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A Cyclical Cyclone: A Period Poverty Essay By Jasmine Grossman Menstrual cycles are embedded in everyday life for most women everywhere. Consequently, the stigma around menstrual cycles and most notably periods shapes the experiences of women. This stigma usually stems from the views of men that misunderstand periods and what it means to go through one. A popular misunderstanding being the stereotype of the explosively emotional and insane woman on her period. The truth of the matter is distorted until it shrivels into a husk of what it is meant to be. The perceived beauty of women is immediately warped into disgust and the struggles, experiences, and feelings of women are undermined. One of the struggles that accompanies periods that is often undermined is the pain that comes with it. It is hard to sympathize with something that one does not understand, which is what happens in the case of periods. More often than not, people that do ot have periods underestimate and disregard the sometimes debilitating pain that period cramps produce. Women that are in too much pain to move, let alone go to work or school, are berated as weak or lazy for a bodily function that they cannot control. Furthermore, women on their periods are demonized as horribly emotional and crazy, another misunderstood aspect of periods that causes pain and insecurity for many women. They are forced to constantly worry about how they are perceived, lest they be ignored and labelled as too emotional. This even bleeds into life separate from periods, in which women and their ideas may be disregarded because “she's just on her period”. There are many different period products on the market today such as the ones shown above, which are not even all of the ones that are available, but knowledge of these products is in low supply. Sex education in schools is not universal, and the classes that do exist are in no way all inclusive. Periods are breezed over as part of a lesson about vaginas, but never are people taught why and how they happen. They are not taught how it affects the body and how it can be managed. Pads and tampons were never discussed, let alone menstrual cups or menstrual underwear. This lack of education opens the doorway for misinformation, most popularly about how pads are the only appropriate product to use and that tampons or menstrual cups take away someone's virginity. Women should be able to make their own educated decisions about what they want to use, which is not allowed by current education on the topic. Moreover, knowing how and why periods happen could help neutralize the stereotypes and misconceptions about women and periods. Furthermore, the lack of education introduces a sense of shame around periods and their products. Due to the lack of in depth conversations about periods, many young women feel ashamed of them despite their normality. Having a pad or tampon out in the open makes them a target for teasing and laughter, causing then further shame and embarrassment. - Jasmine Grossman