- [Hannah Witton] Um, um, um, um, um, um.
(claps)
That's a bum.
Is there and ready to go.
(upbeat music)
Hey everyone, welcome to episode 20 of The Hormone Diaries.
We've done 20 episodes!
(cheers)
(laughs)
If you've been here from the start, wow,
thank you so much, if you are new to this channel,
to this series, hello, welcome, I'm Hannah,
this is The Hormone Diaries, where we talk
about periods and contraception
and all of that good stuff, or bad stuff
depending on your experiences.
This episode is sponsored by Always as part
of their End Period Poverty campaign
which I am so proud to be supporting,
and now Tampax are actually partnering
with Always to help donate even more product
to students in need.
On International Women's Day, I went to a school
in Nottingham with Always, more on that later,
and based on the questions that I got from students
whilst I was there, and also my own experiences,
I've come up with a list of ten things
that we should all learn about periods in school.
Number one, this isn't really a thing
that you should learn but more of
how you should learn it, and I believe
that all students, no matter what your gender,
should learn about periods.
I do think that there are some value in having
some spaces, or some classes, that are
just for people who do have periods,
so that you can talk about certain things,
but I don't think that the people
who don't have periods should be excluded completely,
because then you've just got this imbalance of knowledge
and imbalance of experience and it's just not going
to help people be able to empathise
and support and really just like understand
what is going on with their peers,
their friends, et cetera.
So I do think it's really important
that everyone learns the same stuff.
So everyone is like on the same page.
Number two, we should be taught
that periods can be irregular, especially
at the beginning, so especially during that time
when you're at school, your period may be
all over the place.
Usually it does settle down, but also
we should be taught about why our period might continue
to be irregular and the things
that can affect your menstrual cycle.
I actually did a whole video on reasons why
you might miss your period other than being pregnant,
and I think explaining a lot of those things
when you're in school, would be really useful.
Things like stress, things like overexercising,
things like chronic illness, excessive weight gain
or weight loss in a short period of time,
all of these things can have an impact
on your menstrual cycle.
But it does not mean you're pregnant,
but still take a pregnancy test, just in case.
Number three, we should be taught
about period poverty in school.
And that is exactly what I was going to Nottingham
with Always to do, and I've got a bunch of clips
to show you from that day.
It is International Womens Day,
and I'm in Nottingham and I've come to a school here,
the Carlton Academy, and I'm here with Always,
and we're gonna talk about End Period Poverty,
and periods, and just have a chat
with some of the school girls here.
And I'm really excited!
We've arrived at the school and part of the donation drive
is that Always are donating the pads
and Tampax are donating tampons to the Red Box project.
And look at this!
We've got a massive red box to collect donations.
Look at this!
So many!
I can hear them all.
Teenagers, teenagers!
Hey everyone, can you all hear me okay?
Yes, good, okay, so yeah I'm Hannah,
and I make YouTube videos and I talk a lot about sex
and relationships and bodies and so
that's kind of brought me to a lot of the work
that I do with Always.
91 percent of girls have been asked by friends
for a pad or a tampon, and 32 percent
of girls effected by period poverty
tend to perform low average in class.
Over half of women admitted that they were less confident
and happy as an adult due to period poverty at school.
So it can have like lasting effects
on young girls if they experience period poverty
in school for whatever reason.
How do you think we can normalise periods for boys?
I think, like, unashamed of you talk about it
in front of them.
I, this took a lot of me, but I do remember one point
having a conversation with a friend,
someone mentioned something about periods,
and then a guy friend who we were with just went ew,
gross, and I remember, I mean, I don't condone shouting,
but I yelled at him, I like, was yelling at him
like how dare you, you don't have to experience this,
and you're here saying ew gross,
don't you think that, like, that contributes
to us internalising the grossness of it?
Anyway, so, maybe shout at them,
but maybe don't do that.
(laughs)
This is something that the school gives to girls
if they know that they do miss school
because of their periods and they don't have
the means to get central products.
So there's like a whole little kit of tampons
and pads and stuff in there from Always and Tampax.
And it's just a little survival kit.
I realised in that footage I'm wearing
the exact same top, it has been washed since then.
(laughs)
Thousands of girls miss school because
they can't afford sanitary protection
and this can have a detrimental effect
on their lives as adults in terms of their mental health,
and their relationships, and their confidence.
So far Always has donated 14 million pads
to students in the UK, and now,
Tampax are getting involved and partnering with Always
on this mission to end period poverty
and are also going to be donating products.
There are also ways that you can help to end period poverty.
So for every pack of Always Ultra, Always Platinum,
Tampax Pearl and Compact Pearl purchased in Boots stores,
one product will be donated to the Red Box project.
Also, if you head over to my Instagram,
you'll see this photo which was me in the school,
on International Women's Day, with the red box
from the Red Box project with all of that donated product
in it, if you go and like that picture
or comment on that picture, for every engagement
one product will also be donated to the Red Box project.
So, this is easy, all it takes is a little double tap,
and a little comment, and you've donated some products.
