Posted on 12/10/2018 9:49:08 PM PST by csvset
NEWPORT NEWS
A group of students at Christopher Newport University is pushing school leaders to provide free menstrual products on campus.
The school's chapter of PERIOD, a national nonprofit that advocates for women on menstrual issues, has started a petition that calls on the university to provide what they argue are basic necessities and "end period poverty." It had 351 signatures as of Monday morning.
"Interrupted studies. Missed classes. Stunted education," reads the petition. "This is the reality for so many students who menstruate, simply because they lack access to readily available and affordable period products."
Rachel Applebach, a 20-year-old junior studying English literature and the chapter's distribution manager, said she's often approached by "other menstruators in a bind" on campus, saying, "Hey, this is really embarrassing but I need some kind of (period) product, can you help me?"
"That's just a really common experience here," Applebach said. "No one should have to experience that."
The push is part of a national campaign called United for Access from PERIOD and THINX, which manufactures "period-proof underwear," and extends to schools in places including Minnesota, Oregon and Texas.
The University of California, Davis, and the University of Texas at Austin have had victories so far, said Anna Zuccaro, a public relations consultant with the campaign.
There have been "more public spaces (recently) to discuss things like menstrual health," Zuccaro said. "Organizations like PERIOD have filled that space. This (topic) shouldn't be stigmatized, shouldn't be taboo when it happens to more than half the population."
Momentum has grown in recent years pushing public officials to nix obstacles to women getting menstrual products, including efforts to exclude the items from state taxes. Such a bill failed in Virginia at the most recent General Assembly session, but legislators did vote to require that jails and prisons provide products for inmates at no cost.
In an emailed statement, Christopher Newport spokesman Jim Hanchett said the issue "hasn't previously surfaced" on campus.
"Christopher Newport University welcomes a conversation about this with our students and student organizations and we welcome their ideas about innovative, effective strategies for meeting this need," he said in the email.
It's unclear how much it would cost to provide the products at CNU, a public university with 5,000 students.
Applebach said the PERIOD chapter wants the products placed in women's bathrooms at the library and in the first floor of academic buildings where classes are held, to start. Eventually she'd like to see the school put them in all women's bathrooms. They're hoping to meet with campus clubs, sororities, student leadership and the dean of students to broach the issue.
The organization is also working with the menstrual product company Aunt Flow to price-match whatever products the university would choose, Applebach said, to ensure those offered are quality and sustainable.
"I know as students, we're pretty much always crunched for money — thank you, tuition," she said. "That goes further into girls getting stuck with no period products onsite."
The petition notes every school bathroom provides toilet paper and soap "as basic necessities for natural bodily functions."
"People should start considering menstrual products as a basic necessity," Applebach said. "No student deserves to feel embarrassed about or caught off guard about" this.
See: Alexandria Ocossio-Cortez
Local store sells a packet of 30 for 1.98 of an off brand
this is about attention seeking and power and control.
Wow, it is amazing that they reached college age without ever figuring out how to plan ahead and be prepared for when their period might occur. Even women who have irregular periods still know the general timeframe of when it will start, and be prepared.
Furthermore, most women’s restrooms have a feminine product dispenser.
These students are trying to get something for nothing. Once they succeed at this, they will move on to something else. The ultimate goal is for everything to be “free” (and presumably to have sufficient slave labor to produce all the “free” stuff).
Warren must know of the Cherokee hair tampon.
“That’s gold, Jerry! Gold. “ -Kenny Banya
When I was a girl of their age, we said as little as possible about “period products”.
Being observed by a male classmate purchasing “period products”—mortifying.
You had girlfriends to talk to when you felt the need to discuss “period products”.
But, something isn’t adding up here. These kids are so impoverished that they cannot, collectively, or individually, buy a box of Tampax.
Pity.
How is it they always have the fundage for concerts, ravers, Coachella, Burning Man, and spring break baccanals. There’s always a way to be able to scrape together enough cash to keep a reasonable supply of drugs handy. What are those taxpayer-subsidized student loans for, if not keeping one’s personal pharmacy stocked?
How did we make it through so many years of civilization without .demanding that other people finance our “period products”?
I might entertain an exception for Midol. We need to keep lots of that stuff in circulation
I agree with you, EXCEPT that I have to wonder: do we now have the first generation of women in the history of humanity who don’t actually have sense enough to “be prepared?” Maybe this “event” in their lives takes them by surprise, each and every time it happens!
It sounds absurd, but then absurdity seems to be pandemic these days!
I think all these ladies should receive a free hysterectomy which would solve other problems too. Like less babies born to libs.
Paging future employers....
You can add Christopher Newport University to your growing list.
So much for feminism.
Commercial “feminine hygiene” products have only been around for the last 100 years or so. The term “on the rag” used to be very literal.
Women in past generations likely had less need for these products than women today. I doubt my grandmother ever purchased disposable pads. Then again, my grandmother had 14 term pregnancies and breast-fed all 14 children so she probably had much less need for those products anyway.
Pregnancy, malnutrition, chronic illness, and of course dying in childbirth also reduced the need for “feminine products.”
Young women today should be, but won’t be, thankful that they need these products. They are healthy, well-nourished, not spending most of their adult lives pregnant or lactating, and not dying in childbirth. They are also able to get a college education, which means they didn’t have to drop out of school to go to work to support their families, or didn’t have to drop out to care for their homes, parents, and siblings due to a deceased or invalid mother, and that they don’t have fathers who refuse to support education for women, all common scenarios in past generations.
Oppressed and impoverished, my left foot!
There is no way on Earth that a student paying or borrowing thousands of dollars a year for college cannot afford $20-30 a month for sanitary products.
In the developing world, it isn’t uncommon for girls to drop out of school when their periods start. It is often driven by both a lack of sanitary pads AND lack of privacy. Girls who have to “hold it” all day to avoid using public shared bathrooms can’t cope with that AND menstruation.
I would say that the erosion of female privacy in favor of transgenderism is a far greater concern than “I want you to pay for my Maxi pads”. If you can pay for college, you can pay for menstrual pads. But if you don’t feel safe in the bathroom, shower or dorm, you don’t want to attend.
The fact that you are not allowed to say anything about the biologically intact mentally ill man in the shower beside you ... who unironically is called a lesbian because he’s sexually attracted to women is just another reason to just leave.
Since the day I met my wife not once has she asked me to purchase any type of feminine product for herself. She has always said that she would never want to have me standing in some store isle trying to figure out what I was supposed to find.
Been with her for over 40 years.
You all have a $800 cell phone & a monthly phone bill in the hundreds and you cannot afford about $8 a month for your tampons?
Get your priorities straight, girls.
Life isn’t just a stroll from one freebie to another.
I work part time for a staffing company. We conduct bag checks at various venues, looking for weapons , booze, etc. Over the past 2.5 years, I have looked in literally, thousands of purses, backpacks, etc. It is no surprise to see pads or tampons. Even the current SJW Snowflake generation seem to be adequately equipped with these items, These young “ladies” behind this protest are full of it.
What a wonderful story! Bless his heart -- and the last line, amazing! Thanks for posting!
Mr, Arunachalam Muruganantham should have won the Nobel prize, imho.
These are young adults? what a bunch of whiners.
Apologies to those who suffer the burdens of womanhood with nary a whimper, unlike the ‘entitled’ little ones at CNU.
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