I bet most of the people in this room
have come on your period unexpectedly
I ran at a period products while even
out at some point in your lives I know I
have men in the room before you stripped
off because you think this doesn’t apply
to you I can almost guarantee that
someone that you care about has been
affected by something like this whether
it was your sister daughter wife
girlfriend friend or colleague and the
worst fit for them was probably that
they were suffering in silence I
couldn’t talk to you about that sir
so back to the women what did you do in
that situation when you realized you out
without any period product so if you in
work I’m guessing you would have asked a
colleague but probably not just any
colleague probably one you could trust
to be discreet sir and then did you call
you a period buy it from your name or
did you use euphemism and then did you
hide them out store product up your
sleeve when you went to the toilet sir
but what about if you out by yourself
did you just use some tissue as an
emergency matter how did you feel
differently when you’re using that
tissue did you feel as safe and secure
as you normally do or did you just leave
a few of your jobs unfinished and
washing a bit quicker than normal what
if that tissue wasn’t for emergencies
what if you had to use tissue every time
you had your period because you couldn’t
afford menstral products would you still
see your friends while you’re on your
period soon or would you be too worried
that you smell orally what about work in
school would you be tempted to just call
in sick for a few days a month so you
didn’t have that extra stress but just a
person’s example a little bit further
have you ever had to choose between up
buying food and buying mental products
what if you had to
between buying food for your children
and buying Metzler products for yourself
it’s pretty obvious which one you pick
isn’t that sir
there are some women in the UK you have
to make that choice every month so every
time an article about period poverty is
published the comments underneath show
that we still have a huge lack of
understanding of the reality of period
poverty because the reality is that
these women aren’t spending their money
on cigarettes and hair dye that’s not
why they can’t afford menstrual products
but I think this is symptomatic of a
larger issue because when we don’t talk
about something we don’t understand it
and when we don’t understand something
we make assumptions because we’re still
not talking about period poverty enough
we don’t know things like why it’s such
a big problem or the number of people
that are affected by it so because if
you’re not if a minimum of 300,000 women
couldn’t afford food at some point last
year they probably couldn’t afford
menstrual products either these 300,000
women are all over the UK and you meet
them every day their children go to
school with your children they scan your
shopping in the supermarket so they
drink in the same pub as you and they
walk my dog in the same park as you
because period poverty’s are hidden
indeed we don’t know who is affected sir
but these women have normal lives with
houses jobs and Families they just find
it difficult to afford the everyday
essentials like food rent and bills so
but the problem with period poverty is
that it makes them even more hidden
while they’re on their period they’re
missing out on school work and seeing
their friends because they don’t feel
safe leaving the house without proper
mental
products they’re missing out on creating
connections they’re missing out on an
education and a chance for a better
future they’re missing out on earning a
living and progressing in their careers
not having regular access to proper
mental products is taking their
independence away from them I think the
long-term solution to period poverty is
a little-known product that’s only
really used by the very environmentally
conscious at the moment I discovered
reusable sanitary pads when I was
preparing to go backpacking around Asia
I wanted a product like a trust to use
for the whole year but I was away
reusable sign actually pads no can work
like disposables
but they’re made of fabric and you can
wash them reuse them they’re much more
sustainable than disposable because they
last three to five years so once you
have a whole set you don’t need to buy
anymore period products for five years
that sounds pretty good doesn’t matter
reusable sanitary pads are better for
everyone they can help us reduce our
period waste way up to 97% so they’re
much more comfortable to wear than
disposables because they’re not made
with chemicals or plastic they can get
into our bodies they make us all more
self-reliant and put our money into more
ethical local businesses reusable
sanitary pads a rebellion against
commercial disposable pads which
teachers to be ashamed of our periods
and that our priority should be hiding
them
reusable sanitary pads can be a tool for
us to get more comfortable with our
bodies and understand them better access
to donations of reusable sanitary pads
could give women in poverty a chance to
save that five pounds of medicine and at
the end of the year they’d have the
equivalent of nectar food shot left
but reusable sanitary pads are a big
leap of faith for some people I had a
lot of concerns about the ones I bought
for myself two years ago I didn’t know
if they’d be comfortable if they’d
actually absorb everything and I was
kind of worried I’d feel like I was
wearing a nappy between my legs so I
created my social enterprise pride paths
to bring reusable sanitary pads to the
mainstream and to address the worry is
that anyone who’s new to reusables might
have I’ve used the skills I learned from
working in the fashion industry to
create every year for sanitary pad
