Fall 2018 Edition
Alumni & Friends Magazine
Aunt Flo's heroes
When is the last time you talked about periods? At OHIO, those discussions are as regular as the topic itself thanks to students who are championing menstruation conversation and ensuring access to menstrual products.
Angela Woodward, BSJ '98 | October 25, 2018
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Members of The Period Project (TPP) are philanthropists and advocates, providing menstrual products to those in need and initiating dialogue about menstrual health.
Moved to act after encountering a peer unable to afford menstrual products, Maddie Sloat, BSC 鈥19, founded the student organization in 2016. Since then, TPP members have donated countless products to a local homeless shelter, school districts, and assistance programs, and worked to establish permanent Student Senate funding to stock products in Athens campus restrooms.
鈥淚 had never realized [access to menstrual products] was something that people are concerned about and something that is really impacted by poverty鈥攂ecause we don鈥檛 really talk about it at all,鈥 Sloat says.
TPP鈥檚 efforts spread far beyond the bricks of Athens, and its mission extends far beyond providing pads and tampons, also incorporating activism and education.
Members have advocated to end the luxury tax on menstrual products and have facilitated conversations and information sessions designed to end the stigma associated with menstruation and educate women and men on menstrual health.
Inspired and, in some cases, guided by TPP, branches of the organization have sprouted up everywhere from the University of Akron to India.
鈥淸The Period Project] has allowed me to have conversations with people literally all over the world,鈥 says TPP President Karinne Hill, BA 鈥19. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really encouraging that people from all over the world are aligning with this mission and wanting to bring the same kind of thing to their area.鈥
Feature illustration by Louisa Cannell