The Menstruation Conversation
How can it be possible that as a 16-year-old girl, living in a developed country in 2021, I still struggle to talk about my period? I think of myself as an open and progressive person and yet my head is full of negative connotations around menstruation. When I’m out buying pads and tampons I try to hide them amongst the rest of my shopping, afraid of being judged. But why am I so ashamed of a completely natural process? Of course, a large number of the world’s population (that is, males) will never know how it feels. They will never understand the kind of emotional and physical toll it takes on us, nor will many of them know the feeling of being ashamed of something that you can’t control, but it’s more than that. I have a theory about why every day, 800 million people menstruate and yet the subject still feels taboo.
A few days ago I was sent a message by a (male) friend containing a comment which I had encountered countless times in the past but it felt different:
‘Woah bit aggressive, is it somebody’s time of the month?’
Of course, this comment is not OK under any circumstance but, as a woman, you learn to shrug it off and laugh about it. Yet I think that my knowledge that this boy had thought before messaging me this--it wasn't some accidental off-hand comment made in person, was what made me realize just how strong the stigma around periods really is. He had sat there behind his screen and thought ‘You know what would be really funny?’ before sending something so hurtful and misogynistic, even if it was unintentional.
My friend taught me something that day. I called him out on it, telling him that those kinds of comments aren’t OK and he immediately apologized and asked me to teach him more about menstruation so that he could attempt to understand. His eagerness to try to learn from his mistake struck a chord with me. People are willing to learn if you only give them the chance.
In the UK, any practical information about periods is given only in Sex Education, most likely through a half an hour lecture once a year made by a blushing, slightly daunted looking geography teacher standing at the front of a classroom which consists of 30 girls who know exactly what periods are, as they’ve been having them for years. Meanwhile, the boys are taken into another room and taught about why their voice drops. The only other time in which periods are mentioned in school is during a biology lesson in which both boys and girls are taught about the hormones that cause periods, Not once in his school career is a boy taught about tampons or pads or even the physical symptoms of a period. Considering this, it’s no wonder that we live with such a stigma around menstruation.
As a society, we are, however, taking steps towards a world in which menstruation does not feel so shameful. In September 2020 the design company Pantone launched a deep red color named 'Period.' In the words of Pantone’s vice president Laurie Pressman the color was created to ‘embolden people who menstruate to feel proud of who they are.’ More substantively, The World Bank Group, an organization working for sustainable solutions that reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries,’ has launched a movement to abolish any taxes on pads and tampons called 'Periods Don't Stop For Pandemics.'
Abolishing the period tax is a great first step but in November 2020, Scotland took it even further, making history by becoming the first country to pass a bill making period products completely free to anybody who needs them. It was passed unanimously and is already being put into effect across the country. In addition, in February 2021, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern announced that all schools in the country will be stocked with free period products beginning in June of 2021. Across the world, specifically in developing countries, charities and organizations like The Pad Project, are striving to deliver free period products and make them easily accessible. Their motto: ‘A period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education.’ Period poverty is not only an issue in developing countries, however. In a 2019 survey of low-income women in the US, it was revealed that two-thirds of respondents could not buy period products at some point in the last year and one-fifth had difficulty buying period products every month.
We need to work hard until our society is one in which men and boys, women and girls alike, can feel not only comfortable but confident when speaking about periods. Working together, through education and reform, we can create a world in which period products are available for all and menstruation is no longer any kind of limiting factor.
Romy Brill Allen is sixteen years old and lives in London, England. She is passionate about human rights, feminism and equality and is convinced that it’s through open-minded political debate that the world will change for the better. Outside of politics, public speaking, and debate, Romy enjoys writing music and performing, a highlight of which has been playing the ‘Isle of Wight Festival’ with her band. She also plays netball (a Commonwealth sport) for the elite Academy team. She is very excited to be part of the NGP platform and although she hasn’t yet had much time to make an impact on the world, she hopes to pursue a career in journalism, politics, or law.