Those who cannot afford menstrual products, will use makeshift pads and tampons that raise concern for their physical health. People have been reported to use unsafe alternatives such as old rags, blankets, toilet paper, diapers, chicken feathers, newspapers, mud (www.medicalnewstoday.com) or using the proper menstrual products they did have for too long. “Using these alternative products puts individuals at higher risk of urogenital infections, which are infections of the urinary and genital systems. These infections include urinary tract infections and bacterial vaginosis,” (www.medicalnewstoday.com) and leaving a tampon in for longer than its intended purposes could put them at risk for toxic shock syndrome. Aside from health and hygienic problems, period poverty also affects education and work presence. “64% of girls surveyed in the UK have missed school because of their period.” (www.bbc.com) and a “study in Bangladesh showed that 73% of women missed work for an average of 6 days a month,” (www.medicalnewstoday.com). Young people and older professionals who menstruate either miss school and work or are mentally absent, while physically being present, due to the anxiety of having insufficient security for their menstruation. The anxiety of menstruating in public or simply being a person who menstruates comes from the social stigma of periods being something that is dirty and something that should be kept a secret as “some women in certain countries, such as Nepal, are banned from their home during their periods,” (http://www.cpha.ca). To end Period Poverty it is important that we advocate for free menstrual products, especially in schools and public areas and provide more education on menstruating that includes all types of individuals who menstruate, whether biological women or trans people. 

I chose to create a respectful design that specifically does not exclude anyone from the Period Poverty movement, choosing to go with a simplistic design that does not showcase any specific gender, but focuses on the biological process of menstruating which is to shed blood and the dollar sign in the middle, which symbolizes the over priced, and pink tax — still implemented on feminine hygiene products in 30 out of the 50 states of the U.S. (www.universe.byu.edu) — and a catchy slogan that is the main goal of the whole cause. Don’t Charge Me To Bleed, Make Menstrual Products Free.