Minnesota is expected to pass a bill that would put free period products in school bathrooms. This aims to aid period poverty by making necessities, like pads and tampons, accessible for students.

Teens have been prominent in making change for this movement. Period poverty is a public health concern that affects many students. For some, trying to find period products can be more urgent that attending class. This is something that we need to fix.

Periods have been heavily gendered and stigmatized, something that we need to undo. Many genderqueer people get periods. Using public bathrooms as a trans person is already difficult, and having a period can complicate that further. This bill has the opportunity to help trans folx by putting period products in all bathrooms, including gender neutral and men’s restrooms. Another request to aid trans people would be to put sanitary bins in all bathrooms as well.

Using gender neutral language when talking about periods, products, and educating is crucial. Un-gendering periods allows trans people to be seen and included, especially in the period poverty movement. So many people other than cis women experience periods, and it’s important to acknowledge this.

We can work to contact representatives and state officials to seek period products in all bathrooms. Spreading information and opening the conversation about period poverty helps community work towards changing period poverty for the better.

If this bill is passed, it is essential that it affects to ALL school bathrooms, meaning products and sanitary bins are put in men’s restrooms as well. Including and supporting genderqueer folx in this movement is essential. Trans kids deserve to feel safe in any bathroom they choose to use.

“One of the important aspects of this bill is not just to provide students with what they need, but to normalize conversations around periods and making sure that everyone who menstruates just feels comfortable with this very normal bodily function,” Feist said. Minnesota Representative Sandra Feist is prominent in advocating for period products to be put in all bathrooms because not everyone who menstruates is female, and everyone deserves to feel comfortable with their normal bodily functions.

I was spotlighted in an MPR article about this, as well as other teenagers passionate about period poverty. View that here. I appreciate everyone working on this. I hope that gender is brought into this and that trans folx feel like they can be vocal too.