Women deal with it every month and often struggle with cramps, aches, headaches and other unpleasant feelings. But when they talk about their menstrual pain a lot of times people tend to shrug it off. But maybe a new understanding and appreciation is on the horizon thanks to a Canadian company aiming to spread the “joy” of “Aunt Flow” to the masses.
Somedays is a company that specializes in products that minimize period pain. But they also know that a lot of people just don’t get why many women make a fuss about it.
So they brought something special along with them to their exhibition booth at this year’s Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada – an electric period pain simulator. People were welcome to give it a try and get an idea of what millions of women experience throughout their lives.
You’d think that such an offer would deter people from stopping by Somedays’ booth but instead the lineups grew and grew, with people eager to give it a go. The company captured people’s reactions on camera and posted them to TikTok. The resulting videos? They are very, very funny and also curiously encouraging for many women.
Many of the people trying the simulator out (and the majority happen to be men) move from surprise to alarm as the simulator ticks up from a strength level of 1 to 10. If they get to 10 they can let out a “yeehaw” for achieving the top level but between the winces and cringing, their cheers are, well, a little lacklustre.
@getsomedays Come visit us at the calgary stampede! Booth 212 in the maker market. #periodpain #periodtips #periodtiktok #endo #endometriosis #periods ♬ original sound – @somedays
In one TikTok a man asks his partner “How can you function like this!?” She shrugs in response like “no biggie, this is normal for me.”
@getsomedays The world needs this compilation 🤠🥹🙌🏼😂 #periodpain #endo #yeehaw #cowboys #periodtiktok #periodproblems #periodtips ♬ original sound – @somedays
The videos are going viral and prompting both laughter and discussion, which is exactly what Lux Perry, CEO of Someday wants.
Perry, who suffers from endometriosis and has period pain that is sometimes so unmanageable she goes to hospital, says it’s important that women’s pain not be dismissed as it often is.
“The response has been overwhelming,” Perry told Scary Mommy. “We’ve had hundreds of thousands of women commenting about how validated they feel and how much joy it brings them for people to finally understand the pain that they endure every month. We’ve also had numerous men come forward to say, ‘I had no idea,’ and genuinely engage in an empathetic and supportive conversation that has been so moving to witness and be a part of.”
In case you are thinking only men were the judge of the device, women tried it out too.
“This is so cool; this actually feels legit,” one woman says when she reaches level 6. She didn’t have much trouble with level 10, commenting ““It hurts but…” before dismissing it.
@getsomedays Can she make it to level 10 👀 #periodpain #periodtiktok #endo #periodproblems #periodsimulator ♬ original sound – @somedays
When couples tried it out together, it was an instant conversation starter. “I’m going to go to a Level 7 for her,” one man says, gesturing to his girlfriend. He then grabs his abdomen in pain wondering “How do you do things!?”
“You can literally see the empathy growing,” Somedays captions the video.
@getsomedays Replying to @jessbargen you can literally see the empathy growing 🌱 #periodpain #periodtiktok #periods #endo #periodsimulator #periodtips #calgarystampede ♬ original sound – @somedays
“I love that the women aren’t saying it doesn’t hurt,” comments one viewer of the videos. “They’re saying ‘yeah it hurts but so what?’ That’s from living in constant pain.”
As for the cowboys at the Stampede who endure a great deal of physical pain for their sport? Global TV reporter Norma Reid went searching for a tough cowboy at the annual rodeo to see how the contraption measured up to the broken bones and injuries he suffers as a bull rider.
His response? He’ll stick to bull riding.
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