Period poverty, as defined by the American Medical Women’s Association, is “the inadequate access to menstrual hygiene tools and educations, including but not limited to sanitary products, washing facilities, and waste management” (Alvarez, 2019). While the lack of these resources affects nearly 500 million people worldwide, a portion of this crisis can be directly attributed to the lack of sex education in our public schools. As of 2020, there are currently only twenty-two states that require sex and/or HIV education be medically, factually, or technically accurate. As of 2023, there are 19 states that teach abstinence only sex education, all of which voted republican in the 2020 presidential election. In the state of Oklahoma, only an AIDS prevention curriculum is prioritized, with almost no dialogue regarding the insertion of a sex education curriculum. Particularly in Norman Public Schools, the sex education curriculum they provide only goes until 8th grade, each year briefly touching on different aspects of puberty and dating. Once these kids reach high school, only HIV/AIDS prevention is reiterated in their biology and health classes. With the average age of people losing their virginities being 17 years old, this is simply not an efficient curriculum to prevent, nor engage in safe sex.
Why is it that so many states don’t require a sex education curriculum, though? In an article published by the William and Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice, entitled Why Don't More Public Schools Teach Sex Education? A Constitutional Explanation and Critique, by Jesse. R Merriam, Merriam takes a closer look at the constitutional rights both, as he describes, the ‘secular left’ and ‘religious right’ hold in their decisions to permit this education within our public schools. He argues that while there are clauses in the constitution, such as the ‘Free Speech’ and ‘Due Process’ clauses’ that exist in favor of supporters’ of sex education, it is particularly the religious freedom jargon inscribed within the constitution that holds much more potential and favor to those who are against sex education curriculums (Merriam, 2007); this is specifically contributed to the establishment religion has had in the many intersecting social institutions within our country.
However, what does a lack of sex education have to do with the perpetuation of period poverty? Part of the definition of period poverty includes a “lack of education,” including the biology taught about our reproductive health and bodily processes’ (Alvarez, 2019). However, even when taking a deeper look at the content that is provided within these ‘comprehensive’ sex education courses, many of them mitigate the importance of menstrual health, with education regarding menstruation nearly always going amiss. In an article published by Yahoo Lifestyle, Beth Greenfield takes on the challenge of discovering why menstrual health is avoided in schools, and it all typically comes back to one thing: the stigma surrounding menstruation. Margaret Stubbs, member of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, states, “We’ve skirted the issue because we’re uncomfortable with the topic. We need a developmental approach and, frankly, I don’t think we have it yet. And that’s appalling.” (Greenfield, 2018). Further on in the article, Greenfield quotes Ann Herbert, a doctoral candidate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, along with her co-author, Marni Sommer of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, who’s research “found teen girls to have had a ‘lack of preparation for puberty, including getting information on basic topics such as menstruation.’” (Greenfield, 2018).
When we dig deeper into the issue of a lack of menstrual health education, though, it becomes vibrantly apparent that much of the way we rely on the information about menstrual health comes from the companies who supply said products in the first place, rather than public school educators’. Many campaigns have been created by companies like P&G (who supply Tampax and Always brand menstrual hygiene products) to supply young menstruators’ with informations about their periods, while at the same time, endorsing their brands to become a familiar product provider among people who menstruate. Much of the education being provided by these companies is meant to help destigmatize menstruation, but (stigma) has ultimately become a profit-margin for them. President-elect of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, Evelina Weidman-Sterling, believes that these companies have “seized the opportunity” in an area of education that was significantly lacking, fully knowing that they would profit off of something that was incredibly necessary for youth populations (Greenfield, 2018). However, this gain in revenue can be dated all the way back to the 1940’s, with the menstrual product industry teaming up with Walt Disney to release The Story of Menstruation (1946), a film that has been viewed by nearly 93 million American women (Greenfield, 2018), both you and me alike. Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of “Something Happens to Girls:” Menarche and the Emergence of the Modern American Hygienic Imperative, tells Greenfield, “‘aggressive education programs’ initiated a deliberate campaign: ‘to further develop the youthful adolescent market, a strategy that successfully played on adolescent awkwardness and the embarrassing specter of stained clothes.’” She continues, “‘surrendering menarche to Walt Disney probably contributed in some measure to the difficulties we face today in the realm of female adolescent sexuality,’ including the idea of shame around a period and that it is something to hide.” (Greenfield, 2018) Ultimately, these corporations are snatching basic education away from American youth in efforts to profit off of their stigma. If it wasn’t already enough that 76% of students say there is a negative association that periods are gross and unsanitary and 65% agree that society teaches people to be ashamed of their periods, it certainly does not help that companies meant to support menstruation’ are only doing so to directly profit off of these young menstruators’ shame surrounding one of, if not the most, natural process(es) a person can go through.
