OUR APPROACH
Conversation, Education, and Accessibility
The Period Society is deeply committed to fostering grassroots impact in the communities it works with to end the menstrual taboo and further menstrual equity by increasing long term access to period products. We combat cultural taboos with cultural sensitivity guided by our three pillars - conversation, education, and accessibility.
CONVERSATION
Smashing the stigma
We open up the conversation surrounding periods by conducting interactive menstrual hygiene education sessions during which we not only present modules on menstrual health and explain the normal biological process, but we also use videos and engage with our audience, create social media campaigns, and encourage everyone we interact with to freely speak about periods so that we can normalize this taboo by #smashingthestigma.
EDUCATION
It is a normal biological process 'period'
Our motto - putting a period to the stigma - is the main purpose behind our menstrual hygiene education sessions. Many of the taboos surrounding periods in the regions we work in arise from a lack of understanding of the biological process of menstruation. Due a lack of conversation surrounding the subject compounded by cultural taboos, superstitions, and religious beliefs which are interwoven in the cultural fabric of these communities - people believe that menstrual blood is dirty blood and hence it makes a woman impure. We conduct interactive educational sessions with question and answer sessions, videos, and visual diagrams of the reproductive system in the language which our audience speaks to encourage communities to embrace menstruation as an essential component of reproductive health.
ACCESSIBILITY
Promoting eco-friendly periods to minimize environmental impact - "Menstrual hygiene products are essentials, not luxuries"
A significant amount of India menstruating population lacks access to menstrual hygiene products, and is compelled to use substitutes such as ash, rags, grass, and leaves leading to complications such as infections in and around the vagina, cervical cancer, sepsis apart from severe effects on reproductive health. We improve accessibility to period products in low-income communities including but not limited to municipal schools, villages, red light districts, subsidized health clinics, and tribal areas. We either hold period product collection drives or fundraisers, and whenever possible, prefer to use eco-friendly reusable cloth pads which last for up to 3 years creating a long term solutions while reducing plastic waste.
