Period Activists: The Fight for Menstrual Equality
Menstrual equality matters.
While people have been menstruating since the dawn of time, periods are still taboo in popular culture. But it isn’t just menstruation itself that is often not talked about, but the issues and inequalities many currently face because of it as well.
In many places, period products remain a luxury item, hence the term ‘period poverty.’ Period poverty refers to the lack of access to hygienic sanitary products and is an issue that affects people in almost every country in the world.
Whether you currently menstruate, did, will, or know someone that does, the struggle for menstrual equality is an ever-present issue around you. The fight for menstrual equality is ongoing, but thankfully there are many people actively working to change this.
Amika George: Free Periods
British activist Amika George is the founder of Free Periods, a non-profit that fights against period poverty and its repercussions. According to a Time interview, George organized her first campaign in 2017 “spontaneously” after learning how many young women in the UK were not able to afford sanitary items.
She organized a protest in front of the prime minister’s office, hoping the government would take responsibility for the effect of the lack of access of period products has on the education of thousands of young students. Two thousand protestors joined her, calling for Theresa May to “provide free menstruation products for all girls already on free school meals.”
In 2019, Free Periods joined the Red Box Project “urg[ing] the Government to comply with its legal obligations to ensure equal access to education for all children, irrespective of their sex.” Shortly after the government agreed on funding free period products in all schools in England.
George continues to raise awareness on social media and through her organization, whilst studying history at Cambridge University.
Jen Lewis: Beauty in Blood
Artist Jen Lewis has designed various projects around the topic of menstrual blood and period products. ‘Beaty in Blood’ is a project she began with her partner, Rob Lewis, featuring images of her menstrual blood and offering a different angle to the way we view periods.
In an article in -ette Magazine, she said to believe that “menstruation needs to be seen to help normalise the female body” and that viewers need to “reflect on their personal gut reactions” to the subject.
Her art has sparked more conversations about destigmatizing the natural process of menstruation. According to Feature Shoot, the “ aesthetic qualities of Beauty in Blood ultimately serve as a point of entry into more complex dialogues about the ways in which global ideologies about menstruation have oppressed and underserved women.”
Nadya Okamoto: PERIOD
Founder of PERIOD, Nadya Okamoto, is known for her involvement in the fight against period poverty. She founded PERIOD at age 16, “a youth-fueled nonprofit that strives to eradicate period poverty and stigma through service, education, and advocacy.” The organization distributes free period products to those in need, provides and advocated for educational resources about menstruation, and advocates for change through social action and policies.
Most recently, she founded August, a brand trying to reimagine the way we perceive periods. The company provides sustainable and ethical period products, and with every sale, August “directly contributes to period poverty reducing initiatives and taking a stand against the ‘tampon tax’ — a sales tax imposed on period products.”