One girl taped toilet paper to her underwear to stop the bleeding. Another used a sock.
Not having proper access to period products is hard, and it can have extreme consequences. Not only can not having pads or tampons cause young people to miss school, it can perpetuate homelessness, and it may even contribute to experiencing anxiety and depression. All of this is why #FreePeriods, an organization dedicated to ending period poverty, staged a huge protest in the UK in 2017 to ask legislators to make menstrual products available for free in schools, and it's why the organization is now launching a legal campaign to the same end.
#FreePeriods, led by 19-year-old Amika George, has embarked on a legal campaign in partnership with the Red Box Project to get the British government to supply menstrual products in schools without charge to the students. Amika is one of Teen Vogue's latest 21 Under 21 class. In a new video tied to the campaign, 10 girls from London open up about how not having access to menstrual products has impacted them to show why it's crucial that these products be available to young people across the UK.
"I've started a new #FreePeriods legal campaign because I believe that all girls need to be able to access menstrual products in schools and colleges. The right to our education is a fundamental human right, and when we know that girls are missing school because they can't buy pads and tampons, the government has a legal obligation to make sure they have measures in place to get those girls back in school," Amika told Teen Vogue. "In this case, it should be free provision of pads and tampons, and by doing that, they're getting rid of period poverty as a barrier to education. What I want to see is access to menstrual products in all school and college toilets. I'm starting with the UK."