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11 Ind. J.L. & Soc. Equal. 1 (2023)

handle is hein.journals/injlaseq11 and id is 1 raw text is: 1 Period Poverty and Life Strains: Efforts Made to Erase Stigma and to Expand Access to Menstrual Hygiene Products Jennifer L. Brinkley and Nicole Niebuhr* Period poverty is the inability to access clean menstrual hygiene products. It can negatively impact the lives of menstruators. The authors of this article wanted to add to the emerging scholarship in this area. Replicating a 2021 study, the authors created an anonymous survey for undergraduate students at the University of West Florida. The intent was to gauge instances of period poverty among the student body as well as determine what life strains students were under when trying to access menstrual hygiene products. Not only did 18.8% of the undergraduate students surveyed experience period poverty over the last twelve months, but 7.6% experienced it every month in the last twelve months. The results also indicate 27.6% of students surveyed used other materials, like toilet paper or fabric, when they could not access menstrual hygiene products. Additionally, 32% of students left a menstrual hygiene product in for longer than recommended by the manufacturer, placing them at risk for infection. Based on the depression score from the survey, a significant relationship between period poverty and negative mental health outcomes is suggested. Menstrual hygiene products are required over the reproductive lifetime of the menstruator, which can be several decades. The cost to menstruators can be high, especially for indigent individuals. Most states do not exempt menstrual hygiene products from sales tax, making the cost that much higher for the consumer. There is a desperate need for legislative action at federal, state, and local levels in the United States to expand access to menstrual hygiene products. An intense stigma surrounds menstruation. This culture of silence creates a breeding ground for discrimination and harassment of menstruators. Schools can play apart in fostering this stigma, either intentionally or unintentionally. Efforts need to continue to be made in schools, prisons, homeless shelters, and other institutions to minimize the stigma. Educating the public with medically accurate information about menstruation and the need to properly use menstrual hygiene products to avoid infection is an excellent place to begin. An open dialogue about the biological process of menstruation should not be feared but encouraged. Making menstrual hygiene products easily accessible, by exempting them from sales tax as well as providing them free of charge to students, incarcerated individuals, and low- income populations, is a step toward resolving societal inequities around * Nicole Niebuhr, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of West Florida. Jennifer L. Brinkley is an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies at the University of West Florida and a licensed attorney in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The authors would like to thank Autumn Lindquist for her help in researching and editing this article and Kathy Kimmons-McCoy for helping distribute the undergraduate survey. Thanks also to the law review editors who greatly improved this article: Associates Candice Croix, Kaija Herndon, Emily Peterson, Haley Powell, Bailey Steinhauer, Haleigh Chube, Mohammed Farooq, Erika Helding, Zachary Wakefield, and Lauren Weed; Articles Editors Jacob Beavin and Allison Coffey; Managing Editor Mariam Ba; Executive Editor Madeline Richmond; Senior Managing Editors Kelsey Napier and Elias Little; and Editor-in-Chief Jacy Baber.

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