Radha and Anya host representatives and volunteers from the University of Iowa’s Women’s Resource and Action Center (WRAC) to talk about Period Poverty, the lack of access to menstrual hygiene products, and WRAC’s efforts to address the issue in the community and the UI campus.

Learn more about WRAC and how you can get involved at wrac.uiowa.edu/get-involved

Find our previous episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Radha Velamuri:

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to From the Front Row. Imagine going to the bathroom and not having any toilet paper. It’s not a great feeling. For people who menstruate, having pads or tampons on hand is just as important, yet many struggle to access these basic goods in an experience known as period poverty. Here we have Megan Slinger, Abby McLeod, Julia Pokorny, and Jada McDonald on the show today to talk about this important public health issue. They are all from the Women’s Resource Advocacy Center, also known as the WRAC here on campus, and they’re known as WRACtivists, which are volunteers who meet weekly to address a specific women’s health issue. And this year they are focused on period poverty. My name is Radha Velamuri and I’m joined today by Anya Morozov.

And if it’s your first time with us, welcome. We are a student-run podcast that talks about major issues in public health and how they are relevant to anyone, both in and outside of the field of public health. Welcome to the show everyone. We’re so glad to have you. Okay, so let’s talk first about your organization. Can you tell us a little bit about the Women’s Resource Advocacy Center and how you guys each decided to join?

Julia Pokorny:

I’ll start. So I joined last year. I’m a second year undergraduate student, and I joined first semester of my first year mostly because I wanted to do something for women on campus. I guess I was just kind of looking for a group that wanted to help women both in health and in just other kind of parts of women’s daily lives I guess. But for the organization as a whole, we get together, we do a lot of talking about what kind of we’re mad about or want to change or stuff like that, and then we go from there. We have a great leader for our particular group, Laurie, who helps us with kind of deciding what route we want to take, whether it’s a public education type of thing or a direct action type of thing, as she likes to say. So yeah, that’s kind of how I got started.

Megan Slinger:

I’m Megan and kind of like Julia said, I wanted to join WRAC because it’s an kind of organization that focuses on issues that I’m really passionate about. I’m a social work major and this is my second semester with WRAC. And so I’ve really learned a lot about community outreach specifically and how to kind of navigate different levels of society to kind of accomplish what needs to be done, especially in terms of period poverty and accessibility of period products on campus specifically.

Abby McLeod:

I’m Abby. I’m a freshman this year, and so I was very new to campus and joining campus I wanted to find an organization that is very local and for me to impact my new kind of home in that kind of way. And so I found out about WRAC, and so I joined as a WRACtivist. I was very passionate about period products and mental health. I’m a psych major, and so I knew that this was the place for me and joining was definitely a very good decision. Everyone is super welcoming and passionate with everything they do. There’s so many projects that are going on within the house. This period project is only one of them. We just started a book club as well, and I just like how it’s so easy to put yourself out there as an activist and into problems that have arose such as this or other ones.

Jada McDonald:

Yeah. So I’m Jada and I am a fourth year in the College of Public Health. I also minor in social justice. And the reason I started volunteering here is because I wanted to find somewhere where I could use both of those, find a way to implement social justice and public health into what I do every day. So I started volunteering there my freshman year and now I’m also a student worker there. Part of the reason the period project jump-started is because my sophomore year I realized that there wasn’t as much access and that period poverty was a problem, so I wanted to do something about it, and that’s when I brought this project to WRAC and was able to use WRAC and WRACtivists to help implement this project. And we’ve been working on it for a long time and there’s still a lot that needs to happen, but it’s really awesome to work somewhere that you can actually see change happen. And that’s the main reason I wanted to start volunteering here.

Anya Morozov:

Well, thank you all for sharing, and I’m excited to hear that we have such passionate people doing such important work on campus. So getting to the topic at hand, what is period poverty in your own words? And any of you are welcome to chime in on this.

