Period Products Should Be Considered First Aid and Here is Why

Photo: Cosmopolitan.com

During the first week of university, Ana, not her real name, had a full day of classes with no free time between each lecture. Slight past noon, she felt the dreaded familiar pain that encroaches every month: the “period” is here. Ana rushed to the bathroom to which she quickly realized that she didn’t have tampons or pads with her, not even spare change for the tampon dispensary installed in the bathrooms. If she goes off to find feminine products, she will be very late to her favorite class taught by her favorite professor.

What makes it justifiable for a person to have to weigh if their physical ---bleeding--- first aid emergency is a priority?

Ana is one of many women who shared their stories about lack of accessibility to feminine hygiene products with FreeTheTampons.org, an organization dedicated to making menstrual supplies readily accessible everywhere. Women all over the country must endure embarrassment, humiliation, and emotional ordeals to access a basic first aid need. Women who had to walk around with another shirt or jacket to cover their waist as they bled through looking for aid. Women on airplanes. Women at work. Women who have to ask male coworkers for quarters.

See, if someone gets a cut, we have band aids. If someone sprained their ankle, we have wraps. If someone hits their head, we have a cold pack. 

But, when a woman is bleeding  from within her, we need to find quarters to get tampons?

Acute Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (Source)

WHAT CAN HAPPEN?

Why are period products a big deal? According to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, menstrual hygiene management vary and depend on multiple factors such as socioeconomic status and resources. In their research, they found that lack of hygiene during this period causes:

1.       Adverse pregnancies

2.       Pelvic inflammatory disease

3.       Urogenital diseases that affect the urinary tract including kidneys, ureters, bladder and reproductive organs

Many of us may not think about the importance of menstruation hygiene since the source of the matter is mainly concealed, unlike an open wound. We need to remember that the underlying health issues are much more profound.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT

In August 2015, now President Donald Trump was infamously quoted for his comment that Fox News host Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever” to underrate her during the Republican debate. Already well-known for blunt comments towards women, Trump caused an uproar especially in social media. This event birthed the #PeriodIsNotAnInsult hashtag which signified a level of ignorance to address in regards to female menstruation and the health issues women must endure during this period.

So, let’s aim to educate.

Cosmopolitan UK had compiled some answers that guys wanted to know about periods:

1.       Women’s bodies don’t run on exact schedule: the period can turn up days earlier or later than expected

2.       Women bleed 30-80ml of blood during this period

3.       It can last 5-7 days

4.       Cramps are usually the worst on the first day

5.       The pain can induce head and back aches, nausea, bloating, soreness and mood swings

6.       Tampons doesn’t bother women unless it’s inserted incorrectly

7.       A woman may spend around $10-30 in feminine products a month --- this is a huge expense for families living on a tight budget (based on dollars instead of euros in the article)

8.       You can help by first understanding the physical---then mental---struggle which then causes irritability. Offer a painkiller or heat pad and provide support and patience.

Having a menstruation shouldn’t be a taboo topic, nor a butt of an inappropriate comment in efforts to degrade a woman. By allowing period products to be widely accessible for emergency, we’re allowing conversation, education and understanding.

MORE WOMEN NEEDS IT THAN EVER

In 2011, Holly Sanchez was 19 when she took a job organizing donations for transitioning homeless women and children, many escaping abusive relationship. She was going through the donation closet when she found only two boxes of tampons and realized, “when we think of people experiencing homelessness, we think of things like food or clothing… periods don’t go away because someone doesn’t have a home.”

Holly met homeless women who used rags, who reused these rags without being able to sanitize, and who would steal toilet paper from public restrooms.  She also learned that some had to choose to spend what little money they had between feminine products or food. To her, “the options are inhumane.”

After joining efforts with DoSomething.org and U by Kotex, Holly has been able to help collect 585,965 period products in 50,257 drives that are distributed to shelters all over the country.

In another arena, women from Riker’s Island correctional facility described experiences from the same problem. 24-year-old Tara was on her cycle when she was arrested. When she asked for a sanitary pad, she was provide a sterile gauze pad, the kind that go on a scrape on your arm, which arrived more than an hour later.

Another woman recalled how an officer threw a bunch of tampons at a crowd of female inmates and everyone dove in because they don’t know when they would get one next. Another woman expressed an extreme drop in self-esteem as she had to sit upon terrible menstrual hygiene due to the scarcity of feminine products distributed. Women had to live horrific and degrading experiences simply because there was a lack of a basic supply.

The good news is in June 2016, with a unanimous vote of 46-0, New York City “passed a law to provide tampons for all girls and women in public schools, correctional facilities and shelters across the state.”

This is one step in a great conversation.

Photo: Cosmopolitan.com

FIRST AID, PERIOD.

In sheer determination, Ana stuffed toilet paper in her underwear that shifted in every move in order to leave the bathroom so that she can reach her professor and declare a menstrual emergency. With permission, she then headed to the campus store to purchase supplies while missing her own opportunity for her education.

In alternate scenario, if her classrooms held period supplies for emergency purposes, Ana did not need to miss out on her favorite class, let alone feel the need to explain her situation.

We also need to remember about the young girls who will start their period for the first time. Young girls who would have to go to whoever is available and getting them what they need immediately should be as easy as getting a band-aid.

Having the menstrual cycle, and being a woman at that, isn’t something to be embarrassed about and isn’t something to lose dignity for.

Feminine hygiene products need to be available in schools, facilities, buses, airplanes and all other public places that are just as much required to have first aid kits.