real life

'I got my period unexpectedly at a bar. My best friend left me humiliated.'

Every woman’s been there. You don’t realise your period is due, or it arrives early, or it comes purely because you’ve decided to wear white, and suddenly your underwear and your pants are soaked through.

In such a situation, it’s often your girlfriends you rely on to cover for you: to shield you as you scurry to the bathroom, or to provide the much needed (and always forgotten) tampon or sanitary napkin.

But one woman didn’t have that experience. And she’s lost a friend of 19 years because of it.

This woman was in a bar, with her best friend, wearing beige trousers at around 10pm.

“I was not due until four days later and there were no warning signs like cramping,” she posted to the online forum Mumsnet.

“I quickly told my friend I just leaked and my crotch was now bright red (the shame) and could I please use her jacket to just tie around my waist casually just to get home to change and wash?”

The friend said ‘no’.

“I said ‘please, I’ll wash it if anything gets on it and give it right back the next day! I was pretty much begging her,” the post continued. “She refused, saying she had paid too much money for it and didn’t want it ruined!”

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Am I a bad feminist if I call my friend “pretty princess”. Post continues below.

The woman left the bar, blood between her legs, and hasn’t heard from her since.

Oh, the outrage. Fellow mums of the internet are furious on this woman’s behalf.

“She’s no friend, she didn’t help you in your hour of need,” one woman posted.

“A real friend would have left the pub with you,” another said.

“It happens and a good friend would have at least stood right behind you to spare your dignity,” a third woman posted.

And finally, there was this:

“As a complete stranger I would have handed over my jacket to any woman in this situation. Please don’t speak to her ever again.”

Amen to that!

To read about dealing with your period when you’re a ballet dancer, click here

To read about a new way to have sex on your period, click here

To see Mamamia’s take on: ‘If your period was a person’, click here.