Other forms of education that have been created by these brands, specifically booklets, are also incredibly outdated. When looking at The Museum of Menstruation’s comprehensive guide to company booklets’ and overall guides for menstrual health, the most updated booklet was last released in 2011 (which touches on the experience of menstruation, rather than the process and functionality of menstruation), with one of it’s oldest guides’ dating back to 1913. Furthermore, a large majority of the booklets’ provided on this website were released in the early 20th century. Thinking in a modern day view, many of these booklets’ don’t touch on the knowledge we now know about menstrual disorders, birth control, or even gynecologic cancers. Some, if not most, of these booklets’ are extremely outdated, leaving the information people can access regarding menstrual health to be incredibly limited.
Coming back to the central argument to this discussion, the most important thing that is of everyone’s concern, either right or left leaning, is the students’ and the education they are receiving. However, two-thirds of students agree that too many people have to miss out on valuable school time because they do not have the period products they need, which includes access to education. When a basic necessity, such as education about periods, period products, and sex is not readily accessible to the students’ of this country, it has a clear effect on their overall well-being both in and outside of the classroom. It’s time that we stop focusing on our personal opinions regarding sex education, and begin to rely on the clear statistics that show how necessary fixing period poverty and revamping our education curriculum is to both the success and well-being on the youth menstruators’ of America; not only would this impact the menstruating youth, but it would also put necessary curriculum back into the hands’ of incredibly talented, qualified, and well-versed educators’ across the country.
References
Alvarez, A. (2019, October 31). Period Poverty. American Medical Women's Association. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.amwa-doc.org/period-poverty/
Brumberg, J. J. (1993). “Something Happens to Girls”: Menarche and the Emergence of the Modern American Hygienic Imperative. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 4(1), 99–127. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3704181
Basic Information About Gynecologic Cancers | CDC. (n.d.). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/gynecologic/basic_info/index.htm
Contraception | CDC. (n.d.). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/contraception/index.htm
Howe, E., Kimberly, J. R., & Peril, L. (n.d.). Company booklets for girls & teens at MUM. Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from http://www.mum.org/compbook.htm
Menstrual Disorders | Baylor Medicine. (n.d.). Baylor College of Medicine. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.bcm.edu/healthcare/specialties/obstetrics-and-gynecology/ob-gyn-conditions/menstrual-disorders
Papisova, V. (2015, September 30). Teen Virginity Study - When Teens Lose Virginity - Superdrug Online Doctor. Teen Vogue. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.teenvogue.com/story/teens-losing-virginity-age
Period poverty: why it should be everybody's business | Published in Journal of Global Health Reports. (2022, February 22). Journal of Global Health Reports. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.joghr.org/article/32436-period-poverty-why-it-should-be-everybody-s-business
Science / Sex Education and HIV/AIDS Prevention. (n.d.). Norman Public Schools. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.normanpublicschools.org/Page/2493
Society for Menstrual Cycle Research. (n.d.). Menstruation resource site - Society for Menstrual Research. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.menstruationresearch.org
State of the Period 2021. (2021, May 2). Period.org. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://period.org/uploads/State-of-the-Period-2021.pdf
Summary State Policies on Sex Education in Schools. (2020, October 1). National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.ncsl.org/health/state-policies-on-sex-education-in-schools
Why Don't More Public Schools Teach Sex Education? A Constitutional Explanation and Critique. (n.d.). William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=wmjow l