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.
When I went to school had no cell phone. Had to watch long distance calls. Did not get an expensive coffee daily. Many days just ate dorm food or after i could live out of the dorms, cheap grocery food.
I had to budget. It was a small budget. I did not party much given my field of study was demanding, and had no large amount of money to do so. I had very little money to blow on optional stuff. Parents helped where they could but was a drop in the bucket compared to bills.
You prioritize. Hygiene/sanitary products are personal expenses. My god none of the girls I went to school with ever even made such a demand, they would have been rightly laughed out of the school by friends and staff for such a freeloader, take care of me, attempt.
Liberalism means having no shame, no personal responsibility, no accountability, no self control, no delayed gratification. Its incredible what a damning destructive force feminism and the removal of restraints on womens hypergamy bave done to this country so quickly.
For men in their prime of youth, ejaculating is a natural bodily function. Can even occur while sleeping.
The school should provide free condoms for the guys.
Im kidding, just being as absurd as the idiotic womens demands.
Penis and testicle-related costs should be foisted onto the public treasury as well.
A lot of guys burn through much of their pay tending to the needs of their penis and testicles, resulting in an unjust “penis poverty” the morning after.
I demand that these expenses be reimbursed. I demand justice!
Penis and testicle-related costs should be foisted onto the public treasury as well.
A lot of guys burn through much of their pay tending to the needs of their penis and testicles, resulting in an unjust “penis poverty” the morning after.
I demand that these expenses be reimbursed. I demand justice!
Just call yourself a male. Problem solved.
Contrary to the notions these poor dears hear from their professors, not everything in the world is "Free". Last time I checked personal hygiene is a ........personal matter.
So now these incompetent females need tampax welfare ? Whats next? A paid government assistant to install them?
Poor planning on their part doesn’t
necessary constitute an emergency
on mine.
I partied all night, I need a change
of socks and underwear....
Toothpaste for all ! Dental floss now !
But wait! Were being told that trans-men (women who think theyre men) still menstruate (at least as long as they still have their lady-parts). So this article is incredibly politically incorrect in stating that menstrual products should be provided in womens bathrooms. They have to be provided in mens bathrooms as well, for the benefit of men who menstruate.
(That right there is a sentence I never imagined Id ever type.)
We are so screwed....
We are living in Idiocracy movie :(
No it can’t be, the craziness has made it all the way to the Hampton Roads in Virginia, soon no where will be safe from these people.
Providing “sanitary” products for women will never work.
My wife asked me to get Kotex Extra Heavy Duty Large Overnight Pads with Wings. I came back home with Kotex Heavy Duty Large Overnight Pads with Wings.
“I can’t use these!!!! What are you thinking!!!! You NEVER listen to me!!!! ONE SIMPLE THING and you screw it up!!! I TOLD you to get the Kotex Extra Heavy Duty Large Overnight Pads with Wings!!!! These are the Kotex Heavy Duty Large Overnight Pads with Wings!!!!!! You are such an IDIOT!
.
.
Okay - her response wasn’t like that. Well, a little maybe. But out of the 30 various brands and styles on the 5 shelves - I thought I got pretty close.
What the hell is she bitching about? I used folded up paper towels for a week once, I didn’t bitch and complain, absorbant is absorbant. Oh and I lightly spritzed them with lysol before using them. So many city girls lack creativity or ingenuity.
FYI. Use paper towels only for pads, using them as tamp ins will only ensure you get toxic shock syndrome which can be fatal.
Why do they came them “tamp ons”,. You put a shirt ON, you pull you pants ON one leg at a time, you put your socks ON. You don’t take a tamp an just “toss it on”... You put it IN! It should be called a TAMP-IN!
Feel free to steal my joke :p
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.