Reproductive Health
Education
Period Stories
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Behind the Scenes
Ending Period Poverty- What Does Making a Difference Look Like?
GHGP started nearly a decade ago when my family learned that students in our school were regularly missing school due to a lack of period supplies. We had such a phenomenal response to our request for community donations that we were able to make a significant...
GHGP 2024 Year In Review
Thank you to every one of you who volunteered, served as a social media ambassador, joined one of our programs, made a financial gift, or who simply took the opportunity to talk more openly about periods, helping alleviate the stigma surrounding them. We know...
Finally Seeing Red
By Brianna Halek, Age 34 I remember feeling so smart when in the 5th grade, the girls were split up from the boys, each group set up to watch a video on what to expect during puberty. I had already gotten my first period and other body changes. It was a roll-my-eyes...
Teachers’ Lounge
By K. Wood, Age 74 My story and the feelings connected are distant but still with me today. I am 74 years young. I was the only girl in my elementary school having her period. I was eleven years old. If my period started or I needed to change my pad I would be...
What “Choice” Means to Me
By Hazel, Age 30 At 29 years old I made the personal decision to have my tubes removed. I know it's an iffy subject as some women can't get pregnant or have to go through horrible treatments to get help with it. But it taught me so much about the process and myself....
PS: Risky Practices
By Crystal L. Jackson, RN We are only in bloom for a season. The average age at the start of menarche is twelve years and menstruating persons will spend on average $20 per cycle. That adds up to thousands of dollars spent over a lifetime considering women will have a...
How to Work Toward Menstrual Equity in Your School
When it comes to providing for the needs of menstruating students, there is a very wide range of support from state to state. New Jersey, the home state of Girls Helping Girls. Period. passed a law in 2023 that requires period products to be available for free in half...
Kids are starting their periods earlier. A look at the bigger picture
We've all been talking about this for years... girls seem to be getting their first periods earlier than their parents and grandparents. A new study in the JAMA Network Open highlights some trends and possible reasons for early menstruation. Among the findings: -The...
Every One of Us MUST Re-Think Period Products in School Restrooms
I don’t have any traumatic memories of going to the school nurse when I was in middle or high school, having to ask for a pad because I had gotten my period unexpectedly, or had forgotten what I needed at home. It’s not that I never went to the nurse; I just never...
A Study of Employee and Customer Response to Easy Access to Free Menstrual Care Items
Introduction While it is widely recognized that toilet paper must be available in all public restrooms, in 2024, it is still, by far, exceptional to find disposable menstrual products freely available. Whether the discussion is focused on schools or workplaces, the...
The Impact of Menstruation on the Workplace
Menstruation is a natural physiological process experienced by approximately half of the world's population. Despite its universality, employers often overlook or do not understand the far-reaching implications of periods at work. Here is a look at some of the issues...
Demystifying Menstruation: Understanding Periods and the Menstrual Cycle
Menstruation is a natural process, often referred to as a period. It is an essential aspect of reproductive health experienced by individuals assigned female at birth. But it is a process that often is mysterious even to those who go through it. This basic guide will...
Empowering Parents: Teaching Children of All Genders About Periods and Menstrual Management
Starting THE conversation about periods and reproduction can feel overwhelming. It is common for parents to put it off or not have a chat at all because of a range of their emotions. But pretending the changes to our bodies do not exist will not make it so. And...
Pads and tampons must be available, for free, in school bathrooms. Period.
We recently got a note from a school nurse in a district where most families struggle financially. It is typical of what we hear all too often. The note read, “A student came to the health office to show me that her pants were soiled from her period. I gave her a...
Is Menstrual Leave a Good Policy?
Menstrual Leave, or policies that allow anyone with a period to take time off of work due to symptoms associated with menstruation, has been a hot topic for debate of late. It touches on issues of women’s health, gender equity, and workplace culture. Menstrual leave...
How a Menstrual Cup Can Help Save the Planet
Periods can be a pain – literally and figuratively. They can be a monthly hassle, but they also have a significant environmental impact. In the United States alone, it is estimated that more than 20 billion pads and tampons are discarded in landfills every year. These...
What Causes Period Poverty?
Period Poverty is a global issue that affects people in developed and developing countries. The lack of access to menstrual hygiene products can lead to physical health problems, such as infections and reproductive tract complications, and can have negative social and...
How to Be an Effective Ally to People with Periods
A period ally is someone who does not menstruate but wants to support those who do. So first, thank you for being here. One of the main reasons so many people in the United States deal with period poverty is because of the stigma and shame that have long surrounded...
How and Why You Should Use a Period Tracker
Whether you print out the GHGP Period Tracker or use an app, keeping up with your menstrual cycle can help in many ways. Sure, the bleeding days are the ones we focus on the most, but understanding the entire menstrual cycle (even the times of the month when there is...
Wrong Answer. Try Again.
Recently I asked a school nurse, "Why are pads and tampons kept in your office, and not the bathrooms, where they are needed?" The answer won't surprise you, and I'll bet it's the same answer most of you would get if you walked into a local school. Still the response...
