It was one of those conversations that you can never explain your way out of, particularly if during the explaining your face is beet red and you're laughing so hard you can't talk anyway.
One of my students brought me her agenda today and asked to go to the restroom. When I signed it, I noticed she had written on today's date "pay credit card bill." [Side note: Since when do 16-year-olds have credit card bills?]
I chuckled and said, "Don't forget to pay that credit card bill."
As she left the room, she tossed back over her shoulder, "I won't....it's a monthly thing."
I laughed. "I know what you mean. I have one too."
At which point I looked up to see two MALE students looking at each other with horrified expressions. They didn't hear the whole credit card exchange. They probably don't understand that I grew up in a time when girls didn't MENTION their cycles. We wouldn't be caught dead admitting they happened at all, much less that it was happening at any given moment. Now girls talk about their cramps as openly as they discuss fixing their hair. And it isn't at all unusual for one to come into my room and ask the room at large, "Anyone got a tampon?" I've seen them sauntering down the hallways carrying their "personal supplies" to the bathroom just like they carry their notebooks to class.
So the guys probably weren't shocked to hear a girl talking about it. What horrified them was to hear their teacher (they thought) bantering about HERS.
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