that’s easy to use easy to wash and easy
to understand but women like me who I’ve
been privileged who have financially
privileged they’ve had a good education
and I have supported family and friends
I wanted to give them another way to
reduce their effect on the environment
and who women in poverty I wanted to
show them that reusable sanitary pads
like so many other ethical and
eco-friendly products aren’t just an
elitist product for the middle class but
they can help them too so if we look at
the amount of people but access to
donations are reusable sanitary pads
could help it might seem like a small
slice of the population but if we step
back a little bit and look at the bigger
picture and look at the look at how
that’s more slice of the population can
affect the rest of society then we’ll
see the real affects reasonable sanitary
pads can help because what reusable
sanitary pads are really doing is
empowering women in poverty and the
effective empowered women can be massive
when women are more active in the
workforce and society they’re more
likely to get involved in politics
and fight for local issues and the
economy grows at a faster rate empowered
educated mothers and more likely to
spend more the household income and
their children and they’re more likely
to raise healthy children who stay in
school longer and the cycle will
continue they’re healthy educated
children who’ve had a good family life
and more likely to boost the economy
themselves and less likely to end up in
poverty or a teenage parents so so the
effects that we use for Santi pads could
have could be massive right sir but
what’s the point in knowing all this if
we can’t actually put it into practice
because we fought the first hurdle just
talking about periods because we have to
admit we’re not very good at that
this can be especially hard if you’re a
man but the more you talk about it the
easier it gets so I’ve come up with a
few tips to make the conversation a bit
easier the first is to go into the
conversation sideways so there’s been a
lot in the news recently about periods
of menstral products like did you see
that ad which used the red liquid
instead of that mysterious blue let
Kuerten talk about something like that
and then transition into asking people
about their experiences and be honest if
you’re embarrassed acknowledging the
elephant in the room will probably help
the person you’re talking to you feel a
little bit more relaxed as well and
finally be practical no one’s expecting
you to find it really easy to talk about
the biology of periods and it’s normal
to be a bit squeamish about that so so
talk about the practical side like the
products they can use the features they
have how those products can benefit them
and fit into their lives so go home
tonight and talk to someone about
periods
I love if you talk to me you can find in
all social media pride paths thank you
[Applause]
you
have come on your period unexpectedly
I ran at a period products while even
out at some point in your lives I know I
have men in the room before you stripped
off because you think this doesn’t apply
to you I can almost guarantee that
someone that you care about has been
affected by something like this whether
it was your sister daughter wife
girlfriend friend or colleague and the
worst fit for them was probably that
they were suffering in silence I
couldn’t talk to you about that sir
so back to the women what did you do in
that situation when you realized you out
without any period product so if you in
work I’m guessing you would have asked a
colleague but probably not just any
colleague probably one you could trust
to be discreet sir and then did you call
you a period buy it from your name or
did you use euphemism and then did you
hide them out store product up your
sleeve when you went to the toilet sir
but what about if you out by yourself
did you just use some tissue as an
emergency matter how did you feel
differently when you’re using that
tissue did you feel as safe and secure
as you normally do or did you just leave
a few of your jobs unfinished and
washing a bit quicker than normal what
if that tissue wasn’t for emergencies
what if you had to use tissue every time
you had your period because you couldn’t
afford menstral products would you still
see your friends while you’re on your
period soon or would you be too worried
that you smell orally what about work in
school would you be tempted to just call
in sick for a few days a month so you
didn’t have that extra stress but just a
person’s example a little bit further
have you ever had to choose between up
buying food and buying mental products
what if you had to
between buying food for your children
and buying Metzler products for yourself
it’s pretty obvious which one you pick
isn’t that sir
there are some women in the UK you have
to make that choice every month so every
time an article about period poverty is
published the comments underneath show
that we still have a huge lack of
understanding of the reality of period
poverty because the reality is that
these women aren’t spending their money
on cigarettes and hair dye that’s not
why they can’t afford menstrual products
but I think this is symptomatic of a
larger issue because when we don’t talk
about something we don’t understand it
and when we don’t understand something
we make assumptions because we’re still
not talking about period poverty enough
we don’t know things like why it’s such
a big problem or the number of people
that are affected by it so because if
you’re not if a minimum of 300,000 women
couldn’t afford food at some point last
year they probably couldn’t afford
menstrual products either these 300,000
women are all over the UK and you meet
them every day their children go to
school with your children they scan your
shopping in the supermarket so they
