%20(Your%20Story).png)
.png "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/period-stories-period-inequity-period-end-of-sentence/id1869833253?i=1000773351442")
This is a wide ranging interview covering a number of aspects of Priscilla's experience, as well as more about Malea's period experiences.
- Bobel, C. (2020). The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies (C. Bobel, I. T. Winkler, B. Fahs, K. A. Hasson, E. A. Kissling, & T.-A. Roberts, Eds.). Springer Singapore.
- Kamakshi Ayyar. (2019). Behind the Oscar-Winning Documentary Challenging India’s Taboos About Menstruation. In Time.
- Manorama, S., & Desai, R. (2020). Menstrual Justice: A Missing Element in India’s Health Policies
- McCarthy, A., & Lahiri-Dutt, K. (2020). Bleeding in Public? Rethinking Narratives of Menstrual Management from Delhi’s Slums.
- The Pad Project. (2024). Homepage - The Pad Project. The Pad Project.
- Period. End of Sentence. (n.d.). The Pad Project.
- Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021. (2021). Legislation.gov.uk.
- Shapiro, A. (2024). Beautiful People: Rayka Zehtabchi, Director + Filmmaker. Youth to the People.
- Stynes, Y., & Kang, D. M. (2021). Welcome to Your Period! National Geographic Books.*
- Welcome to MyPeriod. (2022). Myperiod.org.uk.
TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE:
LIESL: Welcome to Let Me Tell You About My Period. I'm Liesl, a millennial nurse,
MALEA: and I'm Malia, a Gen X educator, also working in healthcare, and on my way to PA school.
LIESL: Together, we hope to use this podcast and the related blog to destigmatize all things menstruation and to promote the health and well-being of those who have periods. We are excited to be back with our second episode, where we will be interviewing our friend Priscilla about her first period and period-related experiences. Then we'll be answering a question both Priscilla and Malea have. After that, we'll be starting an ongoing conversation about period equity by diving into a discussion about the documentary, "Period. End of sentence."
MALEA: So, let's dive in. We are hoping to interview people from all backgrounds and walks of life about their periods and period-related experiences. And today, welcome our friend Priscilla. I've known Priscilla for about three years and introduced her to Lisa not long ago. Both of these gals are in my inner circle and among my most trusted of friends. It's an honor to share this space with you both.
MALEA: So I'm here with my good friend Priscilla. Priscilla, would you introduce yourself?
PRISCILLA: Yeah, so my name's Priscilla. You know, I like to hike, drink coffee. Who I am is this idea of play, and now as kids, you know, playing outside and you know playing dolls and stuff. But I think you and I, Malea, play really well together. I think about how we like sit and dream, you know, but that's like a form of play, so I was just thinking about, like, just want people to also know that I like to really play in all areas of my life, and I think that's also what's leading me to this PA school journey, is play.
MALEA: Your college background—you majored in outdoor recreation?
PRISCILLA: Yeah, outdoor education, I just wanted to take, do like, taking kids outside, and like, you know, playing outside, and this whole idea of, you know, play, and I also think about . . . I had this professor who called the word "fun" the F word. As I was writing papers to, like, develop your like dream camp or something, and you know, a lot of people in their program be like, "Oh, well, we're gonna add a water slide because it's fun”, and he would be like, “No. What's the purpose?”
MALEA: Right
PRISCILLA: And so, the workaround, right, we all figured out was like joy. So like, joy became the work around for the word fun and, you know, call it the F-word and I'm also like well not everything has to . . . sometimes it's just fun.
MALEA: Just focus on joy
PRISCILLA: Yeah, just having . . .
MALEA: You for the purposes of the podcast while you were talking, I was thinking about going to camp or going down the water slide, and the idea of fun, and I think a lot of young people, when they start their first period, or when they get towards puberty, they're expected to stop having fun, to be grown up now, to be more adult. So, tell me about your own experiences with this idea of having fun and being joyful and playing, and a lot of us hear the word play, and we think of children, but for you, when it came to your first period, were you still able to play and have fun, or were there new expectations forced upon you?
PRISCILLA: So I got my period during the summer, and it was middle school. I'm 90% sure was the summer of seventh and eighth grade, and just for context, I do have Crohn's, and I am multicultural, and so my dad is white, native New Yorker. My mom is from Dominican Republic, and she does have a darker, darker complexion, or dark, just for context, and throughout playing all this stuff. It's summer, so you know, going to the pool, hanging out with friends, and you know, I remember one day I felt sick, and you know, I've knew about . . .
MALEA: With Crohn's. That must have been really confusing, differentiating Crohn's versus period symptoms.
PRISCILLA: No, totally, because when I got the cramps right, and I was vomiting, you know, and you just feel like crap. So, I remember going to my mom, and my mom.. it's.. it's Crohn’s.. it's that's what it is. And so, I have this like distinct memory of being in my mom, my parents' bathroom, and I just remember, I went to the bathroom in there, and there was blood in the toilet, and then . . .
MALEA: Did you know what the blood was, or were you like, oh, something is really wrong with . . .
PRISCILLA: Well, we thought the blood was Crohn's related, because that's the only time . . .
MALEA: Even though you were between seventh and eighth grade, and you probably already had friends having their periods.
PRISCILLA: Yeah. And I took the health class, you know, and knew about my period, but our minds just went to, oh, it's you're bleeding against Crohn’s, yeah. And so, the wipe tests, and then confirmed it was a period.
MALEA: Okay.
PRISCILLA: And then, I just remember being like, this is what's going to be like, I'm gonna be like, you know, vomiting and having this like Crohn’s experience. . .
MALEA: Miserable
PRISCILLA: Right? And then my mom talked to me about pads, anti-tampon.
MALEA: Was your mom open in this conversation, or did she seem like hesitant, maybe embarrassed, or was she like, “This Is amazing. Let's talk about it.”
PRISCILLA: I think she was trying to be part of this is what happens to your body, and that kind of stuff. But it really came across as kind of like, here are the facts. This is what you get. Use a pad, you take Advil.
MALEA: More clinical.
PRISCILLA: Yeah. Don't use tampons. Come to me with anything, and like that was that. Didn't get a period party, or like that.
MALEA: I think that's a more, more recent phenomena.
PRISCILLA: The period parties?
MALEA: Yeah, I think a lot of girls, when they're getting the first periods, they're given pads, and but not necessarily told don't use tampons. It's more, here's what we have for you, and this with the assumption that like pads are just easier. You and I talked a little bit outside of the podcast. Can you talk a little bit about why your mom was so anti-tampon?
04:27
PRISCILLA: Oh, I think it's a cultural thing for sure. My mom, growing up in Dominican Republic. They really free bleed, or you like, you know, you wear the same underwear, or I know you kind of use these other . . .
MALEA: Lack of equity and access to period products.
PRISCILLA: Yeah, I remember mom telling me about toxic tampon,
MALEA: Toxic shock syndrome.
PRISCILLA: Yeah, and like, well, don't use a tampon because you're gonna leave it in. You're gonna think the only exception, exception for tampons with swimming, because it was the summer. I didn't use my first tampon until college, and I was sophomore, so not until I went to school in North Carolina, so like, grew up all of high school. I mean, I knew what a tampon was, but I never . . . in the first time I actually inserted tampon was on a backpacking trip.
MALEA: Oh gosh!
