Share House Experiences, Open and Honest Communication, Let's Be Period Positive!

Hi all,

I am sure I am not alone in that some of you have lived with other people. Let me tell you about my experiences so far.

I started living in share house situations around November, 2024. My first share house experience was a disaster. To cut a very long story short, I didn't realise before moving in I would be sharing a house with a person who was prejudiced and demonstrably, palpably, incontrovertibly biased and ableist. I soon learned that he did not want to communicate with me, and I am convinced that good communication is essential in share house situations. I am not sure that I can, in this forum post, talk to you about what good communication in a shared house situation looks like.

Open and honest communication, in the year 2025, means that conversations about mental health, physical health, money, love, friendships, family, politics, religion, education, medicare, foreign policy, human diversity, disability, homelessness, esafety, news, journalism, and communication itself are not - and should not - be taboo. I recently saw on these forums that there was good and positive discussion about women's health: it now looks like Sane and its constituent forumites are taking a proud period positive stance (yes, my alliteration was intentional - I am, after all, a writer/poet). I am also a period positive person, among my closest female friends menstrual health is always up for discussion. I recently learned about my friend's condition - she has Graves' and she explained how Graves' affects her menstrual cycle. Not only had I never heard of Graves' I had no idea that it affected her menstrual cycle. You can do a Google search and learn about it yourself.

I also recently saw in Woolworths's that up on the signs that hang above the aisles, it said "period care". I thought that was fantastic - now women have a clearer idea of where to look for their menstrual products. Isn't that great? On another note, where I live my local Woolworths and Coles support local single mums. It is named (the name of the place where I live) single mums. Every week with my groceries I purchase pads and tampons and donate them to my local charity ( ___ single mums) group that supports every person they can that has a menstrual cycle.

The reason I am sharing this example of my friend and how she lives with Graves' is because I believe it demonstrates how good, open, and honest communication lies at the very core of learning. Can you conceive of education and learning that involves no language whatsoever?

I am looking forward to talking to my friends on the forums.