In modern society, the menstrual cycle is so stigmatized, it is taboo to talk about it in public. Education for males about the menstrual cycle is inadequate, and almost every male doesn't know how menstruators use a pad. We find it appalling that something over 50% of the population goes through once a month is so unmentionable that when someone needs to use the bathroom to change a menstrual product, they resort to hiding the product so that people won't see it when they leave.

In America, many people are in Period Poverty, the name given to the economic state of people who can’t afford to get the period products they need. Because of Period Poverty, right now in America 1 of 5 girls aren’t in classrooms. People in the economic class are often forced to use alternative methods to keep from bleeding everywhere like rolling toilet paper or leaving their products in longer than 8 hours which risks an infection.

For some who are non-binary, trans, or intersex it can be hard to get period products because of danger. According to a study done by the FBI, nearly 1 in 5 hate crimes are motivated by an anti LGBTQ+ bias making it dangerous to go to the local store and pick up the needed products. If menstrual products were free and in bathrooms, nonbinary, trans, and intersex people could easily access the products without being worried about assault and harassment. This easy access wouldn’t only help LGBTQ+ however, it would help everyone who needs to use a menstrual product. Anyone who menstruates has experienced the panic of forgetting a product at home and frantically asking friends if they have one to use. This could all be avoided if free products were in every bathroom, including the ones at schools. By making period products free, we could make them more easily accessible to everyone regardless of their class and gender.

Within our society, the topic of menstruation and uterine bleeding is often an unmentionable subject. According to a survey conducted by Thinx, 42% of menstruators have experienced period shaming, 51% of men don’t think periods should be discussed at the workplace, 58% of menstruators have been embarrassed about their periods, 73% of menstruators have hidden a product on the way to the restroom, and 1 in 5 menstruators have experienced period shaming because of a male friend. Because we don’t talk about periods enough those who menstruate are ashamed, a normal thing is a forbidden topic, and most importantly males are uninformed and uneducated. But how do we start the conversation about menstruation? Well, the answer lies in the menstruation products themselves. By making period products free and placing them in all bathrooms, the products are normalized as an everyday part of life. This opens into a discussion about the normalizing of period education at all levels from elementary to high school. We should make period products available in bathrooms for everyone who needs them and no longer encourage a sexist stereotype about menstruation.