I found out about period poverty while sitting in the airport getting ready to move back to Australia permanently. My mom knew that I was kind of getting out of the anti-human trafficking work but she also knew that I was still really passionate for women's rights. She had read an article from the UK about girls and women that have to use things like toilet paper, cardboard, socks, etc. to get through their periods because lack of access. So in October 2019, my journey started on finding ways to break menstruation taboo.
A few of the steps that I took was doing my research and gathering the important information that I needed about the topic especially in Australia as this is where I'll be residing for the next few years of my life. But I was finding that there was no solid research done in this country that calls itself, 'Developed' like so many. Even when I reached out to Department of Health, Department of Education, and UN Women either I never got a response or I got a 4 word sentence saying they didn't have any research to provide to me. I was insanely infuriated and knew that I wanted to deal with period poverty but where to start?
I realised that one of the things that I and many other women don't know is what the heck is a period? Why do we bleed? And why do we take this pill every day that the doctor says it'll keep us from getting pregnant? We are not properly educated about our bodies, if you look back at your middle school and high school education, what exactly have we learned about the female reproductive system? The only thing I really learned in regards to it is that, it's only purpose is to hold a baby and beyond that we might as well not have it. I looked at a period poverty research paper that was done in Fiji, that talked more than just the need for products but it it dug much deeper than this: it lead into the fact that these young girls don't have access to clean themselves, they have not been educated about their bodies and how their menstrual cycle works, and if they are out in the city and need to change there is no guarantee that they won't become a victim to violence while going to a restroom on their own.
But let's start with a history lesson about the wondering womb that white men decided was an appropriate non-scientific diagnosis for women. The wandering womb goes back to the beginning of times and was believed to cause suffocation and death. Historians believed and many doctors and societies believe that since women had to endure menstruation and childbearing that they were considered the weaker and less intelligent of genders (Royal College of Nursing). The issue of menstruation goes beyond just, everyone getting a tampon or a menstrual cup, it is a wide variety of issues that needs to be addressed.
In my opinion, I believe this is what we need to do:
-Change Culture of Violence Against Women
Three women die every day from domestic violence in the USA (NNDEV). No matter where we go in the world, every country has a higher statistic of domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual abuse against women which leaves us constantly living differently than men because we have to always thinking about, are we safe? In the paper done in Fiji, they were talking about the women that lived in the rural areas and to work they had to travel into the cities and stay their during the week because it was cheaper than trying to get back home. If they had a tampon, pad, menstrual cup, etc. they would still need access to a bathroom to clean up properly but they highlighted the issue of men having access to those restrooms and do they put themselves at risk of just changing a tampon at the risk of being attacked? For those of us, that are able to travel back and forth between home, think about all the measures we take. If we are out late, we almost always try to have a friend go to the bathroom with us and we never walk home by ourselves for fear of being assaulted just because we are women.
-Empowering Menstruators to Feel Empowered to Be Educated
Firstly, let's get rid of wondering womb myths that still tale around the world. Such as child birthing being an unnatural part of womanhood and that's why need exclusively OBGYNs, sedative medication, and caesareans because most of us women (white women) can endure this pain. Let's stop ignoring women and telling her it's her 'anxiety' or 'all in her head' and how about we rethink the word womb which translates in latin to 'hysteria' which comes from hysteria (Royal College of Nursing).
Additionally, I from Ohio which is a 'swing' state but can still be fairly conservative and places like Alabama, still don't find sex education in schools as necessary. The thing about these states is that they don't like to teach sex ed because of religious reasons, for the fear that we will have sex outside of marriage and be condemned. But the problem comes down to that many religions believe that women just need to have sex for the pleasure and dignity of their husband along with creating children for him. We as a society, suppress the sex to the point that girls and women aren't educated about their bodies.
Menstruators should be educated from an early age of what a menstrual cycle is! Explain what an vulva, clitoris, vagina, perineum, ovary, Fallopian tube, uterus, cervix, vagina, oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cervical fluid, and how our bodies will continue changing and that is okay! They need to be educated that all of this is normal and yes, that they have the ability to create a child but they really have a maximum of 6 days to become pregnant in their menstrual cycle. I think every menstruator deserves the right to this education and to learning FAM. We all deserve to understand our bodies and not feel ashamed about it anymore.
-Accessibility to Jobs & Fair Wage
One, I'm honestly tired of this culture of, if you don't have a degree your chances of making it are minimal. I can tell you, I have a degree and my chances are minimal. We have a huge sort of male dominated companies that work according to what is convenient for their gender but that isn't convenient for us. Many of us have kids or want kids one day, working 9-5 isn't just send your kids to school are daymare. It includes being able to afford those services on top of paying for a babysitter or after school care. Furthermore, we still have this wage gap no matter how high our level of education goes, men will make more.
Referring back to violence against women, domestic violence is multifaceted but there are many women that can't leave abusive relationships because of financial struggles. We need accessible jobs that offer fair wages for women to make decisions for themselves and to be able to afford menstrual products and much more.
-Organic Menstrual Products Only
Did you know that companies do not have to disclose the chemicals that are in your menstrual products? The menstrual products that are in the area that is the most absorbent part of your body? I believe that all menstrual products should be required to be organic or that those that aren't, should be required to reveal what chemicals are in these products but our bodies deserve to be respected.
Most of this post in it's entirety is just my opinion to this topic but I do think that it is much more than just providing a tampon and pad to every women we see. There is a lot more going out in our lives than just this. While I am always doing my research and providing this free information, I do have several projects in the works regarding women's reproductive health because I am going to take a proper stand on these issues. Those of you that have been here to support me, thank you and I couldn't ask for a better crowd of empowering uterus owners.
Xoxo,
Moonli
Marcela, Dr. J (2013) Women Beware: Most Feminine Hygiene Products Contain Toxic Ingredients. Forbes.
(n.d.) Each Day, Three Women Die Because of Domestic Violence. National Network to End Domestic Violence,
(n.d.) The wondering womb. The Royal College of Nursing.
https://www.rcn.org.uk/library-exhibitions/womens-health-wandering-womb
(2017) The Last Taboo: Research on menstrual hygiene management in the Pacific. Australian Department of Foreign Aid and Affairs.
(2019) Period Poverty: Socks 'being used as sanitary towels'. BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-47417429
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