An important question that I have not bothered to ask myself is, how do homeless women cope with their periods? Until today, I did not realize the hardships homeless women face every month when their period comes around. It is not that I thought “Oh HoMeLeSs WoMeN dOnT hAVe PerIOds” it is just that I have not ever given the matter any thought at all. I want to thank Bustle for opening my eyes to the harsh world of female homelessness. The video in the link above primarily covers the lifestyle of the beautiful Kailah, a homeless woman who was willing to share her experience as a female living on the streets. Throughout the video we also get to hear the perspective(s) of various other women and their struggles with having a period without having a home. For those who do not know, feminine hygiene is extremely important, not just because of our societies standards of hygiene/cleanliness but truly because of the potential harm that could come to our bodies as a women if we aren't taking care of ourselves properly. The thing is, homeless women lack the resources to effectively, cautiously and fully keep up with their hygiene; to make matters worse WE HAVE 5-7 DAY PERIOD ONCE EVERY MONTH! Women living on the streets have had to go to unfathomable lengths to get through their periods. When pads or tampons are not available to them freely, some women have resorted to the use of towels, ripped t-shirts, makeshift tampons, cotton balls, plastic bags, socks and much more! Ashley, a women living on the streets, says she has used a balled up sock as her solution to her period, “I had to go rinse it out, squeeze it out, dry it, then put it back.” these are the lengths some women have to go to just to keep from bleeding on themselves. “Sometimes if we didn’t get things right away, we would just sit still...until we thought of something.” says another homeless woman from the video. Luckily, the associated press has informed the public that “New York City recently became the first U.S city that requires public schools, jails and homeless shelters to provide free pads and tampons.” Let’s hope that New York starts a trend and that access to free pads/tampons become more common across our country. It is vital that we do something about the lack of access to feminine hygiene products because these issues can lead to infections, toxic shock syndrome and more...it’s honestly overall a major health issue, but it is more than that; “This is about bringing dignity to women.” claims New York City council member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland.
On average pads cost $5.84 per pack, around $70 a year, while tampons run about $7.62 per pack and $90 annually. As a homeless women, this cost alone takes a big chunk out of the money she may or may not have, when it should be available to these women for free, or at least at a MUCH more reasonable price. Hopefully in the near future we can do something about this issue but for now, LADIES please help out other women living on the streets by providing them with feminine products whenever you can! That would be a great help to not only them but to yourself as a lovely human(:
dailybridgerton
jbbartram-illu
snowghoul
