By neglecting to collect data on menstruation, researchers are potentially missing key indicators of women’s health.
Menstruation is the “fifth vital sign” in the clinic. It’s time it becomes more than just an afterthought in the laboratory.
Tag: Menstruation
Midterms and ‘Mid-Cycle Spotting’: Getting Real About Women’s Health
We have been left all alone, our bodies overlooked by the law and undermined by the courts. We’re left, quite literally, to save our own lives. But perhaps one silver lining of the overturning of Roe v. Wade has been creating space for women to openly and deliberately trace the arc of their reproductive lives—in public—from menstruation to menopause.
As advocates, scholars and providers now work to reimagine and rebuild what meaningful reproductive care looks like in this country, we have an opportunity to be more holistic in addressing the full continuum of women’s reproductive lives. Private sector interventions and public policy solutions must reflect those intersections. Period. Full stop.
Why Young Men Who Support Reproductive Justice Need to Get Out and Vote
As women from Tehran to Texas continue to fight fearlessly for basic respect and human rights, men have a choice to make: Do you stand with those women? Or do you sit this one out?
Will you go out and vote as an act of solidarity with the women you love and have always claimed to respect and support?
Iconic Book ‘Our Bodies Ourselves’ Goes Digital
In September, Our Bodies, Ourselves went digital as Our Bodies Ourselves Today (OBOS Today)—a definitive knowledge hub for trusted, peer-reviewed information from a feminist perspective, with content by over 100 experts.
“We are living in an era where our civil rights and human rights are being taken away from us—not only the right to abortion in many states but also the right to talk about it,” said Amy Agigian, director of OBOS Today.
Period Pills: Another Option for Fertility Control
Menstrual regulation has a long history in the United States where, for centuries, women have used a wide range of herbs and medicinal teas to “induce” or “bring down” a late period when they did not want to be pregnant. Today, period pills—also known as “missed period pills” or “late period pills”—are medications that you can take if your period is late and you suspect you’re pregnant—but don’t want to be. Advocates believe period pills can help avert the negative consequences of new abortion bans, now in effect in over a dozen states across the country.
Progress for Girls’ Education Requires Menstrual Health Equity, Period!
Millions of girls struggle to participate in school at least once a month due to the lack of acceptable menstrual health products or facilities. “Lack of access to menstrual health information, supplies and support are barriers that stand in the way of advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and the full autonomy and sustained achievement of girls and women,” said Rahwa Weldemichael, Ph.D., associate director and gender justice specialist at PAI.
We see examples of this in the work of feminists around the world—like Copper Rose Zambia, a leading youth-focused, girls’ empowerment organization in Zambia. They offer menstruation education, training and product distribution programs with youth to normalize and increase awareness of menstrual health management.
Keeping Score: Women Protest Hijab Law Across Iran; SNL and Sesame Street Casts Make History; U.S. Government Scores C+ on Repro Rights
In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in in this biweekly round-up.
This week: Saturday Night Live and Sesame Street hire first nonbinary and Black woman cast members, respectively; Kelley Robinson hired as first Black woman director of the Human Rights Campaign; California becomes sanctuary state for trans youth; U.S. Soccer Federation documents rampant abuse; 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are preventable, and more.
Ms. Global: Scotland Eliminates Period Product Fees; Poland’s Pride March; Nonbinary Joan of Arc Debuts at Globe Theatre
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 week: Scotland paves way for period poverty movement; volunteers provide menstrual products in Pakistan, amid floods; Pride marches in Poland; Spain passes “yes means yes” consent law; and more.
ICYMI: ‘Everything You Need to Know About Birth Control’ with Dr. Sophia Yen
In this time of crisis, Dr. Sophia Yen says it’s essential we take charge of our own reproductive health. Yen is the CEO and co-founder of Pandia Health, the only doctor-led and women-founded and -led birth control delivery company. She is a board-certified physician with a focus in adolescent medicine, and serves as a clinical associate professor at Stanford Medical School in the Department of Pediatrics.
In a Ms. webinar on Tuesday, “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Birth Control,” Yen broke down the best forms of birth control and emergency contraception, why you should consider skipping your period, how to get abortion pills (even if you live in a state with a ban), and more.
Teens Are Pioneering the Nationwide Movement for Menstrual Equity
Teen-led groups and organizations around the country are demonstrating the impact local period product drives have on curbing period poverty, ending period stigma, and the value of securing resources on a community and legislative level.