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41 Colum. J. Gender & L. 114 (2021)
Disposable Menstrual Products as Law's Objects

handle is hein.journals/coljgl41 and id is 132 raw text is: COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF GENDER AND LAW DISPOSABLE MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS AS LAW'S OBJECTS BETH GOLDBLATT & LINDA STEELE* INTRODUCTION During the past few years, scholars and activists have increasingly engaged with law as a means to challenge stigma, silence, and disadvantages associated with menstruation. Menstrual items (predominantly in the form of disposable menstrual products)1 are becoming increasingly prominent in this legal turn.2 There have been legislative reforms to provide access to free menstrual items, litigation and legislative reforms to remove taxes on menstrual products, legislative reforms on product safety and environmental sustainability of menstrual items, and water and sanitation hygiene ('WASH') policies and guidelines in the context of international development interventions that focus on access to menstrual items.3 As regulation of disposable menstrual products assumes greater prominence in legal doctrine, feminist legal scholars are increasingly evaluating the impacts of such laws on menstruators, including in the context of diverse experiences of menstruation and Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Thank you to Jessie Hohmann for her feedback on an earlier draft. I Conventionally in a contemporary western context, menstrual items might be thought of as menstrual/period/feminine hygiene products, and specifically disposable pads and tampons that are consumed in the market. Yet, the concept of 'menstrual item' itself is not fixed. New menstrual products such as cups, period underwear, and more sustainable disposables are emerging in the market. See, Maria Carmen Punzi and Mirj am Werner, Challenging the Menstruation Taboo One Sale at a Time: The Role of Social Entrepreneurs in the Period Revolution, in THE PALGRAVE HANDBOOK OF CRITICAL MENSTRUATION STUDIES 833 (Chris Bobel et al. eds., Palgrave Macmillan 2020). However, culturally and historically there is a wider variety of material items that are used in relation to menstrual blood and menstruation more broadly, including handmade, home-grown and reusable items. In this Essay we focus on one specific category of menstrual item - disposable pads and tampons ('disposable menstrual products') which still dominate law reform responses to period poverty. 2 Linda Steele & Beth Goldblatt, Engaging with Law's Menstrual Moment, AUSTL. FEMINIST L.J., 1, 1-31 (2020). 3 See id., for a discussion of international legal responses to menstrual inequality. 41 114

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