Chapter Text
Period, day 0.
Barbie has been feeling sad for a few days. As Gloria asks her if she can identify why she feels sad (they had been working on analyzing feelings), she cannot find a reason. It’s not like she feels useless or worthless - as she might have felt in the past - but it’s… more toned down, like a wave of doom slowly coming towards her. Gloria giggles at Barbie’s expression following that sentence.
“Am I dying?” Barbie asks, suddenly worried.
“Babe, no. Why would you be dying because of a feeling?”
Barbie sighs. “You’re right. Thank you.”
Gloria smiles gently at her, empathizing. Being a human is hard, she knows it. Those inexplicable feelings are a lot sometimes.
“I’m sorry”, Barbie suddenly says.
The sentence surprises Gloria, who frowns.
“Why?”
The corners of the blonde’s mouth start to turn towards the floor, as she looks down at it, and takes a deep breath. Her lips part; she seems to be looking for her words. Before she can find them, a tear falls from her right eye and rolls on her cheek.
“Oh”, Gloria lets out.
She immediately gets up, grabs a tissue and hands it over to Barbie, who thanks her. They were sitting outside, on Gloria’s balcony, facing each other, just chatting, as they usually did. Now, Gloria sits back down, but on the couch where Barbie is, right next to her. She silently opens her arms, inviting Barbie into her space. Barbie leans forward, her body laying against Gloria’s as she closes her arms around her, hugging her. Barbie blows her nose.
“I’m sorry”, she says, a sob taking over her.
Gloria shakes her head.
“Are you apologizing for crying?”
Barbie nods, wiping the tears off of her face.
“Don’t”, Gloria says. “You know crying is okay, even if it suddenly comes without a reason.”
Barbie nods at this, understanding it, even though she is having a hard time accepting it. Gloria holds her tighter. With the pressure of Gloria’s body all around hers, Barbie feels slightly better. She lets out a sigh and Gloria gently rubs circles on her back.
“Oh”, she suddenly lets out. “You know what would help?”
“What?” Barbie asks.
“Ice cream.”
And just like that, Barbie, Gloria and her daughter Sasha were walking on the beach, eating ice cream while Sasha told Barbie that she sometimes feels sad for no reason too.
Later that day, Gloria and Barbie were putting the dishes in the dishwasher after dinner when Barbie suddenly held her stomach with both hands, obvious pain on her face. Gloria put the last plate in the dishwasher, and as she closed it, glanced at Barbie.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I feel, hum… There is a weird feeling in here” she says as she taps her fingers on her lower stomach. “It’s unfamiliar, it’s like… Someone inflated a balloon inside of me but there’s not enough space for it to fill, so it’s pulling on my insides. Does it make sense?”
“Huh, I think I understand it, yes”, Gloria answers. “It could be anything really, stress even. Do not worry about it too much. You had a lot of emotions today, you might just need rest.”
“Yes, you might be right,” Barbie answers as she nods and gently smiles at Gloria. “Thank you.”
Period, day 1.
Barbie did not even have to open her eyes to feel that something was wrong. She felt nauseous. And, as she opened her eyes, she wondered why her stomach suddenly looked so… Round? It wasn’t much, it did look like somebody had inflated a small balloon inside her. Trying not to panic too much because of the new feeling, she stood up, deciding to start her day instead of staying still and alone with her emotions. Going to the living room to say good morning to Gloria, who happily smiled at her, Barbie almost forgot about her worries. It was not until she went to the bathroom that panic settled in.
She had seen blood before. A few days ago even, when Sasha had fallen from her skateboard and scraped her knee. She knew what blood was, and where it could come from. But this? She had never seen this. There was blood on the inside of her panties. Analyzing the situation quickly, she put toilet paper between her legs only to discover more blood. She was confused. She had learned blood normally came with pain, but her vagina didn't feel painful. And how would she have cut herself there anyways? She suddenly remembered the pain she felt the day before, inside her belly.
“Oh my god am I bleeding from inside?” She asked herself. She was starting to feel short of breath. “Okay. Don’t panic. Ask Gloria.”
She wiped as much blood as she could with the toilet paper, put her panties back on and made her way to the living room. Suddenly she felt her less favorite feeling; Gloria had told her it was called “shame”.
“Gloria”, she called, as the brunette woman looked up from the book she was reading.
“Yes Barbie?” she answered.
“I, huh…” She started to fidget with her fingers. There was no easy way to tell someone you were bleeding from your vagina, without knowing why.
Gloria noticed her hesitation, and put her book down so that Barbie would see that she had her full attention.
“What is it?” Gloria asked.
“Ok, I’m just going to tell you. Please be honest and tell me if I am dying.”
“Barbie you are not dying…”
“Let me finish.”
“Okay.”
Barbie took a deep breath.
“There is blood on my underwear, my belly hurt yesterday and now I’m bleeding from inside and the blood seems to be coming from my vagina.”
She suddenly sat down on the floor in shock, realization hitting her.
“Oh my god, I am dying.”
Gloria was torn between laughing, giving Barbie a hug, or slapping herself across the face because she forgot to tell Barbie about menstruation.
“Oh honey,” she said as she stood up. “First of all I swear to you on my life that you are not dying.”
“I’m not?”
“You are not.”
Gloria sat down on the floor next to Barbie, and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“I can’t believe I forgot to tell you about periods.”
Barbie looked confused.
“Periods?”
“Or menstruation. It is when a woman, or anybody with a uterus and a vagina, bleeds every month. It is perfectly natural, it is going to last for a few days and then it will stop, and a month later it will start again.”
