Whether you menstruate or not, organisations like Global Menstrual Collective (GMC) are pushing for investment into menstrual health and hygiene. This may be your first time hearing of Global Menstrual Collective, so for your benefit, I spoke to Cydney Thorton who worked with GMC. When speaking with Cydney I wanted to understand why she thinks menstrual health needs to be less of a taboo subject and for more people to be involved with making change. Cydney mentioned the fact that she has ‘period privilege’ as she has access to menstrual hygiene and health services, also Cydney lives in the UK where there are less cultural restrictions on spaces women can be in when menstruating. For example, Hindu women cannot enter a temple or the kitchen when menstruating. Once getting to know Cydney’s personal relationship with GMC, we spoke about what exactly Global Menstrual Collective is, and this is what I learned.
Global Menstrual Collective includes a range of representatives from organisations including the UN, advocacy groups, private sectors and religious groups, just to list a few of many. GMC are trying to bring about practical change to the larger menstrual movement by introducing evidence-based research to advocate investment, programming and policy across relevant sectors. This includes access to information, products and services alongside building positive social norms surrounding menstruation. The core group of GMC are made up of volunteers which developed through a membership structure that ensured a diverse team was built that enabled advocacy for improved investments that echoed the voices and prioritised marginalised groups and young people.
Arguably one of the biggest issues with handling the taboo around menstruation is the misconceptions attached to it. Ironically around 3.7 billion people (nearly a half of the world’s population) menstruate yet periods have historically been viewed as unsanitary and gross. At first, this figure may shock you however one of the biggest misconceptions is that only women menstruate when in fact trans men, non-binary, intersex and gender-fluid people can menstruate! NOT ALL MENSTRUATORS ARE WOMEN, NOT EVERY WOMEN MENSTRUATES – so it’s best to get that out of your head ASAP. With menstruation comes inequality which is something GMC is pushing to change and as Cydney mentioned, some people can experience period privilege without even realising it. This is because not everyone has access to period products, which are taxed and expensive when in reality periods aren’t a monthly subscription an individual voluntarily signs up for. Periods are a big contributor as to why girls miss school which is linked to the fact that some go without the basic sanitation needed for a menstrual cycle. Lack of basic sanitation can cause health issues such as toxic shock syndrome and sepsis which can cause irreversible consequences, the expense of such sanitation is linked to the tampon tax. The tampon tax labelled sanitary items as a ‘luxury’ item rather than a necessity thus creating an inequality on who could access them. However, for those in the UK, in January 2021 this tax was abolished after a lot of petitions and activism thus moving things in the right direction.
There are many ways you can get involved in the Global Menstrual Collective to help contribute to bringing positive change to menstruation equality and raising awareness to break the taboo on periods. You can simply help by sharing correct information surrounding menstruation and signing petitions or keep an eye out on the Global Menstrual Collective website for any upcoming events to get involved with. Equally, you could explore some of the organisations involved with GMC and how you could contribute through them. Such as Days For Girls, Menstrual Cup Coalition, Plan International.