Thread by @lisamariebasile

a thread about periods; buckle up.

Just wrote an article on #periodpoverty, #periodshame, and access to #menstruation products — regardless of gender identity.

#Brookline, MA is the first town to legislate FREE products, tamps and pads, all over town, starting in 2021.

I know firsthand was period shame and period poverty are — and how they can fuck with you. When I got my period at 11, I felt immediately broken and less-than. I'd internalized ideas that I was gross, smelly, dirty. I cried to my mother and she assured me I was still amazing.

Later in life, as things got harder and harder, period poverty crept in. The amount of times we had to use balled up toilet paper — or hope someone had a tampon or pad (tamps were often not used due to "virginity" issues) ... was a lot. Sometimes we just didn't have the money....

The idea of BLEEDING as a body with a vagina is a horror. As a young girl, you're taught that it's disgusting. God forbid a boy sees! We try to hide it from them, APOLOGIZE for bringing up the topic around them, APOLOGIZE if we're on a date and they have to fuck us on periods....

And that's not even the whole issue. The shame and lack of access is global. Young people in, for example, in Kenya, 65% of women and girls (pdf) are unable to afford sanitary pads.

theguardian.com/global-develop…

Many young people who do not identify as a woman have a hard time getting their hands on period products. Having access in ALL bathrooms is critical to human rights and dignity.

self.com/story/women-ar…

I wish we could just figure out that periods are normal and natural — and that the pink tax and the period stigma is a human rights issue, not a "girly" issue nor something men should turn their heads toward.

Bravo #Brookline: bust.com/feminism/19609…

From now on, I want to try and say things like, "I need a tampon..." out loud. Near men. I want to try and talk about it out loud, around dudes. I want to try and treat my period as something that just happens, rather than is a secret. How can I take part in the destigmatizing?

What can I do to help other people feel better about it — while honoring that a different person may have a different relationship to their periods?

I don't have an answer, but I think it's critical we all question how we talk about it and what we've internalized.