:44You just talk about it and then it's just not a problem.
04:47Like you say, everyone has them.
04:49It's something you have to deal with regardless.
04:51But then when I was on holiday, obviously I had to die straight in with the tampons.
04:55Because I was in the pool.
04:57Well, that's probably what I should have done.
05:01My mum was like, for God's sake Leah, shove it in.
05:06Just put this in and it'll be fine.
05:09My mum and grandma were the exact same to be honest.
05:11Because I really wanted to go swimming.
05:13I was doing swimming lessons at the time.
05:15And they were like, well, there's only one option here.
05:18You either put it in or you don't.
05:20And I was like, okay.
05:22But yeah, that conversation was funny.
05:24Communication seems so key in all of this.
05:27With communication it seems like most of the fears and problems actually get resolved.
05:33And Robin, what about yourself?
05:34What was your first period like?
05:36And have you ever had any horror stories?
05:40I wouldn't say it was a horror story.
05:41But I definitely was shocked when I came on my period.
05:44Even though it was quite open to household.
05:46I definitely didn't know it had happened when it happened.
05:50I thought that actually what had happened was a number two.
05:54So I was like, what?
05:56I was in like year seven and I was just so confused.
05:58Because I didn't really understand what had happened.
06:00And my mum was like, oh, sweet.
06:04So actually, looking back, it is actually quite a funny story.
06:08Oh, that's so wonderful.
06:10We've got some questions actually from our football woman community.
06:14And I'd love to play you a voice note from one of these women.
06:17This is from Ellica.
06:18She's 14 years old.
06:20I struggle to talk to people about my period.
06:23Sometimes I might have period pains and need to sit out.
06:27Or I need to get a sanitary product from my bag.
06:30I'm worried people will see.
06:32Have you ever felt the same?
06:35Yeah, everyone.
06:36When we all need a tampon or a pad and you've got to go and get one.
06:41Especially if there's men, we're a bit more boisterous with it.
06:44Because there is no shame.
06:46If you needed a tampon in the changing room, I'd just chuck them across the room.
06:51I wouldn't think twice and I'd be open about it.
06:55Especially when I was younger at school.
06:58I just always think half of the population have them.
07:01You're not alone.
07:03You think it's not happening to anybody else, but it is.
07:06And we all have such a different experience with it.
07:09But it's a collective experience at the same time.
07:11So it's not that deep.
07:15It's so good we're actually doing it today.
07:17I'm honestly almost quite inspired by the whole throwing the tampon across the room.
07:22Because whenever I'm in the office, I'm just sneakily putting the tampon up my sleeve.
07:26Because I'm like, I don't want people to see, I don't want people to know.
07:29I just feel so awkward about it.
07:31There's no opportunity, there's nowhere to hide.
07:34But also, I think we empower each other in so many other ways.
07:38This is just one of the small cogs in the wheel of empowering each other.
07:44There's just no shame, which is the main thing that allows us to be free.
07:49Okay, I'm going to play a voice note from 25-year-old Becky now.
07:55I'm so worried I'll leak when I'm playing football.
07:57I wear a tampon, sanitary towel and a pair of period pants just to be extra cautious.
08:01Am I being weird or do other women have this fear too?
08:05Not being weird.
08:06I know lots of people that, especially in professional sports,
08:12but I know so many people that double protect themselves or just wear extra layers or whatever.
08:19You just make it more of a thing in your head.
08:23You're uncomfortable and you do sport to feel free.
08:28So then to give yourself anxiety about something, it's so counterproductive.
08:36That's the way I look at it, but I understand why people do it.
08:39I saw something about the marathon runner, I don't know if you saw it,
08:42and how she just let it go.
08:45Which obviously, I presume if you spoke to her, would not have been her first choice in terms of approach.
08:52But it doesn't matter. It is what it is and it happens.
08:56That's such a warrior mindset to me.
08:58Did it take you time to build up to that or have you always naturally been like that?
09:01100%.
09:03You don't want to be embarrassed and you don't want to do something,
09:06especially being at school, boys and banter.
09:10You're brought up to think that it's a really shameful thing.
09:13Even what age you came on your period, I don't know if you had the same at school,
09:16but you were almost cool.
09:20There's so much rubbish built up around it.
09:23I just think you get to the point where, like I say, I play sport to be free.
09:26I can't be free if I'm worrying about the most natural thing in the world.
09:31And I just think, well, that's my friend then, isn't it?
09:33True.
09:34Beth, is it something that you've ever worried about yourself?
09:37Do you carry that paranoia before you go to play a match?
09:40Or is it just kind of, it is what it is?
09:43I am one of them people, it is what it is.
09:45But I'm very lucky, I think, in a sense that I'm not a heavy bleather.
09:52I wouldn't say I've ever sat and worried about that.
09:54When I was younger, I was worse, but now I've obviously got a bit older.
09:58I haven't stopped worrying about it.
09:59Maybe that's helped, maybe it hasn't.
10:01So I feel like on the menstrual cycle spectrum, I'm quite lucky in how I am.
10:06I'm to the day, I'm on five days and that's me.
10:10I'm very, very lucky in that sense, but I know that.
10:13And I know that it's not an easy ride for everybody.
10:15You're not the one, like when we're lining up, say you've come on,
10:19or somebody knows, you just turn to your mate and you're like,
10:21if you see anything, let me know.
