She reaches into her bag, glancing around nervously before picking it up. Her cheeks warm as she hides it in her sleeve and walks down the hall to the bathrooms, where she enters a stall. Once she sits on the toilet, she begins to open the wrapper, terrified someone might overhear. A loud crackling resonates through the room, and she flushes crimson. She quickly removes the wrapper, wincing at the noise, finally applying the period pad.
The dramatics of this scenario illustrate the results of a New York Post poll that found that 73% of women surveyed hide their menstrual products on the way to the bathroom, and many feel shame just being on their period. Society has deemed periods too graphic to be discussed in public, meaning that conversations about menstruation tend to be avoided. Medical News Today points out that the stigma this creates leads to “lack of dialogue regarding access to menstruation products, the tax on these products, and even the ingredients they include.” The fallout of the period stigma has become an important issue in all areas of the world, and to improve current conditions awareness must be spread to increase the accessibility of period products.
In first world countries like the US, the effects of the period stigma can be unopposed prices for period products and a general lack of education on menstruation. According to the University of Pennsylvania’s Nursing School, 70% of states in the US impose a luxury tax on menstrual hygiene products, which cannot be bought with insurance or Medicaid. This can make period products near unaffordable for poorer Americans, despite their vital nature. Ignorance about periods can also cause females to experience shame and feel the need to hide their cycles, creating a fundamental lack of understanding of menstruation.
While effective dialogue could be difficult to reach in first world countries, the chance of that conversation starting in a third world country may be nonexistent. In these countries, period stigma can cause females to have to take significant time off of school or work due to limited menstrual products or restrictive cultural norms. An example cited by the Public Health Advocate of Berkeley University states that Kenyan girls miss approximately 20% of school days due to their periods. According to the same source, some areas of the world even require women to go to separate areas while on their periods.
Period stigma remains a problem across the world, and it holds back those with periods from reaching their full potential. Although period stigma differs in intensity between first and third world countries, both primarily revolve around lack of access to period products and ignorance about menstruation. The time has come to work on improving this issue as a global community to ensure all who need them have access to necessary menstrual products and can stay safe. We must close this chapter of history, and turn to a new, more equitable one instead.
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