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Wellness

Mom praises teen boy for the way he helped her daughter with a period emergency

This article originally appeared on 02.21.19

I know firsthand that getting your period is never a convenient event, especially when it's your very first one and you don't have tampons or pads (or diva cups ooh la la) handy.

Depending on what you're wearing, a leak can show up in ways that announce your cycle to the whole world — and when you're a teenager that can invariably lead to teasing from cruel peers.

Womanhood can truly feel like a curse when you first enter it.

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Most of the time, when we hear embarrassing period anecdotes, the girl in question is riding solo with her shame-stained pants, or maybe there's a kind woman with tampons in the public restroom.

It's rare that a guy, let alone a teen boy, is the unlikely hero in a tale of periods. However, a recent Reddit post served as the delightful exception to the rule of terrifying teen boys.


When a boy noticed his female classmate's period stain on the bus, he took the high road rather than making her a punchline.

Here's what the post in full:

"My daughter started her period on the bus ride home today. A boy a year older than her...that she doesn't really know...pulled her aside and whispered in her ear that she had a stain on the back of her pants and gave her his sweater to tie around her waist so she could walk off the bus. She said she was kind of embarrassed and originally said it's okay, but the boy insisted and told her 'I have sisters, it's all good!' If you are this boy's mom, I want to say thank you and that you are raising him right!! We hear so many bad things about today's youth and I wanted to share something positive!"


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People on Reddit were happy to hear about such a mature and positive exchange between the teens, particularly how the boy expressed empathy without even knowing her well.

The whole exchange is a testament to how important it is to educate kids about how bodies of all genders work, so it's normal and not shameful.

"What an awesome kid," Redditor Imrhien wrote. "This highlights the importance of teaching boys about girls bodies, and vice versa. Understanding engenders compassion."

It's also notable how awkward it may have been for him to approach her, one of the reasons teens often take the low road is because kindness is a form of vulnerability.

"I'm guessing neither your daughter nor the boy are very old, maybe around 15," cli7 wrote on Reddit. "It would be so tempting to make fun of her. And even if not that, very awkward to have this conversation with a stranger. He must have been awfully nice for your daughter to react how she did I have a feeling your daughter made a friend for life."

In short, this is the right way to raise and kind and respectful kid.

"This is how we should raise our sons and daughters," Redditor binarydaaku wrote.

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women's issues
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Pro-choicer gets called a 'murderer,' responds with questions about what it means to be 'pro-life'

Calling a pro-choice person a "murderer" is a sadly common inflammatory insult hurled by pro-birthers. In true medical terms, terminating an embryo is terminating a multicellular diploid eukaryotic organism, not murdering a person. Nonetheless, people still invoke images of infanticide in order to demonize people advocating for reproductive health care access. Normalizing a debate around whether abortion is murder has only further stigmatized the very real existential threats women face without birth control and safe abortion access.

A recent screenshot posted on the Murdered by Words subreddit showed a heated exchange between a pro-choicer and the pro-birth person who called them an advocate for murder.


Screenshot via Reddit

The pro-choicer ignored the initial insult of "murderer" and continued the conversation by grilling the pro-birther about how they intend to help build a world where people can healthily raise children.





The response read:

"What happens next? Once you have succeeded in your quest to stop the termination of a pregnancy - disregarding the circumstances for why the woman or couple wants to terminate (failed birth control, rape, lack of financial stability, unsuitable environment, domestic violence, mental health issues, lack of employment, medical issues, lack of comprehensive sexual education) - what happens next?"
"Who pays for the prenatal or postnatal care? Surely not a couple working a minimum wage who can barely afford their rent. Who provides healthcare and funds medical bills for a single woman with no place to live? Or a married couple who struggle to afford the children they already have? Who assists the millions of children in foster care, still waiting to be adopted? Who helps them when they hit the street at 18 with no money or life skills?"


Will you and your ilk - the self-proclaimed 'pro-life' community help to fund comprehensive sexual education for teens? How about access to affordable birth control? Why not promote a vasectomy as a viable option for men who don't want children? How about funding scientific research so men can have more birth control options than just condoms? Is your community going to help pay for healthcare and education costs? Once you have succeeded in stopping the termination of a pregnancy, what role will you have in ensuring a quality of life for the foetus you so desperately wanted to save?"

The pro-birther simply responded by claiming it's the parents' responsibility, which ushered in a final call out of the hypocrisy of many factions of the pro-life movement.





