Afghan refugees, Gender Norms, Space Exploration… | Weekly Roundup | Issue #003
Your weekly newsletter about menstrual health.
Weekly Reflection Prompt
What advice would you give new menstruators?
Think about your first period experience. At that moment, did you know what periods were? What emotions did you feel? How did people say you should feel? Were they the same? Feel free to email your response to us or share it in our community thread.
Leading the Way
As Afghan refugees are moving to the United States, people around the country are helping out. Airbnb announced that it would provide temporary housing to 20,000 refugees. Read more here. But not all of us need to be a big corporation to help out. Alyssa McClellan from Oklahoma has also pitched in. She started collecting donations from her home to then send off to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She is collecting hygienic items such as body wash, diapers, hand sanitizer, and menstrual products (pads only). Read more here.
Applauding the power of storytelling and crying at the same time, I share with you that Gabrielle Union wrote about her surrogacy journey through a personal essay in Time magazine. It’s a brutally honest essay and we are all here for her. Read here.
As Gen Z takes matters into their own hands without permission and unapologetically, activists from the student-run organization Free the Period, introduced a bill in California that “could make free menstrual products available in all California public schools grade 6-12, community colleges, and California state universities.”— Audin Leung, from MS Magazine. It is called the California Assembly Bill 367, The Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2021. Free the Period formed a coalition with nine other organizations and met weekly to strategize how to speak to the California State Legislature and achieve period equity. I think we can all relate to “We’re tired of having free condoms shoved at us at schools where there are no free menstrual products.” SO TRUE. Read more here.
Florida state senator, Lauren Book, soon followed the steps of Free the Period. She filed the Leading with Dignity Act (SB 248) that would give access to menstrual products free of charge at k-12 public schools. Read more here.
Finally, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) SPEAKS UP. Period tracker app Flo Health was sued in January and got sued again on September 2nd for sharing our data with analytics and marketing third-party agencies. The FTC now has warned that all “apps and devices that collect personal health information must notify consumers if their data is breached or shared with third parties without their permission”. Yes, yes, yes. The fine is $43,792 per violation per day and we are all here for it. Stop taking advantage of the data gaps in healthcare as an excuse to collect data and share it carelessly. Read more here.
We are excited to read Yasmin Watling’s report on “Gender Norms and the Period Revolution”, published by the Overseas Development Institute. It examines period campaigns worldwide, significant changes in gender norms, the period revolution, and more. Read the report here.
FemTech
Tunne, a hormonal health startup, published an online form where you can check if your birth control pill is impacting your symptoms. View the 2-question form here.
SpaceTech Analytics and SpaceBorn United released the report “Giving Birth in Space”. It features research on reproductive health in space, emerging technologies, and trends in the astronaut’s health and space exploration market. The group, FemTech Analytics, contributed to the report. Read the report here.
Member Spotlight
Niamh D’Arcy: Digital Engagement and Communications at electronRx.
This week, Niamh joined our newsletter community. She works at eletronRx doing digital engagement and communications. She has a master’s degree in International Education and Development. She wrote her dissertation about menstruation titled “Mapping Meanings of Menstruation: Global Perspectives from Students at the University of Sussex”. Let’s show a warm welcome and connect with her on LinkedIn. We are happy you are here Niamh! 🙌 🎉 💌
Upcoming Events
September
Columbia University Periods & Sports webinar | September 22nd @8:00am EST | Link here.
Learn How To Intuitively Align with Your Cycle taught by Clara Bailey | Choose between September 23rd @8:00pm AEST or September 24th @9:00am AEST | Link here.
Madami by Menstrual Health Hub Live Event | Know Your Cycle: Peaceful & Productive Periods | September 30th @6:00pm CET | Link here.
October
University of Sheffield Menstruation in the Media Conference | October 21st @10:15am BST | Link here.
ACE 2021 IXth Asian Conference on Endometriosis | October 28th-30th | Link here. (NEW)
November
The Third Annual Australian Space Biology & Health Summit | November 16th-19th | Link here.
Accounts to Follow
Instagram:
Zainab Chamoun, writer @zainabmchamoun
Sarah Byrne, women’s wellness facilitator @iamsarahbyrne
Annabelle Jones, menstrual health researcher @the.mini.martian
Cathie Beukes, certified nutritionist, and life coach from A New U Nutrition @thenomadicnutritionist
Clara Bailey, naturopath, herbalist, and fertility awareness educator @clarabailey_
Maria Carmen Punzi, menstrual health advocate @periodswithmariacarmen
Christine Bergsma, from Journaling Through @journaling_through
Margaret Hayes from Nature’s Cycle UK @natures_cycle
❤️ We like Instagram too! Here is our account @periodpress ❤️
Until next Sunday morning! 🗞☕️
If you want to catch up on previous roundups, here are the links:
Video Campaign, Libido Talk, Covid-19 Vaccine, Gender Data Gap…| Weekly Roundup | Issue #002
Lubricant Ad, Fertility Analyzer, Full-Cycle Skincare… | Weekly Roundup | Issue #001
Share your comments on this week’s roundup!
