Author Archives: Suzan

About Suzan

menstrual activist , alternative product advocate, TSS survivor

#PeriodTalk TweetChat

Tara, founder of @bpreparedperiod, hosts a monthly #PeriodTalk  TweetChat, which focuses on a “commitment to open menstrual conversation and education.”

Today I was privileged to be one of three guests in the #PeriodTalk TweetChat. The topic was Menstruation & The Organizations That Care.  The guests were Morgan @Pads4Girls, Celeste @DaysforGirls and Suzan (me) @youarelovedTSS.

A sampling of tweets from the guests follows.

Pads4Girls is a social impact project of @lunapads that supports education for girls in developing nations. We provide girls in need with reusable menstrual supplies so they can attend school during their period.  In many communities, disposable products are impossibly expensive, leaving menstruating girls to fend for themselves. Without means to manage periods, girls are forced to stay home from school rather than risk being shamed. Girls who drop out marry earlier, earn less & are at greater risk of developing HIV & dying from childbirth complications. Menstruation is a taboo subject & many girls reach menarche without knowing what is happening to them & why. The UN estimates that girls miss up to 20% off their class time because of their period. @Lunapads has been sending donated cloth pads to NGOs and groups working in Africa since 2001. In 2006 @Lunapads commitment to girls education was formalized with the creation of Pads4Girls. With the help of @lunapads customers, we’ve provided over 3000 girls & women with pads in over 15 countries. We partnered with @TTextiles to create specialized 1-size-fits-all menstrual underwear that hold absorbent pads. We’ve raised enough to provide 10,000 period kits made by @TTextiles to be distributed throughout Malawi in Feb!

You ARE Loved – a nonprofit org focused on raising TSS awareness. It’s impossible to raise awareness about tampon related TSS without talking openly about menstruation. You ARE Loved also provides factual menstrual information and shares about safer menstrual alternatives. In the summer of 2010, 20 year old Amy got sick with what appeared to be the flu – only it wasn’t. Amy died a few days later from tampon related Toxic Shock Syndrome. Her Mom, Lisa, decided to do everything possible to raise awareness so other families would not suffer a similar loss. Over time that vision grew and gave birth to a nonprofit – You ARE Loved. Please take a look at our TSS awareness brochure & share it with others. We are raising awareness about the ONLY fem hygiene product you should worry about causing TSS: traditional tampons. Brands like Kotex, OB, Playtex and Tampax all come with increased risk because they contain viscose. Any other menstrual option is safer when it comes to TSS – organic tampons, pads, & cups (disposable&reusable). It’s important to remember that tweens, young teens and younger women are more likely to develop TSS, and die from it. They are at increased risk because 1) they have not yet developed antibodies and 2) have risky tampon use habits.  TSS does not take a holiday. Know the facts. Learn what to do.

@DaysforGirls is a grassroots org of thousands of volunteers worldwide ensuring more dignity, education and health for girls. Mission is to give girls the dignity of quality washable menstrual supplies they can count month after month. Millions of women go without MHM. Our goal to reach every woman in the world by 2022. Collaboration and awareness is key.  Receiving MHM and knowledge is powerful. Afterwards women and girls have stood up to exploitation, child trafficking and FGM. In Kisii, Kenya after a DfG distribution and empowerment talk FGM (female genital mutilation) dropped by a reported 30%. Did you know that hundreds of thousands of girls are sexually exploited in exchange for hygiene? It’s hard to imagine. Girls suffer humiliation, infection, exploitation and marginalization just for lack of feminine hygiene.  One beautiful, educated 16 yr Kenyan girl said after learning what her period is, “I’m so glad to know. I thought I had HIV.” Imagine having to choose between being exploited to stay in school or being married as an enslaved child bride.  @DaysforGirls has sent over 60,000 kits to 30 nations on 5 continents thanks to volunteers worldwide. We also empower local women in the countries we serve to make their own.

Throughout the chat questions were asked to engage and inform TweetChat participants.

Q1: Please share ur name & the number of girls/women you’ve known that’ve been unable 2 afford fem care items (A. 0 B.1-4 C. 5+)

Q2: What percentage of class time do you think girls in east Africa miss due to lack of access to menstrual products?

