{"id":28843,"date":"2018-12-11T11:45:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T11:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=28843"},"modified":"2018-12-11T11:45:19","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T11:45:19","slug":"what-if-men-could-menstruate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/what-if-men-could-menstruate\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;What if men could menstruate?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u201cMenstruation would become an enviable, worthy, masculine event: Men would brag about how long and how much. Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Written in 1986, Gloria Steinem\u2019s essay, <a href=\"https:\/\/ww3.haverford.edu\/psychology\/ddavis\/p109g\/steinem.menstruate.html\">\u201cIf men could menstruate\u201d<\/a> is as relevant today as it was then. Tampons are still taxed as a \u201cluxury item\u201d and one in ten young women (aged 14-21) have been unable to afford period products. In London, this number is closer to one in seven,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/plan-uk.org\/media-centre\/1-in-10-girls-have-been-unable-to-afford-sanitary-wear-survey-finds\">Plan International UK reported this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeriod poverty occurs when a person has to make a choice between food and sanitary items, between going to school or work and risking their menstrual fluid leaking because they can\u2019t afford menstrual supplies,\u201d Alice Walker-Mitchell from the charity <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloodygoodperiod.com\/\">Bloody Good Period<\/a> told Voice of London. Girls in this situation often see their choice as missing school when on their period, or using socks, toilet roll and tissue in lieu of proper sanitary pads.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Period Poverty - an interview with Homeless Period Brighton by Fiona Patterson\" width=\"500\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F542478732&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=750&#038;maxwidth=500\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the UK Value Added Tax is currently charged at the reduced rate of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/rates-of-vat-on-different-goods-and-services#health-education-welfare-and-charities\">5% on sanitary products<\/a>, including panty liners and certain maternity pads. This is the same rate at which solar panels, child car seats and nicotine patches are taxed. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/health-42013239\">According to the BBC<\/a>, in a woman\u2019s lifetime, it is predicted that she will spend approximately \u00a31,400 on products, \u00a368 of which on VAT.<\/p>\n<p>Alice notes that \u201cIn terms of refugees and asylum seekers, their weekly allowance of \u00a337.75 barely covers food, clothes and transport, leaving many people to make a choice between feeding their family and purchasing menstrual supplies.\u201d Refugees are further halted by the restrictions placed on them working or applying for jobs in the UK, meaning there is no other way to supplement their income without risking their status as refugees and asylum seekers in this country. \u201cNot to mention that it\u2019s been proven that PTSD and past trauma can lead to heavier periods, meaning more supplies would be needed each month.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">At Marylebone last night, I saw a young woman walking up &amp; down outside the toilets looking upset. Turns out she didn&#39;t have 30p to go to the loo. I paid for her &amp; she thanked me profusely, she explained she had her period. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/PeriodPoverty?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PeriodPoverty<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/HumanRightsDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#HumanRightsDay<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4PYOsgFkDc\">pic.twitter.com\/4PYOsgFkDc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dr Sarah Learmonth (@SarahCactus1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SarahCactus1\/status\/1072107754406494208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 10, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The New York Post <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2018\/01\/03\/nearly-half-of-women-have-experienced-period-shaming\/\">reported a poll<\/a> that claimed 58 per cent of women have felt a sense of embarrassment simply because they were on their period. Forty-two per cent of women have experienced period-shaming, with one in five being made to have these feelings because of comments made by a male friend. Alice explained, \u201cThe best way for a stigma to be reduced is to talk about it! One of our focuses as an organisation is to talk to as many people about periods as we can. If we bring the conversation around periods into more public spaces and into pop culture, the taboo surrounding it will be broken!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you want to take action or help in any way, you can with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloodygoodperiod.com\/volunteer\">Bloody Good Period<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/thehomelessperiod.com\/\">Homeless Period UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What a fantastic and way of getting donations for refugees and asylum seekers who need our help. A simple donation like this can help bring an end to period poverty <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/flowhoho?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#flowhoho<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7TeJ94LEiR\">https:\/\/t.co\/7TeJ94LEiR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jemimah (@JemimahWard2) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JemimahWard2\/status\/1070358256093036545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Or donate to any of the below spots in London&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>[googlemaps https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1otKX1-pUFvYcIGHstRGgf-7z1h8_Tkos&amp;w=640&amp;h=480]<\/p>\n<p>Related Articles:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"vigNGi9RVP\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/thongs-out-for-consent\/\">Thongs Out For Consent<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Thongs Out For Consent&#8221; &#8212; Voice of London\" src=\"https:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/thongs-out-for-consent\/embed\/#?secret=rapFJcEzTn#?secret=vigNGi9RVP\" data-secret=\"vigNGi9RVP\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Words and Audio: Fiona Patterson | Fiona Patterson interviewing Medbh Henry<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Illustration by Hazel Mead (@hazel.mead) for Bloody Good Period\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subbing: Sorcha Gilheany<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cMenstruation would become an enviable, worthy, masculine event: Men would brag about how long and how much. Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free.\u201d Written in 1986, Gloria Steinem\u2019s essay, \u201cIf men could menstruate\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":29022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,52,93,134],"tags":[3884,4095,4818,4819,4934,5194],"class_list":["post-28843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activism","category-featured","category-news","category-uknews","tag-luxury","tag-menstruation","tag-period","tag-period-poverty","tag-politics","tag-refugee"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}