It’s not just blood
By Pauline Roth
When talking about menstruation, people might suppose that I speak about blood. But I don’t: Menstrual blood is different from “normal” blood. It’s not only about the people who lose it once a month but also about financial interests, ecological issues, and systematic stigmatization. Blood is not just blood. But since nobody addresses this issue, it remains something vaguely known as red and liquid.
Between 300 and 800 million people menstruate all over the world right now. And that’s important! Women* don’t lose blood because they feel like it or want to spread some color (that wouldn’t be worth the pain, sorry), but instead they enable our human race to continue to exist. Due to different socio-cultural circumstances, women are supposed to use “hygienic products”. Even though there is - biologically seen - no need to catch the blood in pads, tampons, or cups (which furthermore contain plastic particles and parfums), menstruating people are often forced to hide their blood. In huge parts of the world, also here in Europe, menstrual blood is mostly considered unclean and shameful. A simple example: the product manufacturers of Always and OB. They depict menstrual blood with blue liquid and market themselves with the name "Whisper" in other countries. The very name "hygiene" product also speaks for itself.
Capital interests
But what does capitalism have to do with it? It’s logical: A bit more than half of the world’s society menstruates about 40 years in a lifetime. Therefore they regularly “need” to use tampons, pads etc. To no one’s surprise, for the biggest companies producing these products, the demand is high and the customers loyal. Therefore, it’s no surprise that single-use products are often the only available ones. It all happens entirely in the interest of capital. Ignoring the quite unfair fact that only half of society has to pay for period products, it’s ecologically alarming that these companies don’t show real interest in developing sustainable and re-usable products. For them, it would lower their profit.
About 500 to 800 million menstruating people don’t have period products at disposal, more than 1.25 billion (!) don’t have access to toilets. Devastating, but from a capitalist point of view also a possibility to develop the market. For example, in India, a sanitary pad revolution is currently taking place. For many women, it’s the first time ever that they have the possibility to use proper period products. It’s obvious that profit-oriented companies prefer to make money with those new products, rather than to promote ecological alternatives.
Let me make one last point about the social responsibility of companies. Adolescents shouldn’t only take their knowledge from half-true, cliché-ridden youth magazines or in the best case netflix-shows like Sex Education. Schools and universities are the most important and reliable sources. However, often brochures of companies are distributed which usually only contribute to further stigmatization of the period. It is portrayed as something private, intimate and detached from social influences. Periods are thus depoliticized: Society and politics bear no responsibility when it comes to dealing with one's own menstruation.
Climate and environmental issues
Due to the amount of menstruating people globally, collecting their blood in one-way-products requires a huge resource consumption. More than 45 billion period products are consumed every year all over the world, which equals to 100 kilograms of trash per woman in a lifetime. Not only the production - especially the cultivation of cotton - but also the waste disposal causes severe environmental problems. In order to make the blood as invisible as possible for our society, products are wrapped in plastic twice: when they are new (e.g. pads) and when they are used (e.g. plastic bags). Furthermore many products contain plastic particles that make it impossible to recycle them. More than 500-800 years have to pass until one pad or tampon even starts to decompose. Therefore, a large part of our waste is shipped overseas, where it gets burned. Out of sight, out of mind, you might say. Global injustice and neocolonial structures are thus built and reinforced. All the products that don’t make it to a garbage site sooner or later end up in the ocean. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that one in five pieces of trash found on a beach is a tampon or a pad.
To come back to capitalism: Procter and Gamble has a worldwide monopoly on sanitary pads and is among the top 50 biggest enterprises in the world. Both the company’s wealth and societal dependance on their products enable Procter and Gamble to maintain an influential position for lobbying. Moreover, in 2019, the EU softened a general directive on single-use plastic. Instead of outright banning single-use period products (the way cotton buds or straws have been), period products only have to be transparent about their contents and provide information on correct disposal.
But why so? The answer is simple: lobbyism. The lines of conflict become even clearer if you know that Procter and Gamble ranks number 6 in global plastic waste producers.
Period Poverty
One last point: period poverty. The term describes a relevant social problem: menstruation as a financial burden that prevents women from participating in society, culture, politics and education. Basically, women without access to hygienic products lose on average five years of education. All those who can’t afford these products and therefore have to skip school lessons are excluded from participation in an important part of society. Often, they rely on socks or fabric scraps and thereby risk infections or toxic shock syndrome. Women spend more than 20.000 euros in a lifetime on period products and whoever wants to buy more sustainable or higher quality products has to spend even more. Period products shouldn’t be a privilege, since menstruating isn’t. However, a recent survey from the United States shows that every fifth person already has had to decide between buying food or period products. While in other countries like Scotland (since 2022 in every state institution and education center) free period products are already standard, in Germany, until 2020 they officially remained “luxury goods” by being taxed almost three times (19%) as high as “products of daily need” like flowers or caviar (7%). In France, the social insurance will in the future reimburse the purchase of reusable hygiene products for all menstruating women up to the age of 25. This is a good measure to make sustainable alternatives more popular and financially support women. All in all, we need to be aware of the privilege of having access to period products and being able to choose products that suit our needs. Nevertheless, it is important to enable other women around the world to benefit from this and at the same time to implement sustainable alternatives that are better for the environment and your own wallet.
Conclusion
Looking at period poverty in the context of capital interest and environmental issues is interesting since large corporations emphasize the need of single-use products in order to even participate in society. However, in the long term, this is no solution, neither for the menstruating woman nor for the environment. As stigmatization, taboos and the financial burden of menstruation remain, waste from period products keeps increasing. Instead of this, sustainable alternatives such as cups (a real recommendation!), washable period underwear, sanitary towels, and menstrual sponges need to be promoted. These products can be washed and reused after your period ends. Political measures such as insurance reimbursing the purchase of period products or simply lowering taxes on them, as well as education from independent sources, are all important factors to ensure a real emancipation from period-related oppression. And for all of you, who might still think “blood is blood”, then let me tell you “it’s not only about blood, but so much more!”
*The choice to use the word “women” in this text is mainly for brevity. However, I acknowledge that people of all genders and ages menstruate.
