4 things you should know about period poverty

[NelsonG]

Saturday is the second-ever National Period Day. Youth-run nonprofit organization PERIOD started the awareness campaign last year to bring period poverty, a rarely-talked about topic, into the public forum.

Products like pads and tampons are essential for people who get their periods, but not everyone can access or afford them. While you can buy things like lip balm or get a tattoo without paying extra in some states, 30 states make you pay a "tampon tax" on pads and tampons, according to the legal organization Period Equity. 

That means states collectively make an estimated $126 million every year off people's periods. Americans spend more than $2 billion on menstrual products annually. Period Equity and the period product and sexual wellness company LOLA are working to get states to discard this discriminatory tax. States such as Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, and California have complied.  Read more...

More about Periods, Menstruation, Menstruation Stigma, Social Good, and Identities

View the full article