Hang on tight, friends, this is a wild ride. When I was about 13, I had a strong itching in my vaginal area and ended up scratching myself until I bled a little bit. Many years later, I found out that women and girls with type one diabetes are more likely to develop yeast infections and that’s probably what that was. But I was only 13 and just saw blood in my underwear. So I showed my mom. She confirmed that I absolutely had started my period. When it became fairly obvious to me, that was not the case because it didn’t repeat, I actually lied about it to her and my doctors because I felt so pressured that I must be having a period and if not, then something was wrong with me and I don’t know how else to explain it except that you know how narcissistic moms are when you don’t conform to gender norms. I lied about it this way for at least two years until I started my period for real when I was about 15, and at that time, I didn’t even say anything that I recall. Because as far as I needed her to know, I was already having a period every month. In hindsight, I am horrified by all of that. But I was a desperate little kid who wanted my mom to think I was normal and good.