Should Paid 'Menstrual Leave' Be a Thing?

[TorchTheWitch]

22. I've always thought so

I've been one of the very unlucky who has had horribly painful periods throughout my life. Not every single month, but probably most of them usually for one day but some were so bad it would last for 3. I used up sick days every year solely because of my painful periods and been fired from jobs where I had to take more sick time because I was forced to work with someone that came to work sick and I caught their virus.

I've always thought that women should be afforded more sick time if they need it because of illness associated with the simple fact that they're female and have no recourse other than to suffer what happens to them on a regular basis for the greater part of their life. Physically, being male is easy. Being female, not so much.

Just in the last couple of weeks I've been getting hot flashes. Though they suck, I'd take them any day of the week and twice on Sunday instead of what I've been through with my periods. Mentally and emotionally I've been loving my hot flashes, and I'm thrilled to bits that I've skipped another period this go round. I've been looking forward to this for decades. Both my mom and my sister started their change 20 years before I finally did. I have no idea what the hell took me so long, but not that I finally have I can now stop screaming "When the hell do I finally get menopause!!!" every month. When you've had uncountable months where you've had one to three days of agony yet still unaccountably feel like you want to sit on the roof of the house with a shotgun picking off anyone that comes within range this is Disneyland.