Time to Talk Periods

This month we’re making it our mission to educate, donate and stop the stigma surrounding periods. We’re joining the conversation and want to invit you too, with our Time to Talk Periods campaign. Throughout the month we’ll be looking at the ways in which we can all do better, focussing on four key themes – Langauge & Inclusivity, Period Poverty, Health, and Environment and Climate change.

We’ve partnered with leading charity Bloody Good Period who are dedicated to fighting for mentrual equity and the rights for all people who bleed. The organisation provide pads and menstrual supplies to people who need them, provide sexual and reproductive health education to those who don’t have access to it, fight to eradicate shame and stigma surrounding periods through conversation, and demand fair treatment for everyone who menstruates. Throughout the month you’ll be able to donate directly to Bloody Good Period through our checkout.

Last year we worked with environmental activist Ella Daish to launch an online version of her Eco Period Box campaign, which let you buy and donate an eco-period product which we would send on behalf of you to charity, and for every 10 items donated we added another two. With your help we donated £14,628 worth of products to be distributed amongst the people who needed them most. This year we’ve brought back the prodcut donations and would love your help to beat last years total. Once again for every 10 items donated, we will add two more and they will go directly the Newcastle West End Food Bank.

Our Themes

We’ve chosen a different theme to focus on for each week of our Time to Talk Periods campaign so that we can take a deeper look at the different issues and open specific dialogues to help end the stigma around menstruation, alleviate period poverty, make sure everyone is taken care of and assess our impact on the environment as individuals.

Language & Inclusivity

Many organisations and individuals are putting pressure on supermarkets and period care brands to change the language they use when they refer to menstruation and menstrual products. A lot of companies use words like ‘feminine’, ‘hygiene’ and ‘sanitary’ when talking about periods, and this kind of language can be damaging, it implies periods are ‘feminine’ and something dirty, when not all women have periods and not all people who have periods identify as women. Menstruation is a completely natural part of life, and not a taboo topic that shouldn’t be spoken about, but when we imply there is something unhygienic or unsanitary about periods then we discourage people from talking openly about their experience which is vital to our own learning.

Period Poverty

We want to make sure everyone has access to period products when they need them, and we are asking for your help. So many people around the world aren’t able to purchase period products for a variety of reasons, and the global pandemic has made a lot of people’s financial situations worse.

Health & Wellbeing

Since we don’t tend to talk about periods, we miss out on the conversations srrounding the health and wellbeing of people who menstruate. Typically we all know that cramp is a side effect of menstruation, but we don’t talk about what is happening to your body to cause it. There are also lesser known conditions like endometriosis that many women suffer from but because it’s rarely talked about it can take a long time to get a diagnosis and proper treatment. We also want to look at how we can look after ourselves when we’re on our period, and get you to discuss the period care that works for you.

Environment & Climate Change

According to Mooncup, one person will use more than 11,000 disposable sanitary products in a lifetime, and on a single day in 2013, Ocean Conservancy volunteers collection 27,938 used tampon applicators on the worlds beaches. These alarming statistics highlight the need to switch to eco-friendly options when it comes to our periods, and leave the plastic out of them. There are so many plastic free, zero waste and reusable options to choose from when it comes to your period, and we want to help you find the right products for you.

Keep track of our plans throughout the month on social media and get involved!