It’s time to educate ourselves and others on shame-free menstruation talk, and break the cycle of secrecy, fear and misinformation about periods.
Period taboos and the habits that uphold them lead to negative consequences like period poverty, late diagnoses of reproductive health problems, sustainability issues, unsafe behaviour, gender discrimination, and social exclusion all around the world, including right here in the UK.
Being #periodpositive is about inclusion and visibility for everyone who menstruates, and Period Positive is committed to challenging and pushing the menstrual discourse forward so that it is in line with reproductive justice, social justice, and human rights values of equity, inclusivity and sustainability. We are a queer- and disability-led organisation.
We believe in ensuring intersectional issues are reflected in all we do, and question all types of bigotry, stereotyping and corporate or institutional bias where they interfere with safe, healthy and positive discussion and provision of menstruation policy, education, access and management, and we support others to do the same.
Everyone can improve their menstrual literacy. Even if you haven’t had a period yet, will never have them, or don’t have them any more, chances are menstrual taboos have impacted you or someone you care about, in obvious ways or in ways you didn’t reflect upon until later in life. We find people are often stopped from challenging menstrual stigma because of their own experiences of shame, internalised taboos, or general discomfort when talking or thinking about what should be just another bodily function.
Taboos have silenced people for too long.
Period Positive uses humour, joy, and evidence-based learning activities to empower everyone to look at periods in a new way, find each of our unique voices, and work together to reverse the effects of negative attitudes.
Through policy advocacy, training, campaigning and public engagement, we provide the building blocks that help young people, adults, organisations, and lawmakers to quickly and effectively transform the way we as a society address periods.
We strive to ensure that no matter what your gender or whether you menstruate or not, that you’ll feel more confident and comfortable talking about menstruation publicly and privately, so that you can do your part and join the bloody fight.
Support Period Positive so we can make this happen and keep it going long term.
The Period Positive campaign and the concept of period positivity started as a phrase coined by former head of PSHE, comedian and education researcher Chella Quint, grew into a campaign, a trademark, a charter programme and a movement. If you’d like to earn the charter mark and apply for a licence to use ‘period positive’, promote period positivity or display the logo, please get in touch via the contact form.