I read a post today about a woman who was “proud” of her daughter for becoming a woman at 11. I started my period at 11. My mom told everyone in the neighborhood. I was horrified. I was the first one of my friends. I couldn’t go anywhere without all the neighbors, young and old, looking at me with either a ‘we know your bleeding’ look, or an ‘EWWWW’ look. I definitely wasn’t a woman. I was a girl who started her period at 11. A period does not mean you’re a woman.