Q3: What do you think girls in the developing world who lack menstrual pads use to manage their flow?

Q4: Before this tweet chat, how would you rate your knowledge of the need for fem care items abroad?

Q5: Do you know anyone who uses tampons?

Q6: Would u know what to do if u or someone u know got ill w/flu-like symptoms while using or w/in days of using a tampon?

Q7: How familiar are U with the symptoms of Toxic Shock Syndrome? Thx to Suzan symptoms can also be found @ http://t.co/Vl32Peu2

Q8: Do you think lack of MHM (menstrual health management) solutions effect girls in the USA?

Q9: How can you raise awareness about lack of MHM?

If you’ve never participated in a TweetChat, I encourage you to attend the next #PeriodTalk TweetChat on January 11, 2013, hosted by Tara (@bpreparedperiod) of Be Prepared Period. More information, along with the transcript of today’s #PeriodTalk, can be found on the TweetChat page of Be Prepared Period‘s site.

Pad Perspective

I wore a pad today.

A huge overnight pad that reached well up my front and quite high up my rear. It filled the crotch of my panty and bunched between my legs.

You can see in the picture how huge it is compared to my hand. Imagine how huge it felt in my size 6 panty!

I placed the pad this morning and wore it until early evening.  When I check the mirror, from the rear the pad was quite evident and in the front it made a bulge in my jeans.

It was over-sized, bulky, uncomfortable, ill-fitting and touched me in places I preferred a pad not touch me.  My hands continually went to my waistband to pull up my panty, to adjust the fit, to shift the pad – and to my rear to pull the pad away from my upper hip. When I sat, it bunched in the front and when I stood it sagged in the seat.

My day found me at a local hospital, in physical therapy, shopping, driving, sitting, standing, walking – and never once did I NOT feel the pad.

It was present with me physically – and mentally as well.

I felt like a girl wearing her mother’s pad.

Yesterday, at the grocery I stopped on the feminine hygiene isle and stood looking at the many options women have for managing menstruation. The huge 15 inch long purple pad I wore today was only one.  There were pads of various shapes, sizes, absorbances and colors – all meant to meet the needs of women.

But, not all who menstruate are women.  Many girls are entering puberty early and it’s not unusual to hear of a girl who has begun by age 7, or start menstruating by age 9 (or even earlier).

Just as I need a pad designed for my body that meets my menstrual needs, tweens and girls need products designed for their bodies, that meet their menstrual needs.  Kotex recognizes this need, and now sells U Tween – especially marketed to girls ages 7 to 12. 

 

 

The next time you place a pad – or whatever menstrual product you prefer – consider for a moment who you were at age 8 and if your product of choice would have worked for you at that age.  And, consider also that there are many girls who experience periods just as heavy as yours but who do not have product choices equal to their physical and menstrual needs.

 

FOX News and Menstruation

When looking for a topic for my next blog post I googled “menstruation news” – first on the list was Menstruation News and Video – FOX News Topics.

Curious what conservative FOX News might post concerning menstruation I clicked on the link.

On the upper left in small print I found a brief definition of menstruation (via Wikipedia). In the center was a large picture of a woman’s mouth with an inhaler between her parted lips and below it was written “Asthma symptoms may vary during menstrual cycle.” And on the left in small print – a teaser for Endometriosis Marked by Pelvic Pain, Heavy Menstrual Bleeding.

So far, so good.

Below the teaser for the Endometriosis article was another teaser for…Belly Button Bacteria: What’s Living in Your Navel?

Now, I can understand the picture of the woman using the inhaler – the article deals with asthma and the menstrual cycle. It’s not about menstruation but does touch very briefly on something that happens to some women when menstruation begins.  But, the belly button biodiversity article (though extremely interesting) didn’t even mention menstruation – or women.

So…why was it on a page about menstruation?

As I paged down through the non menstruation articles offered I wondered who had tagged them “menstruation” and why.  And, I wondered if that individual simply didn’t understand that “women’s health” or “menstrual cycle” does not equate “menstruation.”

Hidden way down at the bottom of that first page was a teaser for a piece entitled: Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Aid Menopause and in that teaser, a statement:

All women after a certain age will experience menopause.