Jada McDonald:

I mean it’s a pretty simple thing. Period poverty just means that people don’t have access to menstruation products, which are a basic need for people who menstruate. So, and it’s also something that’s very expensive. So it pretty much just means that people don’t have access to this basic need.

Radha Velamuri:

Do you have any stats you can throw at us? We love a good statistic here at the podcast.

Jada McDonald:

Oh yeah, of course. So there are about 17 million women living in poverty right now that menstruate and about 12 million of those people can’t afford period products. So this is obviously a big issue. They’re all over the country, there’s people struggling with this. All over the world, there’s people struggling with this, and it’s not something that is specific to certain age groups. This is a problem that is faced throughout the ages of people who menstruate. And this is specifically I think, important to us at WRAC and for the WRACtivists because this is something that affects students and people our age and people on college campuses. And sometimes we don’t think about that, that our peers, our neighbors may be struggling with this because about a fourth of students in the US struggle with period poverty or not being able to afford menstruation products.

Radha Velamuri:

You also mentioned that, I mean, you guys are from the Women’s Resource Advocacy Center, so the WRAC, but not all people who menstruate are women. So do you guys want to just elaborate a little bit more on that, on any comments on that?

Julia Pokorny:

Yeah. There are trans women that are still women who might not get a period, but there are also trans men who also still get a period. So people with a uterus and even people with a uterus might not get a period. A lot of the statistics or most of the statistics that are out there don’t necessarily include people outside of cisgender women that menstruate. So we just like to throw that out there. And even as the WRAC, even though women is in the title, we try to better the world for everybody through these things. And I personally believe that helping with period poverty goes beyond women a little bit into trans community and even for cisgender men who have women in their lives that menstruate, I think it’s a very big important issue.

Radha Velamuri:

Absolutely. And before we move on, I want to make a quick correction. I’ve been saying it wrong this whole time. It’s the Women’s Resource and Action Center, not advocacy center, even though they do advocate and they’re really cool in that front, but it is the Women’s Resource and Action Center, not advocacy center. All right, so we can move on.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah. So we talked a little bit about the statistics of period poverty. Do you have any stories about what period poverty looks like and how it impacts? It could be the campus community or just stories you’ve heard more generally.

Megan Slinger:

Yeah, specifically with period accessibility on campus, one of the biggest things that has kind of really been the center of our conversation is how students access period products. So in the dorms for example, the biggest thing is there are pads and tampons at the front desk, but they’re not accessible in, I guess in every bathroom in the dorms, which is something that we’re really trying to push to achieve. Ideally, we would have period products on every floor in every bathroom of the dorms, so students don’t have to go make the trip all the way down to the front desk and have to ask whoever’s working at the front desk for a period product, because that’s, is out of a lot of people’s comfort zone and not very many people feel comfortable doing that. So having the accessibility in the bathrooms would kind of take away the added stress of the accessibility issue.

Radha Velamuri:

Speaking of stress, a lot of it is probably caused by stigma. Periods and in general have been sort of a taboo topic of conversation. And I know we’re 21st century, it’s 2023, people are more open to certain conversations, but there’s still kind of a stigma around it. Do you guys think that the stigma still plays a role in the action you’re taking, like how you address it?

Jada McDonald:

Oh, my. Absolutely. I feel like this is something that we’re constantly struggling with. I mean, there’s legislation surrounding the US right now to try to get periods out of health classes and conversations. So it’s definitely something that is seen as maybe negative for some people, and it’s something that people don’t feel comfortable talking about, especially cisgender men, and that definitely has an impact in what we’re doing. We see that a lot when we’re asking people for donations, when we’re tabling, when we’re trying to get people to help with our drive, when we’re getting menstruation products for the community. It’s something that people get so afraid to talk about. They think it’s something that should be private, and in some ways it is private, but in other ways it’s something that’s so important and so necessary for everybody, and it’s something that happens to half of our population so that we need to talk about it. So yeah.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah, that’s so true. Again, if we make that comparison to toilet paper or something, it’s just a basic thing that people need for bodily functions, and it is kind of weird that there is that stigma attached to it. So another barrier to access to period products at the policy level beyond the education piece that you mentioned is something called the tampon tax. Can you tell us a little about what the tampon tax is?