PRISCILLA: in the middle of the woods, I got my . . . it was a three week backpacking trip. I got my period the first week.
MALEA: Oh wow!
PRISCILLA: And another girl was like, "Well, use a tampon, it's gonna be . . .”
MALEA: In that context,
PRISCILLA: Yeah,
MALEA: So much easier, right?
PRISCILLA: So I'm like in the middle of the woods,
MALEA: In the middle of the woods, trying to figure this out, first time.
PRISCILLA: Right? And like, thankfully, it was like daylight, it wasn't dark. Actually, I remember, how do I go to the dark? And then I have like another gal like coaching me, you know? She was like, "Oh, the instructions are in the. . .
MALEA: It sounds like it was a really supportive experience, at least.
PRISCILLA: Yes, and I remember, like, cardboard,
MALEA: The applicator, yeah, yeah.
PRISCILLA: No, didn't even know what that was. I was like, oh, this is more packaging. Took it off.
MALEA: Oh no!
PRISCILLA: I literally took like the raw tampon and just like put it in, and like trying to, you know, wiggle it around to get it just every . . .
MALEA: As your first experience. That must have been awful.
PRISCILLA: Oh yeah.
MALEA: I feel like this, the applicator things, none of them are comfortable, but they make it so much easier, especially if you're not experienced with tampons.
PRISCILLA: Well, it hurt, and the girl was like, “Do you see the string? Do you see the string?” And I'm like, “I think so, there's a little string”, and she was like, “Okay, like, as long as you see the string, you're good.” And I was like, “Okay”. Then I remember, you know, there was time to take it out, and taking it out, and then you know, we're having to collect leaves in nature . . .
MALEA: Do it in the middle of the woods . . .
PRISCILLA: Yeah, to make sure the bears, and I,
MALEA: It's hard enough having a period in the city,
PRISCILLA: Right,
MALEA: and finding a clean bathroom, being in the middle of the woods, I think a lot of people who don't hike and camp or don't participate in sports don't really realize that those are considerations,
PRISCILLA: right, and it's back to like this idea of like play, right? You know, I didn't think about period, and like, like play, like when I got my first period, still wanted to play with my Barbie dolls, and like play
MALEA: Be a child,
PRISCILLA: yeah, like still do these like little kid things, and you know, and everyone's friends are like, not friends, girls, we go to the mall now, like
MALEA: So old . . .
PRISCILLA:
Yeah, like so grown up, yeah, like we're grown up, and we go to the mall, and
I'm like, "Oh, I play my Barbies on a Friday night.”
MALEA: I remember feeling that same way, except instead of Barbies, it was my Legos, and I remember, like, suddenly the girls were getting their ears pierced, some of them were wearing makeup, and I was just like, "What is happening? What am I missing?” The mid-1980s when I went—aging myself—when I had my first period, and whatnot, and we didn't have any social media or anything, but I really felt like I was missing something, and nobody was really talking about it. It was just suddenly became an us versus them—the grown-up girls versus the not grown-up girls, but we were all having periods, so really we weren't that different, but I think our families may have also been treating us differently. In my family, I think it was very much, you're still our daughter, you're still a young girl, you should still be playing with toys. Where other families were like, oh, you're a, you're a woman now. But I also remember looking around at my friends who played sports, and one of my really closest friends at the time, she played soccer, and other friends were swimmers, and I just remember thinking, how do they do that with their period, but I was too embarrassed to ask,
08:04
PRISCILLA: right!
MALEA: And I would sit out swimming, I just wouldn't do it, you know. I knew what a tampon looked like, but I didn't really understand how to use it. I was too scared to ask my mom, and so I missed out on a lot. And then, like, riding your bike with this big, bulky pad, it was so uncomfortable,
PRISCILLA: Right? And I remember that, too, you know, everyone's going to the pool. I would still go to the pool, but you know, I'm in shorts, and people like, "Oh, my, come in the water, I put my toes in, or like, stay in the shallow end, and you know, like swimming. And then I remember somebody told me, was like one of the kids that are always at the pool, was like, "Oh, well, your period stops in water.” I was like, "Well, what do you mean?” Like, it's constantly bleeding, like it's already
MALEA: Somebody missed a little bit of that educational class.
PRISCILLA: And they were . . . kids are like, "Yeah, your period stops in the water because of sharks, because they don't want the sharks to get the blood and . . .”
MALEA: So your body just knows then. Oh, there’s a shark around, time to stop bleeding. If that was the case, then why wouldn't, like, your period stop when you're camping to stop the bears?
PRISCILLA: Right! And I . . .
MALEA: That’s so funny!
PRISCILLA: I think they were trying to, like, obviously encourage you to get in the pool, because I was like . . .
MALEA: Part of me wonders if they really believe that, or if they were just saying it to get you in the pool, because I do feel like, because in a lot of families, and when I was younger, these were things we didn't talk about, and so you like filled in the gaps yourself, right? Sometimes not correctly, we didn't have the internet at our fingers, and even if we did, you know, there's so much false information on the internet too. I mean, sometimes we fill in the gaps with things that just like don't even make sense, or it's so illogical,
PRISCILLA: Right? And I remember that was a lot of it. I mean, we had, you know, the family computer and all that stuff, but also, like, my parents', “Kids, you should be outside playing.” You know, when you're outside all day in the neighborhood, what do you guys do? You tell stories? You fill in the gaps, you come up with these, like your period doesn't go in the water, or wasn't one to, like, you know, swim, or like, you know, I would read a book, or do more slower activities on my period. And then it was also interesting, you know, I would like, go to my mom about cramps, or, you know, have a headache. And she was really, you drank this tea, more of this like holistic herbal, we call, you know, “the potions,” essentially, but like when I got into high school I had really bad anemia, so my periods were,
MALEA: Was that part of your Crohn's initially?
10:17
PRISCILLA: so yes, I've always been like somewhat anemic because of the crowns, and then once I started getting periods, and you know, mine were heavy, I remember like getting my period in the middle of night, right, and like waking up blood in the sheets and all that stuff, and then would get really tired coming home from school, and you know, sleeping till noon on the weekends, like I think at first mom was like, okay, this is like teenage whatever, but then it just kept happening, and then whatever went to the doctor, did blood work, and was like, “Oh, Priscilla's like anemic,” and then the doctor was “How are her periods?”
MALEA: Yeah,
PRISCILLA: and I'm also the type of kid that like let my mom do all the talking and like all that at the doctor's office, and mom was, you know, periods and all that, and they're like anemia. A lot of it was diet, so you know they're like, “Make sure she like eats a steak,” or you know, “Cook out of the iron cast iron,” and more diet focus, you know. If this keeps going on, and we should look into more other options,
MALEA: Infusions and things like that.
PRISCILLA: Yeah,
MALEA: A little PSA for our listeners. This is not a medical podcast, this is not medical advice. Do not take any iron supplements or other medications or things of that nature without consulting your own doctor. Back to our scheduled programming. Throughout your period having years has Crohn's played a part in your period, or vice versa?
PRISCILLA: Once I got to college, it was fine, like,
MALEA: Which makes sense, because your hormones do start to not flatten out, but they start to stabilize when you're like late, late teens, early college age. I think that's a little somewhat common that things kind of get better around then.
PRISCILLA: You know. In high school, everybody was getting on birth control to help with their period, so like that was common—was everyone was taking the pill.