Is Your Period Sustainable?
It is hard to overstate just how big an impact our periods are having on the planet. In the last decade or so, there is a mountain of evidence that has piled up regarding menstrual products' effects on the environment and if we're being honest, we have to take some of...
When It’s More Than Just A Hashtag
Today marks International Women's Day, a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. One of the best ways to mark the day and champion the push for equality for all genders is to uplift the work of others. The theme of...
Glossary for the Global Menstrual Movement
Before Girls Helping Girls. Period. was even an official non-profit, its founders (Emma and Quinn, at about ages 12 and 15) were talking to adults about the importance of supporting those who struggle to pay for menstrual products and the need for pads and tampons in...
p.s. Seeing Red in Reading
During the beginning of the school year, in mid-September, I was at school. I'd had my period for about three months. I had thought my period had ended the night before. I was in Reading when I felt a drip. "Can't be anything," I thought. By the time Reading was over,...
Hey NJ, We are watching you…
We're dealing with a bit of disappointment this week at Girls Helping Girls. Period. HQ. We're also really mad, frankly... and nothing fuels our fire quiet like anger.🔥 We got news that A3388, the bill in the NJ Legislature that would ensure that public school...
Does Covid-19 Affect the Menstrual Cycle?
It has been just about one year since the first person was given a Covid-19 vaccine. In that time, more than eight billion doses have been administered. The rollout of the vaccines from five drug companies came after a study of their safety and efficacy. Effects on...
NJ, “Enough is Enough”
In June of 2021, a Joint Resolution in the New Jersey Legislature established the last week of May as "Period Poverty Awareness Week." The resolution acknowledges that poverty exists in NJ and that many do not have adequate access to menstrual products, education, or...
We’re FIVE!
It’s been half a decade since GHGP has called itself an official non-profit organization. And actually, it’s really hard to put that number into perspective. Most days, we feel like we’ve been talking forever about period poverty, the tampon tax, and the absurdity...
Menstrual Math Lesson
Ok, class. It’s the beginning of October. Enough goofing off, time for a math lesson. The vast majority of schools (middle, high, and college) do not provide free menstrual products to students in the bathrooms (where they are needed). At best, those schools have an...
Period Poverty at School-What It Is and How You Can End It
Thousands of students would miss school this year due to an issue that is solvable if we all took just a few simple, effective, and fairly inexpensive steps. (Not talking about masks, but those are needed, too!) Here are four things you should know about period...
Five Steps To Take Toward Period Equity
Let's take a trip down the road to Menstrual Equity, shall we? The destination features equal access to needed period products and education, but the journey will be a bumpy one, so hang on. Just ten years ago, the landscape looked a lot different with regard to...
p.s. Public Pool Period
One time I was swimming in a public pool, and my tampon got accidentally pulled out, and they had to evacuate the whole pool. It was mortifying. p.s. Period Stories. Everyone has a story to tell. All stories are welcome, whether or not you get or will get a period. If...
p.s. Red-Washed Jeans
One day in junior year, I felt like looking nice for once. I wore white jeans because my period had ended a day ago (or at least that’s what I thought). In calc, first class of the day, I had to take a difficult test. During the test, I was already stressed because I...
Managing Periods: An Olympic-Sized Task
You may be one of the millions of mere mortals watching the Olympics from the couch, in awe of the marvels of the human body and the lengths to which the athletes can push themselves. With all due respect to the male participants, the women at the 2021 Olympics in...
p.s. Boyfriend Bail Out
When I was 16, I slept at my boyfriend’s house for the weekend. I was quite surprised to wake up Saturday morning to the realization that I had gotten my period and stained all of their good guest room sheets! I wracked my brain about how I could possibly launder them...
1,398,446 Menstrual Products Later…
In a million years, we would never have imagined that six years after our first donation of pads and tampons to a local food pantry, we would be counting the items we've donated in the millions. It is just beyond 🍌🍌🍌. I thought it would be fun to share a few fun facts...
Vacations and Periods
Ahhh, vacation. After a year+ of online school and workdays without beginnings or endings, the Girls Helping Girls. Period. team finally got a chance to take a much-needed break. We (the Joy family, founders of GHGP) are exceedingly lucky, and we know it, to have been...
Monica, Museums and Menstrual Cups
Most of us may know her as Monica Geller, but long before Courtney Cox became the best-known BFF on "Friends" in 1994, she had already gotten noticed for a big first. Still, it's hard to imagine she was the first person to say the word "period" on television in a 1985...
Have You Met Gina?
Most likely you don't know Gina. That's the name of the image of the girl in the Girls Helping Girls. Period. logo. She got her name on a blustery March day, in 2015, when the three co-founders of Girls Helping Girls. Period. went into New York City...
Men, Money and Menstruation
The manager of the "personal care items" section of one of the major grocery store chains we deal with is more than happy to talk about pads, tampons, liners, and all things period care. And he does it on a level most women couldn't. He has a deep understanding of the...