Jada McDonald:

So the tampon tax just refers to a tax on menstruation products. Currently, there’s about 22 states that have a tampon tax. As of last year, Iowa does not have one, which is really good. So we don’t tax on diapers or menstruation products, which it’s estimated to save Iowans about 11.5, I think it was, million dollars, which is really good for our state and for the people in it because about 37% of Iowa families can’t afford just basic needs, and that includes menstruation products. So it’s definitely going to be something that’s helpful for the state of Iowa. But to mention there are still 22 states that do have that tampon tax. So as we said, this is a basic need in that there are millions of women that can’t afford this or people that menstruate that can’t afford this. So from the policy level, there are a lot of people who are advocating to remove this tax and lobbying to remove this tax because it just doesn’t seem fair.

Radha Velamuri:

Are you guys doing anything to advocate on that front for the, I mean, I know Iowa doesn’t have a tampon tax, but are you guys working with other schools or anything like that to try to advocate for a reduction in that? Or is that sort of not in your wheelhouse?

Jada McDonald:

So we actually just came back from lobbying last month. It wasn’t specifically for the tampon tax, it was, so we went to lobby, we went to the Capitol in Des Moines to lobby for senate file 74, and pretty much that would just make it so that all state buildings have access to menstruation products. So that would be schools and stuff like that. So that’s also something that’s really important, and we wanted to highlight that school-aged people have this problem. So we kind of went from that perspective. We went with Love for Red and the WRACtivist collabed, and we went to a lobby for that. So we are doing lobbying. We’re challenging all levels of this problem. We’re doing the drives and trying to help our community, which is really important for an immediate fix, but we’re also trying to make policy change. So this is something that is just a normalized, that it’s accessible at all levels.

Radha Velamuri:

Yeah. That’s so incredibly valuable that you mentioned that you’re doing the immediate fix, doing the drives and all that. But then going on to the policy level, which is more of that long-term goals where you’re going to lobby in Des Moines at our capital. So that’s just incredibly valuable that you’re talking about short-term and long-term goals. How does your work affect the University of Iowa specifically? Well, or what are your goals with that? Because you did mention, or Megan mentioned that you guys have been trying to push for menstrual products in each bathroom of every dorm floor, but is there anything else you guys are trying to do on campus?

Julia Pokorny:

I think in general, it’s just to get pads and tampons and other menstrual products, just like out there on campus in accessible places. I think we focused on residence halls primarily because that’s where a large number of students live. And so if you’re spending a lot of time where you’re living, you’re going to need those products more often. We have also found that that specific project is incredibly difficult to pinpoint who we can talk to about that. Going back to the stigma of it, people are very avoidant to listen to us when it comes to periods and blood and all that stuff, and they’re like, oh, that’s gross. Talk about that amongst yourself women, but don’t bring us into it. So as much as, I mean, I know we would love to expand into the whole campus, it is very difficult to pin someone down to even get this process kind of rolling. So it’s a time commitment to try to keep reaching out and emailing people and being sent to other people and all that fun stuff that comes with policy.

Jada McDonald:

Yeah. It’s definitely hard. We’ve talked to residence halls, we’ve talked to the Residence Hall Association, we’ve talked to leaders in those facilities. And it’s something that they definitely have a lot of pushback, and it might be partly due to stigma, but it sometimes feels like they don’t see it as a need, even though I think especially Abby might have a lot to say on this, but we have seen firsthand that people want, we have asked people, they want it in the bathrooms, they need it in the bathrooms. This is something that needs to happen, but we are constantly faced with excuses for why it’s not necessary.

