500 million people across the world lack access to basic menstrual products during their menstrual cycle, according to the World Bank. This lack of access, alongside inadequate education surrounding menstruation and the inaccessible pricing of products, is defined as period poverty.
On March 29th, Students for a Just Society at American University brought this focus on menstrual access to prison reform advocacy by hosting a trivia night that was co-sponsored by Students for Change. Combining menstrual equity and the inhumane conditions in American prisons, this “Periods, Prisons, and Pizza” event spotlighted the hardships people who are incarcerated face when trying to access menstrual products and care for their hygiene while menstruating.
Period poverty, as the trivia night showed, is a real challenge globally and especially in prisons. And it is a challenge that not many students are aware of.
“I’ve heard of menstrual inequities, and my classes have focused on the inhumane conditions in prisons, but this connection between these two topics is never really explored,” second-year American University student Sebastian Mahal said. “My lack of knowledge on this intersection was only further compounded by not being someone who menstruates either, so this event opened my eyes to a lot of things I never knew. The questions were truly expansive.”
These expansive questions were presented in the Jeopardy-style format for the trivia game, and they ranged from topics such as legislation surrounding menstrual access to the anatomical side of menstruation; each category worked together to paint the broader reality of what period poverty looks like while being incarcerated in the United States.
Of course, there is no monolithic experience of menstruating or of being incarcerated, but price and privacy are two major issues surrounding menstruating while in prison. When a 24-pack of pads can cost around $2.34 in some prisons, according to prison reform advocate Chandra Bozelko, the 75 cents a day wage that some people in prison may earn makes purchasing any period products a luxury. $2.34 for a pack of pads is an even higher price tag when factoring in the other goods people in prison must buy—such as soap, shampoo, snacks, etc.—and this price tag varies from prison to prison.
On top of this price tag, the quality of period products is often not great. Pads often have no wings, are thin, and only are sold in one size. And even when menstrual products are supposed to be provided without costs to people within the prisons, they are used as a bargaining chip that holds power over those who are menstruating. All of these factors combine to make menstruating in prison something that has been reported as shameful.
To counter this environment of shame, enforcing equitable and free access to period products can ensure all menstruating people are treated with dignity and respect. The Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act is a step toward achieving this; it was reintroduced in 2019 by Senator Booker, Senator Warren, Representative Jayapal, and Representative Bass but has not yet been passed. This act covers more than just free access to quality menstrual products—it also addresses solitary confinement of pregnant people and parental education for people who are parents and in prison. Steps forward such as this bill being introduced come from awareness and education, from confronting the reality of menstruation conditions while being incarcerated. Illuminating the intersection of period poverty and incarceration was exactly what “Periods, Prisons, and Pizza” intended to do so, and for American University students, that is exactly what it did.
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