I clicked on the link and found a sufficient and positive overview of menopause – and as promised a brief list of suggested lifestyle changes (regular exercise, eating healthy foods, sleep, relaxation). But, I found not a word about menstruation, unless I consider the following mention of “periods”:

However, a hysterectomy that also removes the ovaries will cause menopause immediately. Once a woman’s ovaries are removed, her periods stop, and she will most likely experience the symptoms related to menopause.

Fact. If the uterus is removed (hysterectomy) a woman stops menstruating – no uterus, no menstruation (periods). When ovaries are removed (oophorectomy), the menstrual cycle stops – no ovaries, no menstrual cycle.

“Menstrual cycle” and “menstruation” are not interchangeable.

It’s no wonder so many girls and women are confused. Just the simple act of googling “menstruation” left me confused and scratching my head.

Be period wise.

What’s a girl to do?

What do you do when you wake to find your period’s started?  You do what many do and reach for your supplies.

And, if you forgot to purchase more, you look around and find a pad or tampon in your purse or backpack, knowing it will hold you long enough to get to the store where you can buy more.

But what if you don’t have easy access to a store?  What if you don’t have transportation?  What if you don’t have $$ to purchase what you need? What if you’re homeless? What if you’re dependent on others to provide for your menstrual needs and you’re too embarrassed to ask? What if there are no menstrual supplies available – at all?  What if your clothing is limited and you are unable to wash out your clothes each day?

What would your first day of menstruation be like?  How would you cope with the next 7 or so days of menstruation? Would you be able to attend school? Would you be able to work?  What would you do?

Millions of girls and women find themselves in this situation period after period, month after month, year after year, using leaves, moss, paper and old rags to absorb their flow.

Girls can’t can’t attend school on the days they are menstrual if they don’t have adequate menstrual supplies.  It’s true here in the U.S. and it’s true in developing countries as well.  Imagine yourself as girl who wakes up excited about the school day only to realize that she won’t be able to attend ALL WEEK because the newspaper or toilet paper she lines her panties with isn’t sufficient to prevent her from leaking through to her clothes.  And, then imagine how far behind the others you would become if you missed a week of school EVERY month.  What’s a girl to do?

I recently heard from an advocate for homeless women who said homeless shelters for women must ration what meager supplies they have.

Imagine being given two pads or two tampons each day, knowing they won’t last more than a couple of hours…knowing that you have a job interview…knowing that when you bleed on your clothes you will be unable to wash them for a week…knowing that you will bleed all over your cot that night, and yourself…knowing that there’s no $$ to purchase what you need…knowing that everyone will be aware that you are on your period because it will be visually obvious to everyone…knowing that whatever you find to line your panty with will most likely be less than sanitary and certainly will not be sufficient for your needs…and, knowing homeless shelters usually require that you are outside during the daytime and inside only for sleep.  What’s a woman to do?

For those interested in making a difference in the menstrual lives of others:

  • Four sites come to mind as examples of what can be done and opportunities that exist for assisting girls and women in meeting their menstrual needs: Lunette   Pads4Girls   Days for Girls   GladRags

 

Stop TSS Now – Period Talk

Toxic Shock Syndrome is something everyone needs to know about.  In a guest post for Be Prepared Period, I wrote:

It’s not enough to know about TSS.  We must be able to talk about it. Tampon users must be comfortable enough to say: “Hey, I’m on my period and I’m using tampons and I think I might have TSS – I need help!”  And, we all must be willing to initiate period talk, if only to raise awareness about TSS.

Be sure to check out the rest of this important post, which I wrote in support of this month’s #PeriodTalk. Also, consider yourself invited on Friday, December 14, 2012 at 2 pm ET when three nonprofits (Pads4Girls, Days for Girls, and You ARE Loved) will share their vision of a world where menstruation is no longer a taboo topic and what they are doing to assist women and girls with menstrual needs.

“Really really comfortable and really really awesome”

That’s how Kati, an 11 year old who recently experienced her first two periods, describes cloth menstrual pads.

Kati used disposable pads for her first period and experienced leaks, along with the need to change her pads every 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Kati’s mom interviews her in this YouTube video and asks her if she would ever use disposable pads again.  Kati’s immediate response is “NO” and she goes on to say that in an emergency she would find a wash cloth or a shirt to use instead of accepting a disposable pad.