Abby McLeod:

Yeah. I talked with some of the janitors because one comment that some of the supervisors made is they felt uncomfortable to add that in as a part of the janitor’s daily schedule because they felt it was too much to do. We talked with them a bit about getting dispensers from this one brand, I don’t know if I can say it or anything, and they thought that it was too much for them to do it because they were a little bit understaffed. And so we went with a bottom up level of management to try to just figure out the problem. And when I talked to the janitors, they were very understanding and they did not have any problem with it, and they didn’t see any burden to having that addition of putting feminine and menstrual products in the restrooms.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah, that’s really interesting. That kind of answered the question I was going to ask which like, what has the process looked like? Because you talked about how it’s been a years’ long thing, right?

Jada McDonald:

Yeah. Yeah. And there’s a lot of backlash, and as we said, this stigma, the main thing we’re going to have to see is de-stigmatization in order to achieve this goal. And one of them is being that people will misuse the products. We don’t really understand how specifically people are going to misuse the products if they’re available in bathrooms. But that’s something we’re constantly told when we’re advocating for this to happen.

Radha Velamuri:

It might be backlash because I remember back when I was living in the dorms, people were abusing the condoms that were just laid out there. So they might be worried that it could be a similar concept.

Jada McDonald:

Yeah. But condoms are still accessible.

Radha Velamuri:

Exactly. You still need those things. You still need condoms. Just like that, I feel like people need the benefit of the doubt in order to, if you have tampons, more people are more likely to use them rather than abuse them.

Jada McDonald:

Right. Exactly. Exactly.

Anya Morozov:

So I guess your main goal with advocacy here on campus is having menstrual products accessible in every dorm, in every dorm bathroom. Are there any other goals or changes you’d like to see to increase access to menstrual products on campus?

Julia Pokorny:

That’s our goal this semester and was last semester. I think generally we want to increase education for students also, try to do a public sort of outreach message. A lot of what we’ve been talking about with the stigma, a lot of that hopefully could be changed by getting information out to people. I know when we were collecting period products on campus to distribute locally and we had a lot of information out, and even when we were collecting, we did a drive at Hy-Vee and a lot of men would see the drive and then go in and buy products and bring them back out.

And I know we talked about this, a lot of cisgender men were really surprised with how expensive period products can be, and a box of tampons can cost you like $15 and that doesn’t last that long. So I think getting word out there, especially on campus to kind of make people see that this is an issue because it’s very easy to dismiss it and say, oh, well, it doesn’t affect me, so why would I pay attention to this? So getting the word out there and that information, I think is what we are trying to do mainly beyond the residence halls.

Megan Slinger:

I think kind of going off of what Julia is talking about, education really helps with de-stigmatizing period products and period accessibility, because when we were holding the period product drive at Hy-Vee, a lot of people weren’t really very accept, not accepting, but I guess they weren’t very interested in it. They were like, oh, that’s taboo. Especially a lot of cisgender men were not thinking that that is an issue that they need to be concerned about. They didn’t really feel interested in going to buy products. But once we kind of talked about the issue, what we were there for, kind of what we were doing with the drive and with the period products that we got from the drive, a lot of people were more open into helping. And I think that is very telling of the power of education because even just having a simple conversation like that, people were way more open to helping us out and even learning more about it on their own time.

Radha Velamuri:

So we’re talking about ideals on campus, but I kind of want to think big picture. In a perfect world, I guess let’s just pretend there’s no more issues in the world and you could have any period product initiative possible, or what would be your ideal access to menstrual products? How would that look to you if you could change the law right now?

Julia Pokorny:

I mean, ideally they’d be free and everywhere. I mean, you’re talking about your ideal world. Ideally they would be free and everywhere and we wouldn’t have to pay for them. And it’s a necessity. It’s not like you can stop your period by choice. So yeah, for me at least they’d be free. I know that’s not really realistic, but if it’s ideal.