MALEA: Yeah,
PRISCILLA: And I remember like being with friends, and, “Oh, it’s 6 o'clock. I have to like take the little white pill.” I knew from the jump to never ask my mom for birth control. Didn't get on birth control until I moved to Oregon.
MALEA: Do you think it would have made a difference for you, looking back? I mean, hindsight is always 20/20 and all that.
PRISCILLA: Right! I guess I really don't know, like, I mean, my periods weren't that it was just like the bleeding, I think, and then just like in the fatigue, you know, and I felt like as the week went on, you know, the cramps did like subside. I just remember, like, you know, being on birth control was the thing to be on, and everyone was like, you know, all these parents were signing off on it, and my mom made it really clear, like, oh, just because, you know someone
MALEA: Not in our house . . .
PRISCILLA: Yeah, like, again, because that means you're having sex, and I think that was the next thing was, oh, periods, sex, you can get pregnant,
MALEA: Right. Did your mom have a talk with you about pregnancy, and like, pregnancy prevention, and all that, or was it more like when you started your period, here's how we'd handle your period, and then we're gonna ignore all of those?
PRISCILLA: Yeah, it was like, here's your period, here's what you do, and don't have sex. Yeah, or like, very much like not have sex. Also, my mom would say, “Well, I didn't immigrate, so my daughter can get knocked at 16”
MALEA: So you have a lot of pressure.
PRISCILLA: “Not my house!” Also, for my mom, there was this pressure because she left and married. She's in New York. She married up like she also had this image to like maintain the outside world of being this immigrant mom, that her kids weren't like those other kids. Sure, obviously there was like no dating, had my little crushes, but didn't go on like dates or anything like that.
MALEA: Still anti-tampon . . .
PRISCILLA: Yeah, or like you know you use, you can use a tampon for things like swimming, like even you know like in gym class,
MALEA: And as soon as you're done swimming back to a pad.
PRISCILLA: Yeah, you like take it out, and even swimming in gym class, I mean, I felt like I just put the pad in . . .
MALEA: I feel like I got so lucky in gym class in high school. My school had a pool, and so you were gonna swim at some point in PE, and I was just terrified because I didn't know how to use a tampon, I didn't, was too embarrassed to ask my friends, I was too embarrassed to ask my mom, my mom didn't use tampons, and I'm definitely not going to ask pe teachers, so I just prayed that my period would come either right before or right after swim was done, and it did, thank goodness, because I don't know, I probably would have faked sick.
PRISCILLA: I mean, when it was like, you know, year round non-swimming sports, I felt like, you know, I put the pad in, and it just, I just did the gym class, yeah, just tough it out. When it came to swimming, I felt like same thing, you know, I was like hoping it wouldn't get it. Or I would like sit out.
MALEA: Yeah. Going back to the idea of play, I feel like having a period really interfered with my ability to play. I feel like girls now, yet there's so many different options for how to deal with your period. Both of our moms probably still would have been like, “Here's a pad, don't use a cup, don't use a cup, don't use a disc, don't use any a tampon”, right? But having those options, I think, would have made a big difference. You know, tampons were around, and I think cups were starting to become available, but I hadn't heard of them at that point. I didn't know anybody using anything like that, and the only girls that were using tampons were like girls going to the mall, and with their ears pierced and all their makeup, and everybody else was like using pads, the sensation of the pad, and it's so big and bulky, even the smaller ones at that point felt big and bulky. I would really think, do I want to go to that birthday party, do I want to go ride my bike, do I really want to go play basketball? Am I going to this roller ring because I'm uncomfortable, and at some point I’m going to have to change this pad, and it was constantly on my mind, and it definitely interfered with my ability to enjoy myself.
PRISCILLA: Well, I remember my mom saying, “You're out in your period, you always pull a little toilet paper”, or she would make sure I have one, my backpack, remember, or like, you go to the school nurse, and all that, but you know, I remember even to this day I still use the, you know, fold the little toilet paper if I’m out.
MALEA: You do what you got to do,
PRISCILLA: Right? It's interesting though, because when I got my period, I would do a little, yeah, a lot more like home, still play Sims, but I would like play Sims on my computer, or like I turned to video games, or turn into this, you know, oh, have a friend come over and like more playing that way, versus
MALEA: Didn't want to go to my friend's house while I was on my period. Oh, you have to navigate their bathroom, and what if they don't have a trash can in there? I don't want to come out like holding this pad, wadded in paper.
PRISCILLA: Oh my gosh, I remember my mom telling me how to like dispose of a pad. So, like I have two brothers at home, and that was the big thing . . .
MALEA: Did they know you had your period? Did they know what periods were?
PRISCILLA: I think they knew what periods were, you know, again, the very basic, like it happens once a month, you just bleed. Me and my younger brother Sammy have always been really close, and so I think Sammy can tell when I’m on my period because I feel like he would make like comments when I would, "Oh, you're just on your period, it's like you're cranky or something.” Just because me and my brothers all shared a bathroom, I had to, and Jack and Sammy like couldn't, couldn't know or sometimes we are . . .
MALEA: Very secretive.
PRISCILLA: Yeah, and that was another mom, was like really into, like, a mom, a mother-daughter thing,
MALEA: Kind of like bury it in the trash,
PRISCILLA: Literally. So you take the toilet paper . . .
MALEA: Even though I had a sister, I was the oldest, she was two years behind me, but yeah, because my sister was younger and my brother was a lot younger, like I had to like hide the evidence of this very natural thing that happens to half the population.
PRISCILLA: Right! Yeah! Folding the pad and a bunch of toilet paper and shoving at the bottom, you know, maybe
MALEA: And then my mom would be mad about how much toilet paper we went through,
PRISCILLA: Right? So I'm just like . . .
MALEA: You couldn't win,
PRISCILLA: Same thing if I'm out in public, my mom, you know, they have the little trash cans for the period, and that's where the pads go. And it's funny because now I'm an adult and I'm out of my house, I just throw it in, I just put it in the trash, I don't bother even folding it up, even though I live with a man,
MALEA: But also, it’s also very culturally based. Like, if you look at the US as a whole, I don't want to say the US is homogeneous, it's definitely not. But you know, the US, no matter where you are, we're still way more open about these things than, say, India, which Liesl and I will talk about later, where you know a lot of men just don't even know what a period is, and it's very secretive, and we have a ton of privilege, but we also only know what we know, right? We only know our own experience.
17:29
PRISCILLA: I remember when I lived with many, I had two roommates, and this is locked down, and we were making our frozen margaritas, and you just yap all day, because we're all . . .
MALEA: Trapped at home together . . .
PRISCILLA: Right? And somehow, oh, because all our periods again synced up, so it was like, “Oh, I got my period,” and like, crap, I'm gonna get mine in two days. We're all like synced up, we're on the couch drinking our frozen margaritas, and somehow we just talk about periods and our like experiences, whatever. And then I remember like my roommate saying, you know, we're all comparing our like PMS symptoms and how there's symptoms, and some women have, some women don't have what makes sense, what we don't know. One of them was like, “Oh, anytime my body is weird, I just, oh, it's a PMS symptom,” and it could be a . . .