And moving on to number four.
We should be taught about PMS coping mechanisms,
and we should also be taught about the difference
between PMS and PMDD.
So PMS is Pre Menstrual Syndrome,
and PMDD is Pre Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder.
And it affects a smaller portion of people
who have periods, but it's basically
like PMS but more extreme, more severe,
can get in the way of daily life,
daily activities, and can have a really negative impact
on your mental health.
Any kind of pain or distress due to your menstrual cycle
should be taken seriously,
and not just shrugged off as normal.
Number five, we should be taught about things
such as PCOS and endometriosis.
So PCOS stands for Polycistic Ovary Syndrome
and basically your ovaries don't release as many eggs
and you might have higher levels of testosterone
and so you might have less periods,
more painful periods, you might experience
some things related to testosterone
such as facial hair growth or difficulty losing weight,
and endometriosis can cause really heavy
or painful periods, it's where the uterus lining grows
in places other than the uterus
so such as in the fallopian tubes
and it's really a serious medical condition,
and not a lot of people know about it,
and experience really horrible periods
for many years without a diagnosis.
So I think those things need to be taught about
in schools without it being like fear mongering
but definitely just make students aware of these things.
Number six, we should be taught
about the different options
that are out there for period products.
So you've got your pads, your tampons,
you've also got menstrual cups,
you've got period underwear, you've got cloth pads,
there are loads of different options out there
and also, just to make it known that
a lot of people use different products
during different parts of their periods.
So you might use tampons for the first few days
then you might use pads for the last few days,
you might use pads at night but menstrual cup
during the day, it's kinda like makeup.
You don't just use like one brand of makeup
on your whole face, you like, take,
you just use, you use different products
for different things that you need.
Number seven, speaking of products,
we should be told where we can get period products for free,
so which teacher, which office,
is it the school nurse,
or does your school have a red box as well?
We want to end period poverty and to make sure
that no more students are missing school
because they can't afford sanitary protection.
And so it's really important to inform students
of where they can get that product for free.
Especially if it's in the school.
I'm pretty sure when I was in school,
it was always the school nurse
that had free sanitary protection and also condoms.
(laughs)
Number eight, we should be taught
that you can still have sex on your period,
and you can still get pregnant.
It is a very common myth that you can't get pregnant
if you have sex on your period
and that is just not true.
There is still a chance that you can have sex on your period
because sperm can live up in uterus for
up to seven days, so if you're having sex
towards the end of your period,
and then you ovulate a week later
(claps)
that sperm is there and ready to go.
(laughs)
And also just normalising period sex,
and normalising periods in general.
Like it's not gross, it's not weird,
you're not dirty, like period is just period,
and it's fine, and it's just a normal bodily process,
and there is nothing disgusting or gross about it.
And, like please, if you think that just,
move along don't tell me.
Number nine, we should be taught about contraception
and how about that may impact your cycle.
Obviously different forms of contraception
will have different effects on different people.
There is no one size fits all when it comes to it,
absolutely not, unfortunately.
But I think it's really important
to make us aware of the fact that,
contraception can affect your cycle,
and maybe if you have a really bad period
and you really hate your PMS
and you know, you're having a really bad time with that,
then maybe that is a liberating thing
to know that you can have some level of control over that
with contraception.
Obviously that's not the case for everyone,
some people feel more in control
of their body and in control of their period
off contraception, but it should at least
be presented as an option.
And finally, number ten, track your cycle.
This isn't something that I was taught in school,
but none of these fancy apps and stuff existed then,
I did not get my first smartphone
until I was 20 years old, and now there are six year olds
with iPads, and I feel old.
(laughs)
But what I used to do was in like,
my school calender like notebook, where I,
where I would write like what homework was due and stuff,
I would like circle a day that I was due, I think?
And I would star the day that I came on my period.
But that was like the most tracking that I did.
But I think it's also really important
to track things like your PMS symptoms.
So like when do you break out in acne,
when do you like feel a bit off,
or when do you get cramps, when do your boobs ache,
and things like that.
Knowledge is power and it's really important
to know your cycle inside and out,
like oh I, you know, get cramps two days before I come on,
or my boobs ache exactly 30 minutes
before I start my period like,
I don't know if you can predict your cycle
to that specific but, the more you know your body,
the more you can feel in control
of what is happening, or at least, you know,
if you do need help, you do need to go to a doctor
for whatever reason, you know what your symptoms are
and you can tell them what is going on with your body.
So those are my ten things that you should learn
about periods in school, if you have any other ideas
of things that you wanted to learn
about periods in school, or you wished you'd learn
about periods in school, please do leave them
in the comments, thank you so much to Always
for sponsoring this video, and doing the work
that you do with the End Period Poverty campaign.
And I, again, I'm really proud
to be supporting this campaign.
Make sure you go to my Instagram
and like and comment on that picture
so that more products can get donated.
Please give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it,
and make sure you subscribe 'cause I put out new videos
every week, and I'll see you in the next one.
Bye!
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