Last week, a group of menstrual product companies announced a new coalition to reimburse customers for the consumption taxes on menstrual care products, commonly known as the tampon tax. While the “Tampon Tax Back Coalition” may appear to be a victory for menstrual activism, the truth is more complicated.
Tag: Menstruation
The Law Needs to Talk About Menopause
The Pregnant Worker Fairness Act (PWFA) went into effect this summer. Perimenopause and menopause are related to workers’ reproductive lives and capacity for pregnancy. The inclusion of these terms will provide valuable guidance to employers and the millions of affected workers.
Five Things Students Need to Know About Their Reproductive Health
Whether you’re a freshman moving into your college dorm for the first time or just about to start your senior year, it is essential to have the tools to advocate for your health, especially when it comes to sexual and reproductive health concerns.
Empowering Women in India Through Menstrual Equity: The Ms. Q&A With Megha Desai
“Cultivating the dignity of one woman is what continues to drive me,” said Megha Desai, president of the Desai Foundation, which leverages menstrual education for the empowerment of women in India.
Are You There, God? My Nude Photos Are All Over the Internet.
Slut-shaming has become more rampant and acceptable than ever before in our surveillance-saturated culture. Lacking privacy, we are denied dignity.
By normalizing the behavior of pre-adolescent girls obsessed with sexuality that they don’t yet comprehend, Are You There God? is an excellent reminder that girls—like all of us—need space to act foolishly, sometimes cruelly and then grow up—without being treated like a sexual object and without the whole world knowing all about it.
Judy Blume’s Legacy: How and Why We Must Talk About Periods
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, the iconic book about puberty and preteen firsts, debuts on the big screen later this month, along with the much anticipated documentary, Judy Blume Forever. Social media has been abuzz with fans spanning generations sharing their own #MargaretMoments.
Here’s mine: When I researched and wrote the book Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity in 2017, I delved into the national discourse about menstruation in the United States during the 20th century. Of course, Margaret plays a leading role—but so too, I learned, does the invention and commercialization of modern menstrual products.
Meet Three Women Peace-Builders and Peacekeepers
Three women who challenge traditional gender roles in peace-building and peacekeeping on a daily basis: Anny Modi, Téné Maimouna Zoungrana and Colonel Stephanie Tutton are at the forefront of the humanitarian responses, mobilizing communities, advocating for human rights and the restoration of peace. Their stories testify to their contribution to fostering positive change within peacekeeping operations and demonstrate why we need more women in peace- and political processes and U.N. Peacekeeping.
Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: How Is Life for Texas Women? Will Denver Get Its First Woman Mayor?
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: New Zealand Women’s Soccer team retires white shorts from their uniform to address the period anxiety many players face; five women are eying the opportunity to be Denver’s mayor; during the 2022 midterm elections, Texas trended closer than ever before to achieving gender parity; Finland’s youngest minister to take office Sanna Marin loses her reelection bid; and more.
Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care: ‘Unless I Was Trying to Conceive, No One Cared About Bleeding and Pain’
In Tracey Lindeman’s new book BLEED: Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care, Stephanie Lepage wonders how different her life could have been if only the doctors had bothered to look for endometriosis before her mid-30s. She had developed constant pain in her right lower abdomen that was so intense that rolling onto her side would shoot her out of a dead sleep on an almost nightly basis. When Lepage finally got in to see a gynecologist about it, that doctor said it was little more than a red herring. She remained in agony for two years without reprieve until it mysteriously subsided.
“The thing that stood out to me the most was like, unless I was trying to conceive, no one even cared about bleeding and pain.”
Ms. Global: Nigerian Elections; Spain Gains on Abortion and Trans Rights; Earthquake in Turkey and Syria Jeopardizes Pregnant Women
The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.
This time with news from Spain, Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Turkey and more.