Period Poverty and the Politics of Shame
From missing school during menstruation to workplace stigma — how bodily functions become instruments of exclusion.
Menstruation is a biological process. Period shame is a political technology. When girls miss school because they lack pads, private toilets, or permission to speak about pain, the state and family have chosen ignorance over infrastructure.
The Double Bind
Women are expected to manage bleeding silently, buy products privately, smile through cramps, and never “make it weird.” Meanwhile, workplace cultures mock PMS and dismiss endometriosis as exaggeration.
What Root Feminism Demands
- Free or affordable menstrual products in schools and public facilities - Medical research that takes menstrual pain seriously - Leave policies that do not force people to invent “stomach flu” - An end to purity rituals that exile menstruating people from kitchens and temples as unclean
Bodily dignity is not a niche health topic. It is a citizenship claim.
Feminist Files
Editorial Publication
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