10:23You've never said that to me.
10:24No, never.
10:25Whereas we've had that conversation.
10:27The other way round.
10:28Yeah.
10:29Pretend it's tight when she laces, I'm like, can you see anything?
10:31Are we OK?
10:32All good, we're all good.
10:33Code time.
10:34Code word, we're off.
10:36But it's fine, we're all different and we all deal with it differently
10:39and that's OK.
10:42Like Leah said, it's normal.
10:44Half the population have it.
10:46It's not ideal, it's not something you want, but if it happens, it's OK.
10:49Yeah.
10:50And I think we've really got to tell each other that a little bit more often
10:54and make that a little bit more normal.
10:56Yeah.
10:57Absolutely.
10:58Yeah, it's definitely not weird at all.
11:00And I think it's good to take whatever provisions make you feel comfortable.
11:03If you want to double up with cat products, great.
11:06And if that's going to help you play, great.
11:09Just do whatever makes you feel good is what I would say.
11:11Completely agree.
11:12I also don't think it's shameful to go the other way and think, I don't care.
11:16Yeah, I was really inspired by that.
11:18Honestly, it was incredible.
11:20That's doing so much for the conversation.
11:22Because we don't really ever see the period blood.
11:25If you start to use a cup, do you actually see it?
11:28Because I don't know about you, but when I've been using products
11:30my whole menstruating life, it's always in, out, don't look.
11:33Yeah.
11:34And I kind of like to see it now.
11:36Seeing that run, I was like, wow, you just don't ever see that on television.
11:39You see it in blood splats in horror shows.
11:42Yeah.
11:43Crying.
11:44You can't possibly see period blood.
11:46And it's like, we all come from it.
11:48Whatever gender you are, you've come from that.
11:51Literally, you exist because somebody had that.
11:54And I think that's such a good way to involve other genders in the conversation
11:58because that's how we're all connected as well.
12:01That's such a beautiful perspective, Robin.
12:04It's the truth, though.
12:05I love it.
12:06It's the truth.
12:07It's so true.
12:08It is.
12:09I'm just thinking when you're talking about it, as in, like, it's fine.
12:11We have cubicles at training, so we're sat in one each.
12:14You do remember this.
12:15Was it me and you?
12:16No, it wasn't me and you.
12:18One of the girls was taking her tampon out to change it.
12:21Yeah.
12:22And she dropped it and it rolled into my cubicle.
12:25Deep breath.
12:26Hiya.
12:27What is she doing here?
12:28I just stopped for a second.
12:29Ooh.
12:30Looks fine.
12:31I started laughing.
12:32I just think there's hand scrambling.
12:34Oh, sorry.
12:35Bare hands.
12:37And I just thought, right then, just another day.
12:40You know, just another day.
12:41But I just really just clocked into her and said,
12:44you know, normal colour, you're fine.
12:46You're fine.
12:47Honestly, it was so funny.
12:49I think we laughed for the rest of the day about it.
12:51We make good stories.
12:52It's literally only ever the reaction of other people that will change your perception on it
12:56because it's not a shame.
12:57We wouldn't be ashamed of it if other people didn't make us.
13:00And that's what I'm saying about the marathon runner.
13:02She doesn't care.
13:03So why should anybody else?
13:04What a good role model it was.
13:05I know.
13:06Yeah.
13:07Again, it's just normalising a normal situation,
13:09but it doesn't feel normal to a lot of people.
13:11Is there anything that you would like to see
13:14to try to aid the conversation around periods?
13:18I do think that we as women can change so much just by the way that we behave.
13:23So when you walk to the toilet in a restaurant,
13:27don't put it up your sleeve.
13:28Just try and empower yourself a little bit.
13:31Yeah, like test how it feels.
13:33Instead of sliding in, I'm going to just hold it.
13:36Yeah, and just be a bit more like that's what it is.
13:43And then when it comes to men who just don't have the understanding,
13:49educate them, I don't know.
13:52I went to a water park once and I didn't go in the water
13:55because I didn't have a tampon and it was other than my dad.
13:59My dad has children.
14:00I'm sure he understands the concept of a period,
14:02but I just never gave him the benefit of the doubt to help me.
14:06I just shut him out of it, which isn't also fair.
14:09Us as women, I just think we have to be so much more.
14:12We have to empower ourselves so much more
14:14because I can say our environment because we're empowered.
14:20There is no shame.
14:22We have the most knowledge out of any of my friendship groups, I would say.
14:26Incredible.
14:27Robin, is there anything else you'd like to add of something
14:29that we can be doing to stop making the conversation of period awkward,
14:33how we can raise more awareness about it
14:35without it being a thing that is pushed,
14:37a matter of just bringing realisation towards the topic?
14:41Yeah, definitely.
14:42I think it's across all demographics, all ages, all genders,
14:46I think in the workplace, in schools.
14:49Like you say, just having quite informal chats
14:53and it just becoming something else that's not hidden
14:56because we don't need to hide it.
14:58It's a really beautiful process as well,
15:00even when there is pain involved.
15:02It can be such an inconvenience, let's be real.
15:04Incredible.
15:05Robin, Beth, Leah, thank you so much for joining us today.
15:08It's been a wonderful conversation.
15:16It did flow.
15:17No pun intended.