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Catherine John: Let's talk about it.
New Haven social-justice activist Catherine “CJ” John is on a crusade to eliminate “period poverty” in Connecticut.
John is the program coordinator at The Diaper Bank of Connecticut and a coordinator of immigration and police accountability protests. Now she is helping to gather the community to testify at a public health hearing Wednesday for recently introduced Connecticut House Bill 5272.
The bill is the next step forward following the work John began last year with the Diaper Bank to address improving access and affordability of period supplies and education on menstrual equity.
If passed, the bill would provide access to free pads and tampons to K‑12 public school students as well as to those housed in prisons, jails, homeless shelters, colleges and universities.
John discussed the bill and her social justice work focused on period poverty with local immigrant rights activist Kica Matos on WNHH FM’s“Kica’s Corner” program. (Watch the episode below.)
Matos defined period poverty as a lack of access and affordability of menstruation supplies.
“The average amount a person spends on menstruation supplies is about $13.25 a month and in a lifetime almost $7,000,” she noted.
She reported that in a recent study, one of four individuals menstruating reported that they struggle to buy period supplies.
“When students can’t afford to buy period supplies, they sometimes skip school. And when adults can’t pay for the products they need, they sometimes skip work,” Matos said.
The duo agreed that racial disparities lie within period poverty and have worsened amidst the pandemic.
Matos reported that 23 percent of Black and 24 percent of Latinos struggled in 2021 to afford period supplies compared to eight percent of white respondents of a study.
She added that 65 percent of those struggling financially could not afford period supplies.
John said the bill would work to eliminate menstruation as a taboo topic that causes embarrassment and humiliation for some to talk about.
Sponsors of Connecticut House Bill 5272 as of Tuesday.
The Diaper Bank’s Beam program focuses on providing access to essential period products to individuals in jails, shelters, and schools.
Since launching in 2020, the program has since provided over 190,000 free period products to over 4,000 individuals across the state, John reported.
“You never know who’s facing period poverty. It can be the teacher, it could be the cleaner, the restaurant employee, the classmate,” she said. “How about the incarcerated, the detained, the homeless, the sex workers? Who talks to them about these things?”
Last year the Diaper Bank launched a student-led campaign called Humans with Periods to focus on capturing the stories of individuals’ struggles with getting period products and their experiences of period poverty.
Local experiences with period poverty include students using notebook paper, rags, and whatever else they can find, as well as being absent from school due to uncomfortable cramps, John said.
The historical lack of conversations about periods in everyday settings has caused a gap in public understanding of the physical and mental needs of those experiencing mensuration.
There’s no better time to be having conversations about “When should I really be concerned about my flow? Should I be worried? Are there things I should be looking at?” John said. “Where is that conversation being held? Are parents having it? Are there opportunities in the schools?”
John referred to a new California law that requires public schools to stock free menstrual products in bathrooms for students in grades 6 – 12. That law goes into effect next school year as a model advocates would like Connecticut to follow.
“California really set that tone of: ‘It is something that can happen, the state can afford it.’ We just have to ensure that we recognize and we meet that need, and understand it’s a basic essential need,” she said.
John also sees a model in how India and some African nations, businesses focused on creating renewable products are supported in making reusable pads and reusable menstrual kits.
"You Go Home And Hope You Don’t Bleed Through The Toilet Paper"
As of Tuesday 37 written testimonies have been submitted for the March 9 hearing. Read the testimonies here.
Following are two examples:
“Greetings. I agree that public institutions should provide access to free menstrual products. I remember a time that menstrual products were provided in public places for a small fee. Since then, I have not seen these same institutions with dispensers to provide these products. Access to menstrual products is a necessity. It is so uncomfortable to go into the restroom and realize that you don’t have any sanitary napkins in your purse or pockets. Now, you must ask a stranger and hope they have some. In general, the cost of these products has increased. I remember when pads use to be $5. Now, I am paying over $25 a month.
As a student, this is an added barrier that distracts from focusing on academics. Can you imagine you in class and you feel a sudden release of discharge from your body? You rush to the restroom and hope that it’s just fluid discharging then realize your menstrual cycle has begun. You have no products on you and there’s no in the restroom. You fill your underwear with toilet paper and what goes back to class? I don’t think so. You go home and hope you don’t bleed through the toilet paper.
Kind regards,
Natalie Regina Fabien
Dear members of the Public Health Committee,
I am writing to express my support for House Bill 5272, an act concerning menstrual products. According to a recent survey 1 in 5 teenagers across the United States struggled to afford menstrual products or could not afford them at all and 84% of teenagers across the country have either missed class time or know someone who missed class time because they did not have access to menstrual products. Speaking from my own personal experience a box of soft disk menstrual cups cost between $10.99 and $12.99 depending on the store, a box of 50 “Super Plus” tampons costs between $6.99 and $8.49, and one pair of Thinx menstrual underwear can cost between $24 and $42. Having your period is not cheap!
Menstrual products cannot be purchased with food stamps and they are not covered by medicaid or health insurance. How can we make people have to choose between buying groceries or menstrual products and call ourselves the land of equal opportunity? Our state took a great step in the right direction by getting rid of the so-called “tampon tax” and providing menstrual hygiene products to prisoners free of charge, but we need to go further in making sure that everyone has free and easy access to menstrual hygiene products as they do to toilet paper, soap and water. Women, trans-men, and non-binary people who menstruate already face so many issues, and barriers, but dealing with their period without menstrual hygiene products should not be one of them.
Thank you for your time,
Leanne Harpin
Is there a place that menstrual products can be donated? Local high schools? Shelters?