MALEA: It could be something totally different,
PRISCILLA: Right? That's also interesting, because as somebody's going into medicine, and I like want to pursue, like, women's health when it comes to PMS symptoms, like, yeah, we know about, like, the cramps and low back pain, and some people vomit, but also you don't get the same symptoms every month. It'd be like, one time I got a migraine, never had a migraine. My first migraine literally thought I was gonna die, and I was like, "Crap, I'm gonna get them, I'm gonna get a migraine every month, right before my period. Nope, it was a one-time thing, never again.
MALEA: I wish it was a one-time thing for me. My first, probably first year and a half, two years, I didn't really have a lot of symptoms, but then once I did start having PMS, it was so bad I had to take time off from school, and my mom would give me her migraine medicine, because it was the only thing strong enough to take care of my cramp. It wasn't even really taking care of the cramps, it was just making me sleep through them, but it was so severe. It's interesting to me, the range, like you said, of symptoms and severity that we go through. I mean, we could have used the same products, we could have the same length of cycle, we could have all these other things that are in common, but then our symptom leading up to our period or the first few days could be so dramatically different, and I think that makes it really difficult in healthcare to treat PMS and PMDD, especially when you have a complication like Crohn's, then your doctor's got to figure out, is this Crohn's or is it period-related, or is it both, or something else randomly? It's just so complex, and I think that that's not talked about enough,
PRISCILLA: Right. And I think also the research is, like, you know, now we live in the age of TikTok and Instagram, and all social media, and you know, and I'm sure you've seen those, like, you know “Drink this tea on your luteal phase”, and “you should be eating these grains, and it's gonna help your symptoms”, but obviously that doesn't work for everybody.
MALEA: Well, and there's also the problem of anybody could make a TikTok. Well, yeah, so you have these random people—I hate to say it, but mostly men—who are trying to tell women about their periods and what they should and shouldn't do, and it's like wildly off base, like not even a hint in reality. Lately, it's, you know, the algorithms that are listening to us, whatever. I've been seeing a lot of these stitched videos where it's some random white dude who is like talking about periods and what his wife should and shouldn't do, or his daughter should or shouldn't do, and then it's usually a female OB-GYN comes in to, like, correct him.
PRISCILLA: Yeah, I just think, like, you know, when we were getting periods, like, you know, we were on Myspace. And, like, you know, I had Myspace and Facebook, but you know, no one was posting on their, at least none of my friends, Facebook friends were like, “I got my period”, like, I'm making Facebook posts, but when I think about, like, videos of things on my. I only use Instagram, not on TikTok, but whatever, the algorithm or robots are showing me, it's always—I don’t want to be mean, but it's always like the white crunchy ladies take my class on how to, like, heal your hormones, whatever, with the moon cycle and all this, and it's just always just the white lady who shops at Whole Foods,
MALEA: Erewhon
PRISCILLA: Whate4ver it is. Like one, I mean, I'm not going to take, you know, med advice from somebody like that, but also it's always a white lady that there's, you know, non-white people who are doing that, but on my end I always just see, like, saying I scroll, like another white lady who has no medical training, who's like “Comment . . .”
MALEA: And also assumes that their experience applies to everyone. As we said, there's such a diverse array of symptoms and experiences, and going back to, like, talking to you about your mom growing up in DR, access to supplies, access to education. Liesl and I are going to talk a lot about access to supplies and education in India. We get stuck in our own little bubbles and assume everybody else is experiencing the same thing, because we don't talk about these things enough in a genuine way,
PRISCILLA: Right. And if those teas worked, well, everybody would be buying whatever tea . . .
MALEA: Your doctor would be telling you, right?
PRISCILLA: Like everybody would be buying the tea off of Instagram or making whatever, but like that's the thing. I feel like everyone's different. I know a lot of my friends who played sports remember this one girl telling me at camp, and we were like in high school, and she was like, "Oh, I don't get a period, and I was like, "What do you mean you don't get a period? You're like, "Six, we're 16,
MALEA: Right. That's, that's problematic, potentially.
PRISCILLA: Yeah. And she was told, I think I must have got my period or something, and just talking about it, she was just like, oh, because I play sports, and the doctors were like, when you play a lot, a lot of sports . . .
MALEA: I mean, she must have been playing at like an elite level.
PRISCILLA: Well, yeah, she was like . . .
MALEA: I mean, some, some girls don't get their periods until 16, 17, 18, but that's not as common, but you know, Olympic athletes often don't get periods
PRISCILLA: Right, and yeah, something about like how she, yeah, plays all these sports, and you know, she got a period, whatever, when 13, whatever, and had it that it went away because apparently like all these sports, and how she was, remember, like, oh, that must be nice, you don't just break, you know? Like, we're in summer camp, camp crashes down this, you know, as at the pool, and do I go in the pool in my little shorts and my swim shorts? And, like, she's just not. I think I was just jealous, right? Like, not having the worry, or like, the back of my head of a subconscious of, well, everybody knows I'm on my period.
MALEA: Or what if I have an accident? What if it comes when I'm like wearing my white white shorts that my mom insisted I buy? I feel like . . .
PRISCILLA: I remember this one time was in high school in class and got my period in class, and I also knew, oh, my mom also taught me in school when I was in my period to bring a little sweatshirt to tie my waist until I could go to the nurse's office. I remember I was in history class, I got up and I looked down, and I just see like blood on the chair, tie the sweatshirt. Class was over, and I just remember, like, well, what do I do? Do I clean the blood? Leave it like
MALEA: I had the same experience.
PRISCILLA: Well, there's no tissues, I don't have anything. And I remember trying to, like, my, like, try to, like, rub it off, like, whatever. And I just rushed out of class, and I went to the nurse's office, “I got my period.” So it's always like Susan, the school mom, she's like, "What do you need, honey?” And I'm like, "I don't know, I don't have any . . “. She's like, "Do you have clothes in your gym locker?” And I was . . . of course, I didn't have anything, because I took it home, and I had to call, was my mom or my grandpa, but somebody brought me clothes to school, you know. Then I went on the rest of the day, but I'm the, you know, everyone knew I was wearing jeans this morning, and now I'm wearing like sweats, so everyone knows I got my period because my clothes are different. Yeah, and even though nobody cares, but you know, you're just so like wrapped up in this like self conscientious . . . yeah, or you know, like wearing the big sweatshirts, like nobody can know that I'm.. I felt like I went through like a heavy sweatshirt and legging phase, you know, like you're trying to like cover up. I think we did. I wished we talked more like, yes, the why behind periods, and like the health education, but again, just like those . . .
MALEA: The day to day realities of navigating life,
PRISCILLA: Yeah, like how do you go through life, or like being in high school, like high school is already hard enough, like how do you go through high school with, like, being in period, being on a period, dealing with the self-consciousness, or, you know, like, what do you do when you're, like, you know, summer camp.
MALEA: Thankfully, more and more schools are making period supplies accessible. I don't have the statistic in front of me now, but Liesl and I, again, are going to talk about this in a bit. There are some states where period supplies are free for high schoolers. If that had been more readily available, it would have made it so much easier for both of us.
PRISCILLA: Right? Because I had to go to the school nurse, or you borrow it from your friend, you take it from a friend.
MALEA: Well, and then it's like, if you needed to get up in the middle of class, is your teacher gonna let you go? What do you say? You know, I was not brazen enough to be like, “I got my period,” but I knew girls who were, and usually they would say it on to, like, right, irritate the male teacher, who would then be like, "Oh, okay, go, go”, you know, but I was not that person, I was gonna sit there and just suffer, and then tie my sweatshirt around my waist.
