Eighty six percent of women ages 18 to 54 have reported starting their period in public without having the supplies they needed. This was for two reasons: they either weren't expecting their period to start because menstrual cycles are more often abnormal than not, or they weren't able to afford products because they are not only expensive to begin with, but also taxed in 39 states.
Periods are a bodily function. A natural occurrence, which millions of women experience monthly in order to keep their ability to reproduce. We refuse to be charged a fee for having a female body. We refuse to be denied sanitation for our bodily functions simply because we cannot afford it. If we made menstrual products free to all people who have periods, especially students, this could be avoided.
Too many young girls sacrifice their learning experiences to go home due to periods, because the terror of asking a teacher for a pad or tampon is worse than going home 'sick', unprepared, and unsanitary. We refuse to be embarrassed by our female body. If we had menstrual supplies in our school bathrooms, this too could be avoided.
We keep talking about equality and intersectional female power but we refuse to acknowledge that we treat menstrual products as a luxury, not a necessity. When we treat pads and tampons like toilet paper, we'll be stepping in the right direction.