Radha Velamuri:

Well, I gave you a very open-ended question. I was like, pretend anything is possible.

Julia Pokorny:

Yeah.

Jada McDonald:

Yeah, I agree. They would be free, they would be accessible. And I think that people would understand that this goes far beyond just, there’s a bigger picture to this. Not having access not only makes people miss school or miss work, or not take certain opportunities, but it also is a big indicator for people’s mental health and causes a lot of mental health issues because people can’t live normally without this. So with those statistics and those facts, people would understand that this is something that needs to happen. It needs to be free, it needs to be accessible for people who can’t afford it. And if it’s not free, it at least wouldn’t be $10 a box. I mean, bare minimum.

Radha Velamuri:

True.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah. And I really liked how earlier you stressed the importance of education and how just kind of having those conversations or even hosting those drives is increasing awareness for the problem. And so I think it’s really powerful that you all are continuing to do that advocacy work, doing that education work, and I hope that this podcast episode itself kind of gets into the right hands and inspires more people to increase access to period products. Do you have any last thoughts about period poverty that we haven’t covered in the episode yet before we move on to the last question?

Julia Pokorny:

Not off the top of my head. I know we’re focusing on period poverty this semester. I personally in the future would like to get on to more of that and more also reproductive issues as well. I know birth control access is also something we’ve been working on. That kind of also goes with period products. That’s a whole other topics that we could definitely dive into for a very long time about. But yeah, I think starting small, as frustrating as it can be because you’re not seeing the massive global change that you would like, that’s where we’re at right now. So starting with the dorms I think is the best way into this.

Radha Velamuri:

Yeah, I really like how you sort of pushed people being like, Hey, any little change is a change still. You know what I mean? I felt motivated. So let’s go to our last question. We like to ask this of everyone, and I know Jada, you’ve heard this last question before because you were on our podcast a few months ago, right?

Jada McDonald:

Yeah.

Radha Velamuri:

Yeah. So you hated these questions, but that’s okay. So no, just kidding. It’s a tough one, and it’s one we ask all of our guests. So what is one thing you thought you knew but were later wrong about? And you guys can all take turns and we can all listen to all the things you thought you knew, but were later wrong about.

Jada McDonald:

I’ll go first as a veteran of this podcast. I would say the one thing I thought I knew and was later wrong about was that I thought that the university would back us way more than they have. I thought they would see this as an opportunity to improve the lives of our students and our community. And I was surprised by them being so reluctant to take on a challenge like this and make something that seems so easy for them accessible. So I mean, I’m surprised every day by some of the pushback we’ve experienced, but I do think I’m very confident that we will make the change that we hope to see very soon.

Abby McLeod:

Yeah, my question was kind of on the same page as that. Something I thought I knew was about the process to get this change. I did not realize how many steps was needed in this process, as well as how much feedback we got from other people. I know a lot of our emails, some people wouldn’t reply or we’d have to resend again and again to get them to listen to what we had to say email wise and how many Zoom meetings we’ve had to have with other organizations and other people just for this change to happen. And we’re still working on it a year after we started, so.

Julia Pokorny:

I can go next. I guess mine’s kind of different. I thought coming into the WRAC to kind of volunteer, I thought I knew the woman experience in quotes. I was like, oh, I came in as a freshman with my own experience and kind of assumed that everybody was kind of going to be somewhat on the same page. I knew there were going to be differences a little bit, but definitely coming in to a large school, talking to people and then going into people pushing back, I guess is something that I didn’t quite expect just because I came in with the idea that everybody would be like, oh, yeah, this is a great idea. Everybody’s not like that. So for me, it was just getting the pushback and people kind of disagreeing about something that I consider so important. It was strange, definitely.

Megan Slinger:

Yeah, very similar to kind of everybody else’s. I thought I understood the process of addressing an issue and kind of going about changing it, but kind of like everybody else touched on, I was very surprised, especially by the pushback and kind of just the lack of kind of importance that we’re given and just kind of the dismissal of what we value. And so kind of figuring out how to go about navigating the different kind of ways that people think about what we’re trying to do.