drink in the same pub as you and they
walk my dog in the same park as you
because period poverty’s are hidden
indeed we don’t know who is affected sir
but these women have normal lives with
houses jobs and Families they just find
it difficult to afford the everyday
essentials like food rent and bills so
but the problem with period poverty is
that it makes them even more hidden
while they’re on their period they’re
missing out on school work and seeing
their friends because they don’t feel
safe leaving the house without proper
mental
products they’re missing out on creating
connections they’re missing out on an
education and a chance for a better
future they’re missing out on earning a
living and progressing in their careers
not having regular access to proper
mental products is taking their
independence away from them I think the
long-term solution to period poverty is
a little-known product that’s only
really used by the very environmentally
conscious at the moment I discovered
reusable sanitary pads when I was
preparing to go backpacking around Asia
I wanted a product like a trust to use
for the whole year but I was away
reusable sign actually pads no can work
like disposables
but they’re made of fabric and you can
wash them reuse them they’re much more
sustainable than disposable because they
last three to five years so once you
have a whole set you don’t need to buy
anymore period products for five years
that sounds pretty good doesn’t matter
reusable sanitary pads are better for
everyone they can help us reduce our
period waste way up to 97% so they’re
much more comfortable to wear than
disposables because they’re not made
with chemicals or plastic they can get
into our bodies they make us all more
self-reliant and put our money into more
ethical local businesses reusable
sanitary pads a rebellion against
commercial disposable pads which
teachers to be ashamed of our periods
and that our priority should be hiding
them
reusable sanitary pads can be a tool for
us to get more comfortable with our
bodies and understand them better access
to donations of reusable sanitary pads
could give women in poverty a chance to
save that five pounds of medicine and at
the end of the year they’d have the
equivalent of nectar food shot left
but reusable sanitary pads are a big
leap of faith for some people I had a
lot of concerns about the ones I bought
for myself two years ago I didn’t know
if they’d be comfortable if they’d
actually absorb everything and I was
kind of worried I’d feel like I was
wearing a nappy between my legs so I
created my social enterprise pride paths
to bring reusable sanitary pads to the
mainstream and to address the worry is
that anyone who’s new to reusables might
have I’ve used the skills I learned from
working in the fashion industry to
create every year for sanitary pad
that’s easy to use easy to wash and easy
to understand but women like me who I’ve
been privileged who have financially
privileged they’ve had a good education
and I have supported family and friends
I wanted to give them another way to
reduce their effect on the environment
and who women in poverty I wanted to
show them that reusable sanitary pads
like so many other ethical and
eco-friendly products aren’t just an
elitist product for the middle class but
they can help them too so if we look at
the amount of people but access to
donations are reusable sanitary pads
could help it might seem like a small
slice of the population but if we step
back a little bit and look at the bigger
picture and look at the look at how
that’s more slice of the population can
affect the rest of society then we’ll
see the real affects reasonable sanitary
pads can help because what reusable
sanitary pads are really doing is
empowering women in poverty and the
effective empowered women can be massive
when women are more active in the
workforce and society they’re more
likely to get involved in politics
and fight for local issues and the
economy grows at a faster rate empowered
educated mothers and more likely to
spend more the household income and
their children and they’re more likely
to raise healthy children who stay in
school longer and the cycle will
continue they’re healthy educated
children who’ve had a good family life
and more likely to boost the economy
themselves and less likely to end up in
poverty or a teenage parents so so the
effects that we use for Santi pads could
have could be massive right sir but
what’s the point in knowing all this if
we can’t actually put it into practice
because we fought the first hurdle just
talking about periods because we have to
admit we’re not very good at that
this can be especially hard if you’re a
man but the more you talk about it the
easier it gets so I’ve come up with a
few tips to make the conversation a bit
easier the first is to go into the
conversation sideways so there’s been a
lot in the news recently about periods
of menstral products like did you see
that ad which used the red liquid
instead of that mysterious blue let
Kuerten talk about something like that
and then transition into asking people
about their experiences and be honest if
you’re embarrassed acknowledging the
elephant in the room will probably help
the person you’re talking to you feel a
little bit more relaxed as well and
finally be practical no one’s expecting
you to find it really easy to talk about
the biology of periods and it’s normal
to be a bit squeamish about that so so
talk about the practical side like the
products they can use the features they
have how those products can benefit them
and fit into their lives so go home
tonight and talk to someone about
periods
I love if you talk to me you can find in
all social media pride paths thank you
[Applause]
you
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