‘True female sport:’ Athlete bleeds through her suit, asks people to normalise periods

Emma Pallant-Browne shared a picture where she was seen with a small blood stain while running. In the post, she asked people to normalise periods.

Emma Pallant-Browne, a British athlete, is sharing the realities faced by women in sports while menstruating. Recently, when Browne was competing in the PTO European Open triathlon in Ibiza, Spain a photographer snapped a picture of her with a small blood stain on her swimsuit.

Athlete bleeds through her period, shares a post about it and asks people to normalise menstruation. (Instagram/@Emma Pallant-Browne)

Browne later shared this picture on her Instagram and thanked people who support and 'celebrate' women in sports. In the post's caption, she wrote, "Humbled by the amount of messages I’ve had from both men and women (I am going to give menstrual cups another go) about the unglamorous reality of racing on your period. This is true female sport and the more barriers we can break through the better. For context (and hopefully, this answers many questions): I raced in a swimsuit because of overheat, I pass out in hot races, and on my period my body temp is also higher."

She further added, "Pouring water over yourself at aid stations does the trick, and if it doesn’t you end up with one photo like this but the idea to edit it means there is something wrong with it. If you wrote to me saying 99% of the women you know would be mortified at this then that is exactly why I am sharing this, because there really is nothing wrong. It's natural and coming from eating issues as an endurance runner when I was growing up where I didn’t have my period, I now see it as beautiful."

Take a look at her post here:

This post was shared a week ago. Since being shared, it has been liked over 49,000 times. The share has also received several comments.

Check out a few reactions below:

An individual wrote, "Love, support, sisterhood. Period is normal. Every woman on the planet feels you and we know the feeling, we know the social reactions. Periods are normal, it's a gift for our body every month. Celebrating and honouring our body's ability to go all these hormonal changes every month. Those who have a fear of blood or think that blood is filthy or dirty. Guess what, you have work to do on yourselves." A second shared, "I admire you. I am such a baby on my period I sleep for days. So proud of you for bringing awareness of what we females have to experience!" "Thank you for posting something that is completely normal," shared a third.