PRISCILLA: I learned I can, at an early age, was I got diagnosed with Crohn's, I can use Crohn's to get out a lot of things.
MALEA: Of course,
PRISCILLA: Because it was also right, like in my school file, that all my teachers know I had a crones. If I had to go to the bathroom, you have to let me go to the bathroom, no questions asked.
MALEA: So, weirdly, in some ways, having Crohn's made having a period at school easier.
PRISCILLA: Yeah, because I get to go to the nurse whenever I wanted to, just to kind of use this like Crohn's card, and then I used it in college. My teachers would, I would, like, you know, email professors, like, can't come to class today. I'm in a Crohn's flare, and they're like, 'Oh my gosh, like, take care, like, let us know what you need, you know? You get an extra whatever on that assignment, extra couple days.
MALEA: Where “Sorry, can't come to class, I'm having period cramps”, it would have been like,
PRISCILLA: “Suck it up”
MALEA: Yeah, suck it up, take some Advil, take get yourself a heating pad or something, and come to class,
PRISCILLA: Right? Even though I wasn't in a Crohn’s flare, right, I was just on my period. I just didn't want to deal with . . .
MALEA: Something that 50% of the population has. It's very normal, but even in this day and age, a lot of people are still weirded out about it.
PRISCILLA: Or we're just not, yeah, like, oh, I got my period. Do you track yours on your phone, or like cycle tracking?
MALEA: I've never tracked it on my phone, and I actually, when I did track, it was just on a paper calendar. I was so irregular for years that I just stopped tracking,
PRISCILLA: So I like
track mine on Apple Health. I've been doing it for years. It's interesting. I
am regular. I'm always like a 28 day, right at 28 five day cycle. Been like
that since I've been tracking it.
MALEA: I wish I was,
PRISCILLA: And it's just been interesting, I guess, to see the data, because I also try to put things like, you know, my cramping the day, and really, for me, it's just like a log to see, like, how my periods changed, like, over the years, and that's been, like, looking back at that, like, early data versus now, it's just been interesting to see.
MALEA: If you're tracking that religiously, then it's going to be really helpful to you as you get older and get more towards menopause, and like, as your periods start to change, I think you'll have a better sense that, oh, this is like perimenopause, where I was like, what the hell is going on with my body? Like, why is my body acting crazy? I haven't had a period in like seven years, but because I hadn't been tracking it, anything, not even symptoms, to me it was like, oh, this is just another weird thing, where even if I had been tracking this irregularity the last two years, things were so irregular it might have clued me in that I was like entering perimenopause,
PRISCILLA: Right? If you had the data, yeah. So I remember my mom going through menopause and just always having these hot flashes, and we, it was like snowing in New York, and she's like, "I'm having a hot flash,” and like driving with the windows down, I'm like freezing, and I'm just like . . .
MALEA: Thankfully I've been very lucky and not had to deal with any of that. I don't know why, maybe it's just my genetic makeup, maybe it's psychological influence. I read an article years and years ago, well before I ever got even close to perimenopause, about these communities where it just those symptoms just don't exist. I want to say one of the communities was in Japan, maybe, and the women went through menopause without ever having hot flashes, without ever having weird symptoms, and I never experienced any of that. So, I find it so interesting when my friends do have hot flashes or things like that, and I don't want to know what that's like, but at the same time, I feel like, is something wrong with me? Even though nothing's wrong with me. You know what I mean?
28:41
PRISCILLA: Right? Well, I got hot flashes on my period, and I remember getting that in high school, and like, that was, you know, already dealing with this, and I'm like having a hot flash, and I can't sleep, and I'm opening the window, and I'm going to my mom, and she would like make a little joke, like, oh, like, me, like, Mommy turned into this joke of I'm having menopause, and so I would like, go to my mom, “I'm having menopause”, and she would know, like, hot flashes, you know, that kind of stuff. To this day, we like, when I call her, she's like, “Don't worry, I'm not having menopause today”.
MALEA: Did your dad know that you had your period when you first got it?
PRISCILLA: I know when I first got it, but, like, I feel like he knew. I think it was a lot of the similar, like, the mood changes, the sleepiness, the like . . .
MALEA: But you weren't like explicitly like, "Dad, I'm a woman now.”
PRISCILLA: No, because my mom was like, "You don't . . .”
MALEA: You don't talk about that with the men.
PRISCILLA: Yeah, like, your dad doesn't need to know that. That's just like a mom and a grandma type thing.
MALEA: My mom told my dad, and my dad told my grandma, and my grandma made a huge deal out of it. And I just wanted to hide. I didn't want anybody to talk about it, or like, celebrate it, or whatever. I just wanted to, like, move on with my life.
PRISCILLA: I remember this one time I like was going to my grandma's house, and I was sleeping over, because I was slept at my grandma's house a lot, and my mom was like, you know, if you get your period, just like, ask grandma, I'm sure she like has something or something. I got my period, I was like, Grandma, like, and she gave me a pad, and . . .
MALEA: Was it a pad, like a regular pad, like we would see today? One of my grandma's had the old fashioned like belt with clips that clip onto the pad . . .
PRISCILLA: Oh no, I just remember it was like an overnight, it was, but it was like one of those, like, felt like it was a grandma pad, was like the big, you know, with the wings and the extra long extra tense strength . . .
MALEA: Extra everything,
PRISCILLA: Right, just for a night or two, like I tough it out.
MALEA: Thankfully, I never had to ask my grandma for a pad, because I would have been horrified if she'd handed me like the belt with the clips and all of that. My grandma had regular pads and tampons in her bathroom as well. I think one of my cousins maybe left them there, or maybe my aunt and my grandma just like would replenish it periodically, but she kept those good old-fashioned 1950 supplies. I don't know why she kept them. No one used them.
PRISCILLA: It’s funny, it was also.. I'm also thinking about now to just.. we all like sync up as women, and you know, I went to college in North Carolina. It was a small Christian school in the South. It was an old woman's dorm, and I swear we all synced up on a period. You have, like, 150 women to be living together.
MALEA: Science says that's not a thing, but I know so many women . . .
PRISCILLA: Oh, it's a thing!
MALEA: But as Liesl and I discussed in our first episode, real period blood wasn't even used to test real period products until two years ago at OHSU here in Portland, so it would make sense that they're probably not actually scientifically testing if women sync up or right?
PRISCILLA: I mean, even me, my mom, because when I got my period, my mom, me and my mom were like synced up, and she would tell me, like, oh, I got my period, and then I would get mine, like, couple days later, and so then I felt bad for the men in our house, because we have two women, and then my mom and I can, you know, just the mood changes, and just the like the emotion, the big feelings that comes on with being your period. I do remember, though, my dad was, I think, in a town to try to be the extra, you know, extra sweet. There was like a McDonald's not too far from the house. I remember one time I was like, he brought me like cheeseburger French fries on a little tray upstairs, or like we had this place called Moe's, which is like Chipotle, but they don't charge you for guac, so it'd be like, oh, you want to go to Moe's, and Moe's was like, I mean, it wasn't super close to her house, the fact that my dad was like willing to go to Moe's, I was like, oh yeah, like I'm gonna go, felt like there was a lot of, I think he was aware, I think
MALEA: Supportive about it.
