A southern friend of mine told me this story about when she first got her period. She woke up one morning and found herself bleeding, her bed clothes were stained. Her mother told her to take a shower and get cleaned up and ready for school. When my friend returned to her room she found that her bed clothes had been changed and on top of the freshly made linens she found a box of pads with the instructions set out. That was all that was ever exchanged between them about the arrival of her period. For many mothers and daughters menstruation was too messy to speak about.