As I write this, I’m sat on an LNER train. I just got up to use the bathroom, and while in there, I noticed a sticker on the mirror stating that they have a “Package for a Friend” initiative. Effectively, if you don’t have period products with you on the train and need them, you can go up to a member of staff and ask for a “package for a friend,” and they’ll supply you with the products you need.
Yes, in some ways, this is great. Period products should be free in public bathrooms, exactly the same way toilet paper is, so it’s genuinely positive that these are available free of charge onboard. I feel incredibly lucky to live in Scotland, which since the implementation of the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021, is the first and only country in the world to legally require all local authorities and education providers to have period products to anyone who needs them – free of charge.
However, by creating initiatives like this, where we use nicknames or terms that entirely avoid the word “period” or “menstruation” when asking for these products, we continue the cycle of treating periods as something to be ashamed of, rather than a normal, healthy bodily function.
This feels particularly important for this generation. With eating disorders on the rise, it’s so important that we teach young people who have uteruses that having a regular period is normal, and that when it stops or changes, that’s something to seek medical advice about. Amenorrhea is the diagnosis given when three or more periods are missed, up to 75% of women who have been diagnosed with Anorexia experience Amenorrhea during the course of their eating disorder. While yes, missing your period can feel like a great relief as they can be incredibly painful and inconvenient, however having a regular period is a sign that you are healthy.
Prolonged Amenorrhea can lead to serious health issues such as osteoporosis which is when your bones become weaker and therefore fracture more easily, heart conditions and infertility.
I hear this kind of language every day at work. I work in an office, and I’m the youngest person on my team. I often hear my older, female co-workers referring to their period as “shark week,” which also feeds into the idea that periods are something negative.
I believe this is why we should destigmatise and normalise the words “period” and “menstruation.” Children of the next generation shouldn’t grow up feeling embarrassed or ashamed of something entirely normal and healthy. Perhaps it is time to challenge these initiatives, periods are a normal bodily process, just like digestion and respiration, so why do they continue to be stigmatised? Is it because they only happen to people with female reproductive organs?
It is a great thing that we are actively seeing reform and change in relation to periods, particularly in Scotland, but these changes are still not perfect and it is important to continue to speak up – it is the only way that we can invoke real, positive change.