PRISCILLA: There was just a little extra, the little treats, or the food, or in this, like, leaving me be like, I would be in my room all day on a Saturday, or like, he would let me play, you know, my Sims forever. There was just a lot of, like, I'm gonna let you chill, and
MALEA: My dad was pretty oblivious about things like that. I was still expected to, like, side and go swimming, and go ride my bike, and all those things. I don't know if he just didn't want to hear that I was too uncomfortable or if he was like this shouldn't be a problem, just do it anyway. My grandma, my dad's mom, was like, you're a woman now, celebrate your womanhood, celebrate your moon phases, which is funny because my grandma's like not hippy dippy at all, but except when it came to periods,
PRISCILLA: I remember in high school again, you know, everyone's on their periods, the girls with their birth control and their ears pierced. Well, then thongs . . .
MALEA: Oh yeah . . .
PRISCILLA: Well, my mom . . .
MALEA: What do you do with a period and a thong?
PRISCILLA: Right? The thongs, and then we, what do you call it, the whale tail, the low-rise jeans, and you know, you can tell the girls it was like the thing, like, oh, you see Sarah over there, you know, it's wearing her again, like, as this transition to womanhood, and again, you know, I would watch, like, MTV and TRL and Britney Spears, and they're all wearing these, like, these thongs, and my mom was very clear, like, you don't wear thongs, yeah, because the yeast infections, you're gonna get an infection. And then I was like, why is Sarah and all these girls wearing these thongs, they're all gonna get yeast infection. And my mom would tell me, painful to go to the doctor, or to take, like, an antibiotic. And then I remember this one time, me, my mom were at the mall, and if you know what Wet Seal is . . .
MALEA: Oh, yeah, I remember Wet Seal.
PRISCILLA: And, so we had a Wet Seal. And my mom and I went in there, and like they were having some sale, and asked my mom, like, I want to get a thong, yeah, and my mom was like,
MALEA: I bought my first thong myself, I would never ask my mom, I realized it was very uncomfortable, but it did not ever give me a yeast infection.
PRISCILLA: My mom was like, okay, fine, you want to see what the hype is, or whatever, this hot pink little skinny tooth floss thong, and I'm sure it was bedazzled, and I felt like, okay, look at me, I got my thong, and then I was like, we're like all cool and grown up, and put it on, my mom was right, because it was like super uncomfortable, okay, never again,
MALEA: But that was like the style, right? Super skinny, where it was like piece of floss at the back.
PRISCILLA: And then my mom also told me, don't wear a thong on your period, because of the infection, the rate gets higher. And also, you know, I can't, I'm wearing a thong . . .
MALEA: It's virtually impossible to wear a pad with a thong, right? You can, but thongs are really tampon, cups, something like that,
PRISCILLA: Right? But I wasn't, you know, doing a whale tail look or anything.
MALEA: Oh gosh, my mom would have been horrified if I did that.
PRISCILLA: I remember thinking, like, all these girls in the periods . . .
MALEA: I feel like we could do a whole episode just on thongs and ladies' underwear. Yeah, I never understood, you know, if Christie is wearing a thong like every day. What is she doing on her period, right? And it never dawned on me that maybe that she's using tampons, because I had never used a tampon.
PRISCILLA: Right? You got like shame or judge for using a pad, but I felt like some type of, you know, like, oh, you like still use pads, like so middle school, that's like, you know, you did that in your first couple of cycles, like, we’re grown up now, like we're using tampons, and I'm like, "Oh, well . . .”
MALEA: That just made me feel like I needed to be even more secretive about it,
PRISCILLA: Right? And, like, even in college, and even, like, as an adult, like, I use tampons. I mean, tampons, I use pads. Tampons don't work for me. I've tried all different types, the different, you know, sizes, which are the different numbers, are in, like, all that, which no one else ever taught me, right, like small, medium, large, or 1-2-3-4,
MALEA: Absorbencies and all that.
PRISCILLA: Yeah, or like the sport kind versus the regular kind, and I'm like, aren't they all this? I mean . . .
MALEA: You basically sticking it out yourself, standing in the aisle of the grocery store, hoping nobody you know with walks by,
PRISCILLA: Right? And I just, and same thing with pads, right? Like, I remember, like, oh, well, I'm gonna get so for sleeping. I always, my mom was like, you know, use the overnight extra big sleeping pad,
MALEA: So now you can't sleep because you're super uncomfortable because you've got this between your legs,
PRISCILLA: right,
MALEA: giant diapery pad,
PRISCILLA: And you know, during the day, you just like use, but it was always with the wings, mom was like, you always get the ones with the wigs to this day, as I like, you know, go to Fred Meyer, and I get the Kroger brand pads. I buy the one with the wings. I just . . .
36:08
MALEA: I remember when Apple first released iPads, and there were so many people making jokes, iPad with wings.
PRISCILLA: Yeah, and I think that's another thing, is like,
MALEA: I think the wings did make me feel more comfortable and more secure, though. Yeah, I felt like it wasn't gonna slide around, right? It did, but, like, you know, some brands were more adhesive than others, and I felt like the wings just kind of helped to keep things in place. But then again, you're not gonna go swimming with a pad with wings,
PRISCILLA: Right?
MALEA: Right, you're, you know, if it was like your heaviest day, you might be a little more careful, because what if it leaks around the side of the wing?
PRISCILLA: Yeah, Did you, were you ever taught, like, I don't know, taught, but my, like, in my house, my mom was, you know, my period, cleanliness, like being clean while on your period.
MALEA: No, I wasn't, but I was so worried that somebody would smell me that I was like, I would take, like, two showers a day, I would like be extra careful making sure, like, didn't have any blood or anything, I used to get in trouble for taking two showers a day, and my dad would be mad, oh, the water bill is going to go up, but I was not going to tell my dad, well, Dad, I've got my period right, so yeah, like, okay, I'll take shorter ones next time,
PRISCILLA: That was like a big thing, so like, yeah, my period, I would have to, in the morning, remember, before school, even if I wasn't going to take a shower, I would essentially have to do like little bird bath, yeah, so the wash cloth, put some, you know, regular water, um, you know, not use hot, and then you know, you wipe front to back, but like doing that, like every morning before school, and you know, and then as I'm changing, take a little toilet paper, but not to use wet wipes, or whatever, the summer's eve soaps because my mom was like that's gonna cause infection, and . . .
MALEA: My mom was really, not obsessive, but she was like very particular about stains on clothing and on towels and things. I never wanted to use a washcloth during my period because I didn't want to like stain it and how to clean it myself. She did teach me how to like clean out the period stains in your underwear, but it was like that was bad enough, I don't want to have to do that on a washcloth too. So it was like pure water, just stand in the shower, take care of things,
PRISCILLA: And I'm like that now, so it's been they bring up the smell, because I am so right, like self-conscious that people can like smell it, and it's like, because I can smell it, and I'm like, I think it smells like,
MALEA: But I, I would recently read a book about periods that will do a whole little mini podcast on on these two books, but one of them said the reason you smell it is because you're the closest person to yourself,
PRISCILLA: Right?
MALEA: Right, which totally makes sense, but when you're growing up, you don't think that way. You think if I can smell it, obviously everyone can smell it, right? But you're the closest person to your body, and you're like the one that's reaching down and taking out the pad or the tampon or whatever, so it's like getting even closer to you as you pull it out, but that leads perfectly to our Q and A segment, which is, Can other people smell your period? We'll get into that in just a second. Thank you so much, Priscilla. It's been really great.
