Imagine a whisper, a raised brow, an inconspicuous cough and then a murmured admission as someone reveals, ‘it’s that time of the month’. Perhaps replace that with ‘shark week’, ‘Aunt Flo’, ‘Having the painters in’ or ‘the Crimson Tide’ to discover that we have developed more than one way to creatively beat around the bush when it comes to talking about menstruation or periods. Euphemisms like these create a vivid image of avoidance and have become place holders for menstruation, a naturally occurring biological process which globally, on any given day, more than 300 million people are experiencing.