Several local women reported on Monday that their periods were late. And, while they know there is no possible way they can be pregnant, many are concerned regardless.
Sophomore Isabel Taylor, 20, said while she and her boyfriend "have only done hand stuff" lately, she is still mildly concerned about her period -- which, as of Monday, was four days late.
"Oh my god," Taylor said. "That kid would have such terrible eyebrows."
Most of her friends said Taylor was simply being melodramatic ("like she always fucking is," said her best friend, Kylie Turner, 19.) But one of them, junior Olivia Price, said she herself is worried she may be pregnant, though she knows it's probably impossible.
Price reported that, while she has gotten her period at least three times between when she last had sex and Saturday, April 28, when she was scheduled to menstruate again, she still considered driving to CVS on Monday to purchase a pregnancy test.
"Like, I know I'm probably not," Price said. "I've gotten my period a bunch of times since I broke up with Brad, and I haven't hooked up with anyone since then."
"Oh my god, do you think he has?" Price wondered, after a short pause.
"You never know," Taylor said. (She later clarified that she was referring to both the idea that Price could be pregnant and whether Brad has fucked someone else in the last three months).
Turner was more reassuring, admitting that she's "been there" several times before. She said that even in high school, when she hadn't had sex yet, she would worry if her period was late.
"I'm Jewish, and we don't talk about sex," Turner said. "So, for all I knew, I could've been."
"Oy vey," said her mother, Lynn Turner. "She wasn't."
While all three women said, rationally, they know they're not pregnant, this does not alleviate their anxiety. All three also refused to consider that their irregular periods could be attributed to extreme academic-related stress or Bruno dough-related weight gain.
Taylor's gynecologist, Dr. Karen Gardner, lamented the state of sex education in Ohio's public schools (which all three girls attended), particularly for females.
"They think they can just read 'The Care and Keeping of You,' a handful of Judy Blume books and watch 'Sex and the City,' and they're experts," Gardner said. "But I have girls telling me they blew their boyfriends and worrying if they're pregnant from that."
Gardner said they definitely shouldn't worry about that, because "it almost never happens."
daviskn3@miamioh.edu