PRISCILLA: Of course, always, always happy to have these conversations, and I think it's great that we're having these like open and honestly and playing together.
MALEA: Agreed.
39:00
MALEA: Priscilla brought up a great question for our first Ask Flow question and answer segment. Can people smell your period? I already partially answered in my discussion with Priscilla, but let's dive in a bit deeper. I wondered specifically, can men smell when a woman is on her period? I had a male co-worker once tell me that he swore he could tell smell period.
LIESL: First of all, what was his purpose in sharing that with you? And second, do you think you could ever tell when you were on your period?
MALEA: I have no idea what his purpose was, maybe just to, like, get me. I don't know, but I never tried to find out, and frankly, he made me have a bit of a complex about it. So I did some research, and essentially, there is scant evidence that men or anyone can smell when a woman is on her period. The exceptions are primarily related to poor hygiene, some of which could be driven by inequity, which we'll talk about, such as poor access to products and needing to use a pad, tampon, or other materials far longer than is safe or hygienic, or due to lack of clean water, laundry facilities, and so on.
LIESL: What I found was very similar. During a period, the blood and material shed is a combination of blood, uterine lining, and vaginal secretions. The hemoglobin in the blood can produce a metallic or copper ascent, and the vaginal secretions can carry naturally occurring bacteria from the body. But if there is any odor, it's usually not detectable. A strong odor is more likely to be detected in the event of a bacterial infection or poor hygiene. Have you ever been aware of the smell of someone's period other than your own before?
MALEA: Not that I can recall, not even in healthcare when patients are being seen for period-related problems.
LIESL: And as a nurse, I can say the only blood I've definitively smelled is the blood from a person with a gastrointestinal bleed, but that is because blood is broken down by enzymes and bacteria, which can produce odors.
MALEA: Same, and that really is a totally different mix compared to period blood. This is the perfect pivot to a topic for the rest of the episode, which is period inequity. But first I also want to come back to something I mentioned while talking to Priscilla. When you're on your period, you smell yourself because you're the closest thing to yourself, so that might make you worry that others can smell you. You're right up there changing your pad or tampon or cup, and when you're changing them, you also don't have clothing barriers between you and the odor, unless you're being intimate with someone, no one else is that up and close with you, so they aren't likely to smell you at all. But, as mentioned, the biggest issue when it comes to periods and odor relates to inequity in terms of access to products and hygiene products and facilities.
LIESL: So, this is a topic we plan to come back to regularly, as before mentioned, and the perfect jumping off point is a documentary on Netflix, currently at least at the time of this episode, which is titled Period. End of Sentence. It also intersects with another topic we plan to repeatedly address, which is the appearance of periods in the media. The documentary Period. End of Sentence, which won an Academy Award for best documentary short subject in 2019 looks at period supplies and access specifically in India. But before we get into the documentary, let's discuss some socio-economic facts relating to having periods in the United States. After all, that's where we live. A major issue when it comes to equity, for people having periods, is that those already experiencing poverty, houselessness, etc. are not able to access period hygiene supplies through food stamps or health insurance, even Medicaid.
MALEA: Anyone who has bought pads or tampons or other products knows just how expensive it can be to buy quality products too. According to the National Institutes of Health, in 2024 the cost of pads and tampons nearly doubled over the previous five years, and 16.9 million menstruating women in the US live in poverty. Of those, two thirds cannot regularly afford any menstrual products,
LIESL: And this isn't just an issue of affording products, this can also be a health issue, as not being able to manage a period can lead to urinary tract infections, toxic shock syndrome, and vaginal infections. In addition, those who can't afford products or don't have access to hygiene resources may have to miss work or school, which has further socioeconomic consequences.
MALEA: There was actually a point where I was extremely poor, and sometimes had to choose between my groceries and taking care of my period. I can only imagine how hard it must be, or how much harder it must be for people who are even poorer or unhoused.
43:33
LIESL: It doesn't help that these essential products are taxed in 28 states, while condoms in Viagra are not taxed at all in many states now. I can support methods of birth control as essential, but I certainly would not categorize a male enhancement drug as such.
MALEA: Exactly, and for many states who do not tax these products, it's actually a very, very new thing.
LIESL: Yes, most of the states that stopped taxing menstrual products only did so in the last five to six years. On average, menstruators collectively spend 150 million in the USA annually, just on the sales tax for these items.
MALEA: Just on the tax.
LIESL: Yeah.
MALEA: That's crazy. I have an HSA healthcare spending account through my benefits at work, and during our research for this episode, we discovered that as of 2020 with the CARES Act, period products are considered eligible for purchase through HSA or FSA dollars.
LIESL: I'm personally new to HSA. I just got one for the first time this last year, so all that's new to me. And I bet people with an HSA, even who have them already or had them already, weren't aware of this.
MALEA: I'm sure a lot of people don't even know the HSA and FSA exist, and if you're really, really poor, you might not be able to spare the dollars to contribute to that, even though it is beneficial to you. You might just not be able to see that leave your bank, your paycheck,
LIESL: For sure.
MALEA: A lot of people just simply can't afford it.
LIESL: Yeah, so periods can be a burden in the United. States, how much more so in developing countries like India. We get a glimpse of the period situation in India in the documentary. Period. End of Sentence, which you can currently watch on Netflix or YouTube [or on The Pad Project's website HERE]. It's less than 30 minutes, so do it. This documentary with the catchy title was filmed with support from the Pad Project, which you can learn about at thepadproject.org. According to the Pad Project, one in four US girls have missed school due to lack of access to period products. In India, those numbers are much higher. That brings me back to that catchy title, Period. End of sentence. Because a period should only be a punctuation mark and not the reason a girl's education should end.
MALEA: Absolutely, and we will have links to those resources on our blog at LetMeTellYouAboutMyPeriod.com but about 10 years ago, Time magazine reported that 23% of girls in India drop out of school when they reach puberty, and 40% of schools did not, as of 2015 have separate bathrooms for female students, not even talking about the period products, they just didn't even have separate bathrooms for female students. Not having access to privacy in bathrooms led many girls to skip school when on their periods. Furthermore, many students could not afford or had no access to sanitary pads. We'll do a future episode on period products around the world, but in India, it's very common to use rags, such as cut up old clothing. It's also common for girls and women to dig holes to bury the rags, or to simply toss them in an empty area where other waste is also tossed. Lack of human, lack of sanitation services is its own major health concern.
LIESL: When LA teacher Melissa Burton learned about many of these challenges while attending a session hosted by the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She was quote dumbstruck by her own ignorance and decided to do something about it. She listed students from her school's Girls Learn International chapter to tackle this problem.
MALEA: What I really love about this is that she really let the students take charge. One student, I apologize if I've mispronounced the name or any names. Claire Sliney said that they decided to do something to show the issues related to periods in India, rather than just talk about it, and the idea to install a pad making machine in the village of Kathak Kara, India was born and became the subject of the documentary.
LIESL: Yes, Claire and Melissa's school raised over $55,000 to install a machine to manufacture sanitary pads and to teach the women of the village to run the machine and distribute and sell the pads themselves. The school partnered with Action India, which continues to install such machines around the country and has spread to additional countries as well.