Anya Morozov:

And I guess one other question before we wrap up. For folks who are on campus who want to get involved, how can they get involved with the WRACtivists?

Jada McDonald:

Yeah, so I mean, it’s pretty easy. We have an online application form, which is a formality. If people want to volunteer, they can come volunteer. We’re pretty deep into our projects right now, so we usually don’t have volunteers start now, but it would be really fun if you could start in the fall. We always have a open house the first week, first and second week. We table a lot, but you can shoot us a DM on Instagram, you can email us, you can fill out the application form on our website. We also have our Take Back the Night event happening next month, at the end of next month, which is a protest for pretty much it’s a symbolization that women can take back the night, or people who are usually oppressed can take back the night and be safe walking through the streets. So that’s happening. Sometimes we have volunteers that can come help with just that. If people are interested, they can always shoot us an email. But yeah, overall that’s how. It’s pretty easy.

Anya Morozov:

Those are some super cool projects. And then one follow up to make it a little broader, do you have any advice for folks wanting to do advocacy around period products, wherever they are?

Julia Pokorny:

Sure. I think it’s when you look at issues, like when you just think about period products and making them more accessible, it can be really stressful when you kind of break it down a little bit and you’re looking at like, oh my gosh, I have to do all of these different things to get this one teeny, tiny little baby thing to go through. So for me, I know, and we work a lot of about this in the WRAC, where we kind of break steps down and think, okay, who can help us? Who’s going to be against us? It’s kind of like those allies and people that might push back and kind of breaking it down and saying, who can I work with to do a project like this? Because it’s not going to be just yourself ever doing it, even though sometimes it would be cool to be like, oh, I did this. It would be my thing, but that’s just not how any of this is going to ever work. So finding those people that’ll help you, breaking down problems smaller would be my personal piece of advice.

Megan Slinger:

Yeah, working with other people has really helped me kind of break down the process and make it a little bit less intimidating and feel like I can actually do something about this issue that I’m passionate about. And so having people like Abby and Jada and Julia, just kind of all of us together, figuring out how to navigate this problem and working together, it makes me feel really empowered. And so the process is not as intimidating as you think it would be when you have other people around you supporting you.

Jada McDonald:

I also will add that this was just a project that I kind of thought about three years ago, and I was angered, and I wanted to make a difference and that we kind of said this multiple times, but change is slow, but little by little, we see something happen. You get a really good team and group around you like I did with the WRACtivist and with WRAC, and then you make something happen. And sometimes it’s not as big or glamorous or on this huge macro scale that it happens, but it happens peace by piece and no matter what, even from the drives, from the education, we’re bettering lives little by little, and that’s what’s important.

Radha Velamuri:

I think that’s a perfect note for us to wrap up on. Thank you so much to Megan, Abby, Julia, and Jada for joining us today and for Anya for hosting this episode with me. I really had a great time learning about period poverty and all of these issues surrounding accessibility and equity with menstrual health. If anyone has any questions, I’m sure they could reach out to the WRAC, the Women’s Resource and Action Center for any advice here on campus, or I’m sure there’s natural organizations all around that people could look into as well.

Anya Morozov:

That’s it for our episode this week. Big thanks to Megan Slinger, Abby McLeod, Julia Pokorny, and Jada McDonald for joining us today. This episode was hosted and written by Radha Velamuri and Anya Morozov, and edited and produced by Anya Morozov. You can learn more about the University of Iowa College of Public Health on Facebook, and our podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcast and SoundCloud. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to help support the podcast, please share it with your colleagues, friends, or anyone interested in public health. Have a suggestion for our team? You can reach us at cph-gradambassador@uiowa.edu. This episode was brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Until next week, stay healthy, stay curious, and take care.