Jan 14, 2023
No shame in menstruating! 🩸
Digital Illustration of a heart with a butt. There is blood and text reads, ‘No shame in menstruatin’
seen from Puerto Rico
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from France
seen from Australia
seen from Nigeria
seen from China
seen from South Korea
seen from China
seen from France
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from Poland
seen from Australia
seen from China
seen from Germany
No shame in menstruating! 🩸
Digital Illustration of a heart with a butt. There is blood and text reads, ‘No shame in menstruatin’
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/6/e026186
I AM SO ANGRY. I have only ever read like 2 fiction books that have had the mention of periods. Anyone with female reproductive organs experienced them at some point. And we just go around living our lives going to work/school like normal. We are very good at making it so no one can tell how much pain we are in. ITS LITERALLY OUR OWN INSIDES WORKING AGAINST US. And then we go home, take our pain relief pills and curl up into a ball with a hot water bottle while watching a movie/tv show.
Life hack for menstruating humans, have a cat lay on your lap. They’re a cute and furry heating pad. Although they might require the occasional pet as payment.
Recently we’ve been shedding some light on why periods are powerful in society, not just in developing countries but right on our front door step too.From #PeriodPoverty, to girls missing out on school and even period shaming through the media (ugh, not cool!) we’ve still got a long way to go for menstruation equality! That’s why we’re all about the #PeriodPower this year.
Menstrual products are a human right, not a luxury.
No one should be forced to choose between food and period products, yet so many in our communities have or will. No one should have to miss school or work, or be forced to use toilet paper, or overuse old period products because of their income. Everyone deserves to menstruate with comfort and dignity.
This Period Action Day, I’ve partnered with Flo Period Tracker App who are working to help women and people who menstruate prioritize their health, and experience wellbeing throughout their cycle. Nearly 1 in 4 students in the U.S. still can’t regularly access period products, and globally many more. To drive change, we’re hosting a joint fundraiser in aid of Period. Inc., a global youth-fueled nonprofit that strives to eradicate period poverty over on my Instagram.
Art by Liberal Jane
[Digital illustration of a Latina woman with long dark hair with a shopping cart in front of a shelf of period products. The woman is wearing a pink mesh top, two-toned pink pants with an insulin pump clipped to the waist, and pink shoes. The shelves have pads, tampons, period underwear and menstrual cups. The text reads, ‘no one should have to choose between food and period products.’]
An Interview with Friends
W: How does the fact that there aren’t any menstrual products in our bathrooms affect y’all?
A: It makes things complicated for me. Instead of just going to the bathroom and grabbing the products, I have to ask my friends if I can borrow some of their products. If they don’t have anything on them, then I’m forced to ask the nurse and most of the time she isn’t here.
M: The products the nurse gives out aren’t free either. You have to pay $1.25 and the pads are very thin. They’re basically as thin as panty liners, so they don’t fit everyone’s needs.
A & W: Really?! We didn’t know that.
M: I only knew because a friend of mine had asked me for money to buy a pad from the nurse.
D: Every woman goes through menstruation and when the school makes us pay for menstrual products and doesn’t allow our parents to bring us things makes me feel as if it has something to do with gender. If guys were the ones to go through menstruation, they would probably get a few days off a month and they would have menstrual products readily available in bathrooms.