Excerpt from a speech our founder gave at Menstrual Hygiene Day in NYC, 2017.
In western Nepal, the practice of Chhaupadi sends menstruating people to live in mud huts. There, they miss work and school, while having to endure frostbite, starvation, isolation, and even attacks from animals and men alike. Although the practice was made illegal in Nepal in 2005, it still persists with little legal consequence. And it’s not just in Nepal. The Jewish community of the Ethiopian highlands send women to huts called margam gojos when they become niddah—or impure during menstruation. In many Indian states, the practice of banishing women and girls is common, with the most prevalence among the Gonds. And in some parts of rural Kenya, it is thought that if a menstruating person touches crops or livestock, it will become poisonous or die.
In the western world, we may not banish women and girls to isolation. But we still uphold shame and cultural taboos with regards to menstruation.
Menstruation—the very normal process that is responsible for every single one of us being born and existing!
Right here in America, we have endured a luxury tax on period products in most of the nation. In New York state, there is no tax on condoms or candy but apparently menstrual products have been deemed a luxury and not a basic health necessity. This tax exacerbates period poverty and negatively impacts the quality of life of menstruating people by decreasing accessibility to products.
That’s why I am so proud of the work this coalition has done to end the tampon tax in New York. I would like to extend a huge heartfelt thank you to Assemblymember, Linda Rosenthal for embarking on this mission with us and leading the charge.
Our next efforts in New York City will be put toward ensuring that people in jails, schools, and homeless shelters have access to free menstruation products. This policy change has been long overdue.
After all, there is blood everywhere:
Blood of brothers
Blood of the moon
Blood in the streets
And emergency rooms
The blood of kinship
The genealogy of bloodlines
Blood from wars and bullets
And stepping on landmines
There’s bloodshed for money
And bloodshed for power
Blood is glorified
Every day, every hour.
Blood of the fighters,
Blood from the battle.
Blood from pigs
And blood from the cattle.
Blood on our plates
In the prized meat for dinner
Blood of Christ
Offered to every sinner.
Blood of the lamb
Blood sprayed from guns
Blood of sacrifice
Blood from our sons
Blood of revenge
Is all fine and well
But blood from a woman
What a wicked spell
We celebrate blood
With pride and glory
Unless it’s life-giving
Then it’s shameful and gory
The blood of our daughters
Seen as impure and unclean
Yet none of us would be here
Without it having been
The blood from our mothers
The placenta where we grew
The blood that enabled
Every life anew
How intellectually foolish
And deft we’ve all become
When culture demands
Women’s bodies must be shunned
So who has the courage
To embrace what’s divine?
Will you teach your sons
To be compassionate and kind?
Will you teach your daughters
To embrace their life-giving power?
Or will we continue this cycle
Of misinformation and cower?
