(Photo: Menstrual pads and tampons/YR Staff)
DeKalb, IL — Two Black women are working to beat period poverty with “menstrual hubs,” a place with free menstrual products and educational resources for students and young adults.
Lynette Medley, founder of No More Secrets, a sexuality awareness organization, said it’s easier to talk about periods than it used to be but conversations around menstruation tend to happen only in privileged circles where people of color are left without accurate information.
Medley recently launched the “SPOT Period” hub at Lincoln University, the world’s first “menstrual hub,” with her daughter, Nya McGlone. Now, Medley is working with Amber Wynne, a senior at Hampton University, to open another SPOT Period Hub this fall at the school.
“In the media, we still see the same cisgender White women who represent all menstruators as the faces of brands,” Wynne said, according to The Lily. “It’s only women in the conversation. We’re still excluding a bunch of menstruators in the world who identify as transgender or nonbinary.”
Medley said the hub on Lincoln University’s campus offers menstrual products, education, along with Zoom conversations. Medley said you can’t give someone something without education and awareness behind it.
“There is always this idea that we have, especially as Black women: What’s wrong with me? No, nothing is wrong with you,” Medley said, according to The Lily. “Something is going on in your body. You’re not getting the right information. The studies in the literature are done on other bodies, not Black bodies.”
Going forward, Wynne said, “we have to create policies that truly protect BIPOC, Black and Brown bodies when it comes to our reproductive health.”