period

Most of us can recall how difficult and confusing puberty was, and especially the end of that transitory time: getting your first period. But can you imagine going through that awkward process in first grade? For a growing number of today's young girls, this is a reality. A recent New York Times piece explores "precocious puberty," a term being used for the growing percentage of girls entering puberty by age 7.

Typically, the stages of puberty for girls begin with breast growth, followed by pubic hair growth, and then ending with a first period. What researchers are finding is that breast growth is beginning earlier and earlier, but the first period average is staying pretty consistent at 12 years old. While possible factors for this precocious puberty include obesity, environmental toxins, and stress, it is interesting that the percentages vary so much by race. These early bloomers — or girls developing breasts by 7 — made up of 23 percent of black girls, 15 percent of Hispanic girls, 10 percent of white girls, and 2 percent of Asian girls. The cause of this disparity hasn't yet been fully explored. Is it genetics? Are there environmental issues to be taken into account?

Clearly, there's a lot more research to be done, as it seems like there are more questions than answers when it comes to what causes precocious puberty, its long-term effects, and whether it should be treated as a disorder. There are risks associated with early periods, such as depression, stunted growth, and breast cancer, but when it comes to psychological issues, it's a gray area. Is it easier for a young girl entering puberty to be treated as if there's something wrong with her, taking medications to halt puberty until she can better deal with it? Or is it better for her parents to treat it as "normal," and help her cope with the changes? And what happens when a 10-year-old girl has the brain of a fifth grader and the body of a high schooler?

Were you a late or early bloomer? Share your puberty stories — for better or worse — in the comments.

This question is from a Group Therapy post in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!

I had sex with my fiancé and I got my period smack in the middle of it. It was heavy! It stained his sheets, his mattress and it was all over us. This is the first time this has ever happened and he kicked me out of his apartment. I offered to buy a new mattress and clean his sheets. I apologized repeatedly and he kept rolling his eyes and making the "ugh" sound. My period was four days early and I had no symptoms but now he won't talk to me.

He ignored my two text messages and my phone call. We are suppose to take dance lessons on Saturday for the wedding and he needed to tell me what time would work best so I can call the instructor and I'm still being ignored. I'm at my wits end here. We are both in our early 30s. What should I do?

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Bloody hell, it's about time! Always has an ad for its ultra thin pads that features a teeny tiny dot of red blood (no carefree girl in white in sight), and it may be one of the first instances a US feminine hygiene ad has dared to reference real blood, much less show it.

Despite being about periods, tampon and maxi pad advertisements have a long history of pussy-footing around the realities of menstruation with euphemisms, metaphors, and that infamous blue liquid. The closest we've seen to a blood reference are the o.b. and Tampax ads above that use vampires and sharks to get their point across.

Is this a step in the right direction? Do you think we'll ever get to a point when a woman's period and her body are talked about openly and honestly?

"In 2010 women became the majority in the workforce," is how the above video opens. I expected the next sentence to discuss the wage gap or how men still rule boardrooms, but instead the voice-over says: "Still it's difficult to talk about menstruation."

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, since the video is part of an initiative by feminine hygiene brand SCA trying to make menstruation less taboo. The company conducted a study that found most women experience social discomfort while on their period. To combat that, SCA wants women and men to talk about menstruation during a 28-day period starting today, International Women's Day. If you start seeing "Period." show up in your Facebook feed, you'll know it's working.

Last year, a tampon-ad-meets-social-experiment from Kotex demonstrated a man's inability to calmly confront the idea of menstruation. A young woman stood outside a drug store, asking men to run inside and buy her tampons. If most men are like the one guy who said, "Can I get you toilet paper?" I have a feeling it will be tough to get many to talk about a woman's period openly. But maybe that just shows how much we need an awareness campaign like the one from SCA. Will you try to break down the taboo surrounding menstruation, or do you it's think a topic better suited for private conversation?

"Very rare!" "Unopened." "Brand new." These are words eBay sellers use to describe tampons for sale, but not just any tampons — the beloved O.B. Ultra (the purple box), which Johnson & Johnson discontinued late last year.

Soon all O.B. tampons were reported missing from store shelves, and though they've started to return, many women still can't find them. So, of course, enterprising eBay users are all over this opportunity. O.B. Ultra is going for $50 (seller also has a "cracked" box available for $45) while the same-size box (albeit nondiscontinued absorbencies) sells for under $6 on Soap.com.

The crazy thing is they're probably selling, otherwise so many people wouldn't be offering them. Once women do get their hands on the discontinued tampons they may have an Elaine from Seinfeld-like conundrum (are you sponge-worthy?) on their hands. Is today's flow ultra-worthy or just super?

Airports may soon become a tampon-only zone for women wanting to avoid the invasive pat down. In the latest TSA horror story, a woman recounts being treated like a potential underwear bomber because she was wearing a pad. Some background: the woman was using GladRags, reusable cloth menstruation pads that are better for the environment, but it seems that any woman wearing something in her underwear, like a disposable maxi-pad or panty-liner, would be stopped.

In a letter to GladRags, the violated passenger explains:

What ultimately happened is that I was subjected to search so invasive that I was left crying and dealing with memories that I thought had been dealt with years ago of prior sexual assaults. Why? Because of my flannel panty-liner. These new scans are so horrible that if you are wearing something unusual (like a piece of cloth on your panties) then you will be subjected to a search where a woman repeatedly has to check your "groin" while another woman watches on (two in my case — they were training in a new girl — awesome).

In addition to the personal invasion, a screening system that treats a natural bodily function as a sign of a terrorist threat doesn't sound that advanced or efficient. And if you experienced any abuse during screenings, you can always report it to the ACLU.

While the pill celebrates 50 years of blocking sperm, a new study says it makes women more possessive and paranoid about their partners' fidelity.

I'm not down with women using periods as an excuse to behave badly — or men using it to dismiss emotions — but anyone who's ever had a bad birth control experience would probably agree it can ambush the mood. The study does illustrate one worthwhile fact: pills with more oestrogen are more likely to cause emotional upsets than pills with less or none. None sounds like a delightful amount, so what pills are oestrogen-free? Find out below.

Welcome to Hump Day, TrèsSugar's sex advice column. If you have questions about sex, send them to TrèsSugar, and our friend Dr. Charlie Glickman from Good Vibrations will offer his sound advice!

Today's question: I find myself wanting sex more when I’m menstruating. Is that normal? And how do I avoid potentially making my partner feel turned off?

To see Dr. Glickman's advice read more.