i would skip school for seven days
because my mom couldn't afford to buy
sanitary pads
as a result i would cut pieces of my
t-shirt to use as a pad
and make me feel worthless
one in five girls in the u.s has missed
school because of a lack of access to
period products
in partnership with always in walgreens
we asked women to anonymously share
their secrets related to period poverty
and menstruation
then had other women read them aloud in
order to spread awareness
always in walgreens are teaming up to
help end period poverty
stick around after the episode to learn
how you can help
i didn't know much about administration
and cried the first time i got my period
because i thought i had changed forever
i was really ashamed i wish i knew more
before that moment
growing up i was never able to talk to
my mom about periods
nor ask her for supplies so i had to
ration them out in school
this led me to having one or two pads
for the entire seven days i was on my
period
and often bleeding through my uniform
yes i also related this quite a lot as
well um
in high school it was actually when i
had to really start becoming independent
so i pretty much had to figure out how
to ration all of my things
this included textbooks and
the most essential part pads you know
the paths that the school was providing
weren't very protective
so i'd always have to ask for like at
least more than
more than three it hurts my heart to
think
that there are women out there who have
to struggle to
get that kind of quality protection you
know for their periods
i would skip school for seven days
because my mom couldn't afford to buy
sanitary pads
as a result i would cut pieces of my
t-shirt to use as a pad
and make me feel worthless
i would sometimes skip school as well
when i when i didn't have any sanitary
pads or like a tampon or anything
money's tight so can i afford to go get
tampons or do i ask my co-workers or
just suck it up till i get home and
use toilet paper as much as i could
i didn't have anyone to help or tell me
about periods
i brought my first sanitary products by
myself and have been doing this ever
since
i never realized how expensive this
actually adds up to be especially
buying for a younger sister this meant
that when i would have to buy new
products we wouldn't be eating for a few
days
wow that's intense
i've been a broke college student you
know i have five dollars in my bank
account
and then your period happens and then
what
when i was living in a homeless shelter
women could only get seven pats or seven
tampons
for two weeks i just thought that was
completely unfair so i started to go to
every woman
and told them they can come to me
anytime because i would take supplies
and put it in my room for them
every time i'm on my period i stay at
least one thing on most of the clothes i
wear
my periods are very heavy and i have to
change them every hour and a half
but i'm always nervous to ask my
teachers this experience makes me feel
like crap i hate it so much
oh goodness i used to be immobile
because of my period
i would have to miss school some days
because i would just be so sick from it
yeah the stain thing too we all do it
but i understand that that's really hard
and that's really embarrassing i was in
seventh grade on a field trip
when my period started i didn't have any
products and bled through my clothes
a group of guys joked about it causing
everyone to laugh and point
i was so fed up with what happened that
i had a mental breakdown in glass
growing up in an asian household periods
were a taboo to talk about and
unconsciously made me hate myself more
and i'm not allowed to enter the kitchen
operate during the menstrual cycle
it made me feel very ashamed
so growing up muslim i can also relate
because we have the cultural and the
religious
element women on their periods were seen
as something
dirty that's like the perfect
description and i just always believe
that you cannot
talk about your period in front of men
as if they don't know what it is
but over time i learned that that's just
the natural thing that women go through
and the more i studied my culture and my
faith the more i realized a lot of that
was just male interpretation
in school it was very different because
we were all girls it was more like a
celebration i remember i was the last
ones to have my period and i was waiting
for it
but any time outside school outside the
comfort zone be super cautious if i'm
staining or not or
feel a little bit gross about it i think
it's
kind of crazy to be ashamed of something
you have no control over
even though i myself was ashamed of it
for
15 years and i remember like after
i left a homeless shelter and i found my
own place
i just felt like i wasn't worth the
products that i needed
this is not something that women should
be
penalized for we were born this way
especially girls who don't have access
to menstrual hygiene products
that they're forced to use toilet paper
or even socks or a piece of their
clothing
it's so unhealthy i mean everyone
deserves to have
a high quality life our bodies are all
unique and different to each of us and
how they respond to us
is a beautiful thing i'm not going to
hide this this time let's go to a mail
checkout
you don't have to hide what is normal
[Music]
these secrets represent only a small
fraction of the millions of women who
lack access to period products
png and walgreens are working together
to help address the issue
and have already donated 6 million
period products to girls in need
but there's still so much more to do
between july 26
and august 29 2020 for every pack of
always or tampax you purchase at
walgreens
always will donate an additional period
product
thanks for watching
you