LADIES, you're not fooling your co-workers when you carry your purse from your desk to the rest room. Everyone knows what it means.
Well, almost everyone. Guys, in case you've been wondering, women often use their handbags to discreetly tote around their feminine hygiene products.
Yes, we're talking about tampons and sanitary pads. For their periods.
Feeling uncomfortable yet? Read on.
Why, when we live in a world where private parts are celebrated on stage ("The Vagina Monologues") and on TV ("Sex and the City"), are women (and men, for that matter) still so shy about menstruation, a perfectly natural -- if bloody -- event?
Burberry ReplicaIn her funny 1978 essay "If Men Could Menstruate," feminist icon Gloria Steinem envisioned a fantasy world where "men would brag about how much and how long." Paul Newman's name would be on a tampon, "he's a three-pad man" would be a common phrase and men would cite their cycles as a reason to secure social and political superiority over women.
The reality, of course, is different.
Call it "the curse," an unavoidable annoyance, or a celebration of womanhood, menstruation remains one of America's few lingering taboos.
But are times beginning to change? Are women on the verge of feeling free to toss a tampon across the room to a friend in need or saunter to the rest room holding a pad in plain view? Some are.
Take Barbara Carey of Orinda.
Carey is on a crusade to get girls and women talking freely about the topic. She has developed a "cute" brand of tampons and panty- liners named Dittie.
"It means a little statement," says Carey, who likes that Ditties are sometimes called "fortune cookie" tampons. Spunky and thoughtful messages on the wrappers are supposed to be fun, sassy and promote self-esteem, to the point where girls say, "I love my body -- every nook and cranny," explains Carey.
One wrapper, for example, proclaims: "Why be a Charlie's Angel when I can be a Charlie?"
Women were surprisingly unafraid to share their experiences for this story.
Not one person answered "no comment" when asked, "How do you feel about your period?" Some laughed, some requested that their names not be printed and some chatted freely.
"It's not quite as pleasant as my birthday," says Aimee Strain, 29, of Foster City. "While it's not exactly my favorite time, I don't hate it. It's natural."
And Strain says her husband doesn't like it either.
"Sometimes I like it," says Carol Groshong, 22. "It's a relief because not having it would be much worse."
From the beginning
Of course, while females simply learn to tolerate whatever their cycle brings them -- extreme pain, minor discomfort, volatile emotions or simply inconvenience -- many weren't necessarily ready for the onset of womanhood.
"When I was younger it was a burden," says Strain of Foster City.
"It definitely was a curse," says Katie Edwards, 27. "My mother never prepared me for it."
LV NecklaceMany women remember their moms pointing out certain items in the bathroom cabinet but offering no added explanation.
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