The pro-choicer's rebuttal ended with a bang, calling out all the ways the pro-birth community fails to support life after conception:

"And there's the money shot. Here's a wakeup call - you don't get to come into my inbox and shit all over my Sunday with your over-inflated Messiah complex with your Facebook profile filled with delusions of superiority declaring yourself to be on the side of "life." when in reality your compassion stops just inside the vaginal canal."
"Don't embarrass yourself and pretend that you give a flying fuck about what happens once a foetus is born, or about the people who aren't equipped to raise them. Don't pretend you give a shit about children when you aren't prepared to do a damn thing about the millions of struggling families on welfare, or the millions of children in foster care."


Don't pretend you give a shit about life, when you would rather just sit by and smugly proclaim women should 'close their legs' because it's less energy to do so than it is to lobby for resources that would make it easier for people to become parents. Go away."

Suffice it to say, the pro-birther had no rebuttal after that.

This article originally appeared on SomeeCards. You can read it here.



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Culture

HBO didn't submit 'Brienne' from Game of Thrones for an Emmy. So, she did it herself.

If you're a Game of Thrones fan, then Gwendoline Christie aka Brienne of Tarth needs no introduction. While there was disappointment surrounding the finale, and the last season in general, Christie's character was one of the few to remain near and dear to the hearts of fans throughout it all.

Fans wept when they finally witnessed Ser Brienne of Tarth get knighted after six seasons of being one of the most honorable and integrity filled characters to grace the Game of Thrones screen.

Similarly, Brienne of Tarth's final tribute to Jaime Lannister left people both misty-eyed and eager to dedicate countless memes to the moment.



Well now, months after the Game of Thrones finale, Christie has re-entered the zeitgeist of memes and adoration following the news that she was nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a drama.




Naturally, people are really happy for her, but the way she got the nomination is just as inspiring as the honor itself. Since HBO foolishly didn't submit Christie, she took the initiative to submit herself. While it's not completely rare for actors to submit themselves for Emmys, it is very rare for them to secure the nomination.




People are simultaneously proud of her for knowing her wroth, annoyed at HBO for dropping the ball, and ready to bust out updatedGame of Thrones memes.







If the powers that be at HBO have read any of these tweets, then they certainly know where they went wrong.





Fans are already preparing themselves for her to win.





Even if she doesn't secure an Emmy, she has stiff competition and is in supremely good company, so it's a win-win.






Christie wasn't the only Game of Thrones cast member to submit herself in lieu of an HBO submission. Alfie Allen, who plays Theon Greyjoy, and Carice van Houten, who plays Melisandre also submitted themselves and secured nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama, and Best Guest Actress in a drama respectively.




Good on all of them, for knowing their worth and picking up the slack where HBO went wrong.

This article originally appeared on SomeeCards. You can read it here.

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Democracy

New age presidential candidate Marianne Williamson's old tweets have become a meme. Goddess bless.

The author Marianne Williamson immediately took the Democratic debate stage by fire Thursday night with her unconventional oeuvre, and the pressing sense that she was about to float off into the night sky on a dragon or a magic carpet.



Williamson, who has previously penned such books as The Law of Divine Compensation and Healing The Soul of America, immediately became a meme on Twitter for saying presidential candidates need to stop focusing on plans, and start focusing on the power of love.

"Trump is not going to be beaten by someone who just has plans, he's going to be beaten by someone who has an idea what this man has done. This man has reached into the American people and harnessed fear for political gain."

She then went on to directly address "Mr. President" and say that "only love can cast that out" and she is personally prepared to cast it out.



Williamson also, at one point said that if she was elected she would immediately call the Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and say "girlfriend, you are on" before getting tips on making America a safer and better place to raise children.


Needless to say, she has hit the internet by storm and people are beyond obsessed with her GOOP meets motivational speaker meets ayahuasca dealer energy.





One of the most beautiful meme-ifications of Williamson so far is a viral thread that merely posts a series of her old tweets, all of which speak for themselves.





These tweets truly show Williamson's spiritual, philosophical and political range.




In one gorgeous tweet, she says all we need to understand America is another viewing of Avatar.




She is a strong believer in reaching collective higher vibrations, and verbally encouraging the grass to grow (at its own pace of course).






She also believes in cultivating a loving, symbiotic relationship with the universe.





Williamson also has a connection to fellow goddesses and believes humanity shares a collective pregnancy.





Truly, the thread of her old tweets travels as far as her love relationship with astral planes.








Needless to say, regardless of how far Williamson makes it as a candidate, she has quickly amassed an enormous gaggle of new followers, ready to take in her words, even if we don't know what they mean.

This article originally appeared on SomeeCards. You can read it here.

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