SAPP's Second Blog Post!
Welcome to SAPP’s second blog post!
Let’s start off by talking more about period poverty . Period poverty is inadequate access to menstrual hygiene tools and education. Women already view menstruation as one of the most stressful activities. How can a natural body process cause so much shame and embarrassment?
To answer this, we can look at the bigger picture. Cultures around the world have favored men over women. We can see this in movies and family roles. Additionally, in the United States alone, the government is composed of more men than women. Thus, a majority of legislation and policy is produced to make the lives of men easier.
Period poverty not includes providing menstrual products, but also clean resources. The lack of sanitation services alone affects 2.3 billion people worldwide. Disposing of human waste out in the public contaminates everyone’s waterways, which are used for cooking and cleaning. This not only damages the health of humans but also planet Earth.
Girls often miss out on school due to the shame and cultural taboos associated with periods. In fact, one in five girls in America have missed all or part of the school day because of their periods. Looking at this in the long term, a country’s economy is based on the participation of both men and women. Girls missing out on school will damage a country’s economy. A country’s annual growth rate increases as there is an increase in secondary education by girls.
The good news is, SAPP has been fighting to improve such problems. The Tri-City Voice has featured SAPP in its November edition. Writer Fatema Bhaiji introduces SAPP to the Bay Area and spreads awareness of what we do. Check out our featured edition here (pg. 6-7): https://tricityvoice.com/11-03-20/.
Plans for when the pandemic is over are also covered in the newspaper. December 1st was the launch of SAPP’s first Grab-and-Go menstrual supply program. Since the start of this drive, SAPP has been donating 1,500 pads to the Grab-and-Go meal program at Irvington High School. This event runs from Mondays to Fridays 7:30 AM-8:30 AM and 11:00 AM-1:00 PM. Each menstruator is limited to one care package, and people in need who don’t live in the Bay Area can reach out to us to receive a care package.
Without the help of community donations, SAPP would not exist. Ways you can help us include making physical donations of menstrual goods (tissues, baby wipes, masks, chapsticks, etc) or a tax-deductible monetary donation to our PayPal (paypal.me/sapp4u), venmo (venmo.com/sapp4u), or by writing us a check (contact us for mailing address!). We appreciate any amount you can give us. If you are crafty and would like to do a hands-on experience, you can join our CAPP-IT program and attend our workshops. If these options won’t work for you, spreading awareness about SAPP on social media will be a tremendous contribution too. (IG: @officialsapp FB: @sapp4u)
About the author
Hello! My name is Christina Yang and I am a senior at Irvington High School. Once I did some research for my QUEST project on period poverty, I was astonished at how the issue is not being talked about more. By being a part of SAPP, I hope to spread the word about period poverty and help lessen the issue.