Barbie seemed reassured for a second, and then she panicked again.
“It will start again?”
“Yes,” Gloria answered. “But it’s fine, I will explain everything to you. Come with me first so I can give you a pad so you don’t stain your clothes.”
As she explained pads and tampons and cups to Barbie (who was overwhelmed and picked a pad in a blink of an eye because there was no way on earth she was putting something inside her vagina right now), the blonde was carefully listening, reassured that Gloria knew so much about the subject. Once Barbie had changed underwear and put a pad on, they both sat on the couch again as Gloria got ready to give her the period talk.
“How do you know so much about this?” Barbie asked. “Why is it happening specifically to me?”
“It is not just you, it is most if not all people with a vagina. I get it too.”
“You do?”
“Yeah! I’ve had my period since I was twelve.”
“Twelve? Twelve years old?”
Barbie was shocked to her core.
“Yes”, Gloria answered as she chuckled lightly watching Barbie’s facial expression. “It is part of puberty, it is what teenagers go through to become adults. Boobs grow, hairs grow, and periods start for people with a vagina, so, mostly women.”
Barbie nodded, understanding.
“But why?” She asked. “Why does it happen? What makes the body do that?”
Gloria then proceeded to explain everything to her. Menstrual cycle, ovulation, pregnancy, and menstruation. Barbie took it all in, understanding everything and asking questions when things did not seem clear enough for her. Gloria was very patient and understanding when answering Barbie and explaining everything. Seeing that Barbie seemed interested in the subject, she also explained to her how menstruation fit inside society, how it was often taboo when it came to men, and why it shouldn’t be.
It made it all a little less scary for Barbie, but still, she was worried.
“What if I bleed when I don’t expect it? What if it becomes really painful and I can’t function correctly? Are people going to judge me?”
“It is always good to have protection on you,” Gloria answered, “like the pad I gave you, in your bag. That way, if you’re outside when it happens, you’ll be ready. In America we are lucky enough to have access to products, as it is not the case everywhere in the world, but it’s also very expensive. Also, when it is really painful, sometimes you might not have a choice and you still have to function. Some people manage to do it, others can’t; some painkillers work really well. Either way, everyone’s pain is different and everyone experiences it differently. You understand?”
“Yes, yes I do. But… does everyone do?”
“Well… I’m going to tell you a story about that one time I got my period and it did not go that well.”
Barbie shifted on the couch, putting her legs up and arms around them so she could put her chin on her knees, listening to Gloria and giving her her full attention.
“It was in college,” Gloria remembered. “I was around twenty years old, I was part of a friend group with two other girls, and one boy. One day, as we were going to another class, I had not realized I had gotten my period. One of my girlfriends noticed I had a stain at the back of my jeans, as I had been bleeding while sitting down. She immediately took her jacket off and gave it to me so I could wrap it around my waist to hide the stain.”
Barbie looked fascinated by the story, her eyes shining with passion, as they did anytime Gloria would tell her a story about women helping each other. Gloria continued.
“As I was wrapping her jacket around me and she was taking a pad out of her bag while we were making our way to the bathroom, a boy I hated - actually we all hated him - saw the scene, and started mocking me. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but I remember he called me disgusting .” She paused, remembering the awful feeling she had felt then. She turned to Barbie, who looked sad again. “Just so you know”, Gloria continued, addressing Barbie, “period blood is not disgusting, it is just blood, everyone has blood in their body, and literally billions of people in the world menstruate. There is nothing shameful or disgusting about it.”
Barbie nodded, as she had nothing to add, she was just agreeing.
“Then what happened?” she asked.
“Then, I was shocked, I don’t know what happened, I couldn’t say anything to him. I was vulnerable and did not have the strength to stand up to him.” She suddenly smiled. “But that was not the case for my friends, the two girls and the one boy, who were with me. They immediately called him out, the boy even gave him a lesson and wished him to never have a girlfriend because, I quote, you do not deserve women .”
“Wow.”
“Wow indeed.”
“So some boys understand?”
“Honestly most boys understand. It is just society that decided to make it something bad, because the world is unfair to women and anybody connected to womanhood.”
“Yeh, I am getting that more and more”, Barbie answered, a sad smile painted on her face.
Gloria sighed, and held Barbie’s hand in hers.
“I told you coming to the real world as a woman was not going to be easy”, Gloria told her. “But look, it can also be beautiful. We can all work together to make the world a better place, and not only for women, but for everyone.”
Barbie nodded, looking at Gloria’s face and how serious she looked.
“I understand”, she said again.
“Of course you do”, Gloria said. “You’re so smart.”
Barbie smiled at the compliment.
“I am very happy you exist”, she said.
Gloria seemed surprised at the sentence, but touched.
“Why?”
“Well, without giving the fact that without you we would have never saved Barbieland and I would have never become human…”
“Yeah yeah yeah”, Gloria replied as she giggled.
“Well you are incredible”, Barbie continued. “You explain everything to me, without judgment or taboo, and you seem to genuinely want the world to change to be a better place for women. I am a woman, I love women, therefore I am grateful for your existence.”
Gloria smiled. “Well I am a woman too.”
Barbie laughed. “Well that’s true.”
Gloria smiled and laughed with her.
Her conversation with Gloria made Barbie feel better, emotionally at least, for the rest of the day. She still had that bloated and uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, and had to change her pad, which was new to her, but she quickly caught up on it. She would feel sudden sharp pains in her lower belly multiple times throughout the day, but it would go away quickly. She was reassured. How bad could periods really be?
Period, day 2.
Pain. All she felt was pain.