MALEA: Interestingly, the machine was actually invented by a man, Arunachalam Muruganantham. I practice this, I promise, Muruganantham, despite being in a country where men were largely ignorant, largely ignorant of anything period-related. India is a country with deeply rooted stigmas around periods. So, the fact that a man was so integral to this project is interesting to me.
LIESL: Very interesting. And yet, men stand to benefit from supporting the other half of their nation.
MALEA: Absolutely,
LIESL: The machine is cost-effective and empowers women. The pads cost about five cents per pad to make, and are made with natural, locally sourced materials. The women not only gain work skills, but they also gain education around periods and learn all aspects of making, marketing, selling, and educating around the pads. I love that the women decided to name their brand F L Y Fly, and said it's because they want women to soar. One of my favorite aspects of the documentary, Malea, was seeing the girls light up as they learn how to make and sell their products to other women in the community. I particularly liked hearing a young woman named Sneha talk about how she planned to use money for making and selling the pads to fund her police training and thereby increase her economic and social freedom.
MALEA: I also love seeing the girls and women smiling and getting excited about how this could change their futures for the good. Throughout the documentary, it is clear that there are deep divides in the community about period-related knowledge. The girls and women are often shy or embarrassed, but also curious and interested to know more, while most of the men are either totally unaware of what periods are, or are too embarrassed to talk about it. Some of the barriers to accessing pads are related to cultural stigmas, with some of the girls stating they have difficulty even buying pads when they can afford them, because, and I quote, there are always men around, with one person stating menstruation is the biggest taboo in my country. Arunachalam, the inventor of the machine, is hugely supportive of improving the lives of girls in his community. He says the strongest creature created by God in the world is not the lion, not the elephant, not the tiger, it's the girl.
50:00
LIESL: I, we won't get into this, but I would love to know more about this man, and how he developed these values in the context of growing up in India. Yeah,
MALEA: Same.
LIESL: I think I might have a crush on him now. Malea, tell me a little of what you learned about the maker of this documentary.
MALEA: So, this documentary was the director's first project, right out of film school. Wow, so it's pretty incredible that she won an Oscar for it. In an interview with Youth to the People, and again, I apologize if I mispronounced this, Rayka Zehtabchi said that making this documentary has forever changed her own relationship to her period, just six months before filming it, she said she was buying tampons, and the only clerk at the store was a male, and she felt embarrassed, or in her own words, mortified, and wanted to get out of the store as fast as possible.
LIESL: An experience I think a lot of girls and women are familiar with, being embarrassed to buy period products with men or boys around,
MALEA: And a lot of women are embarrassed, even if it's another woman,
LIESL: For sure.
MALEA: So, Rayka went on to say that making the documentary helped her to basically own her period and to own being a woman who uses pads and tampons. She said the periods make women strong in many ways, which I think is evidenced by the documentary. You do see a huge shift in a lot of these women and girls, she said, the documentary is about quote taking control of your own body, shedding stigma, creating and providing access to basic sanitary products, and that for her the purpose of filmmaking really is to take down walls and to educate people, but to do it not by feeding people medicine, but by sharing character and art with audiences
LIESL: Shedding stigma, pun intended? I don't know.
MALEA: I hadn’t even noticed that.
LIESL: But I do think she succeeded in her goal.
MALEA: I agree.
LIESL: And considering the socio-economic impact of periods in India, we read a couple recent articles on the subject from The Palgrave Handbook of CriticalMenstruation Studies, and we'll cite these on our website. The first article, entitled Menstrual Justice: Missing Element in India's Health Politics, highlights how health policies in India have primarily addressed women's health exclusively as it pertains to child-bearing and population control. This means they do not address things like menstruation and menopause. In other words, they do not account for a lot of women. Unfortunately, socioeconomic disparities in India affect women disproportionately and result in nutritional and medical discrepancies that affect women's menstrual health far beyond baby making. The author suggests that in order for policies to be effective, they not only need to acknowledge women's health across the menstrual cycle, menarche through post menopause, but also address the sociocultural stigma surrounding periods, which limits progress.
MALEA: The other article we read was Bleeding in Public: Rethinking Narratives ofMenstrual Management from Delhi Slums. The article acknowledges the unique challenges of menstrual hygiene management in the crowded water supply deficient slums. It focuses on the reality that hygiene is considered an individual pursuit, yet in the absence of sanitation infrastructure, it becomes a public issue, which is shown in the documentary a couple of times I think, however, it also recognizes that the physical and biomedical aspects of sanitation cannot be considered alone when addressing period hygiene in India. WASH or water sanitation and hygiene programs are not always sensitive to how Indian women are affected by their particular environment, such as how different period management might be for a woman living in a more traditional village versus an informal slum settlement, for example, varying access to water, more or less space for privacy, different work demands, and varying applications of gender-based traditions. Nor do WASH programs account for cultural ways in which Indian women value learning information, such as intergenerationally, which again is evident in the documentary, to put it simply, and rather obviously, one solution or size does not fit all. And on that note, we actually also came across some really interesting information about periods in Scotland. I didn't realize this, I had heard about this, but didn't realize it was so recent. In Scotland, in August 15, 2022 the PeriodProducts Free Provision Scotland Act of 2021 came into force. Have you heard of that, Liesl?
LIESL: Never. Honestly, I don't hear much about Scotland, unfortunately.
MALEA: So, although the documentary is about India. I think this is still relevant because Scotland does have a significant number of people living in poverty, as the US does as well. But in 2022 they essentially made period products free, and for everyone that needs them. There's a requirement that these products be accessible. And, and, yeah, free. There is more information at myperiod.org.uk about a program called Pick Up My Period. The program initially rolled out in schools and sports programs, but now it's become much more widespread. You can also find information about that if you're in Scotland on the Scottish Government website, which I will link in our blog.
LIESL: I look forward to reading more about that too, and it'll be interesting to see if other parts of the UK and Europe beyond start following suit,
MALEA: And I, I would love for us to come back to this idea, or to come back to the machines in India, and see how that changes over time.
LIESL: Absolutely, it's always helpful when you recognize a problem. It's important to recognize a problem, but then it's also important to identify what solutions have been created, and are those ones that could be, could be copied and further, further advanced,
MALEA: But also as the articles that we read discuss that not one solution does not fix absolutely everyone, so what works in India with these machines might not work in Scotland or somewhere else, and there's so many cultural aspects to this as well in India. In the documentary, you'll see and hear that there's a lot more secrecy about periods than there are in the United States, even though in the United States we do still have a lot of secrecy about periods.
LIESL: Absolutely, and we do have like sex education, which at least in the village that's featured in the documentary, it seems like the boys they talk with nonexistent. Yeah, well, thanks for joining us for the second episode of Let Me Tell You About My Period. Please check out our blog at LetMeTellYouAboutMyPeriod.com or find us on Instagram and Let Me Tell You About My Period at Let Me Tell You About My Period, and YouTube at About My Period. You'll find blog posts, resources, reading recommendations, and more.
For episode three, projected to be released in June, Pride Month. We are returning, or turning to periods and the LGTBQIA+ community, and period-related issues, specifically for transgender men. If you are a transgender man who either menstruates now or has in the past, we'd love to interview you. Please get in touch at LetMeTellYouAboutMyperiod@gmail.com or through our blog. We would love to use your name, but can also keep you anonymous if you prefer.
MALEA: And with that, join us in supporting Period
MALEA and LIESL: Equity.
%20(Your%20Story).png)
No comments:
Post a Comment