I can still remember the embarrassment of having a period at school. Sticking a tampon up my sleeve and scuttling off to the bathroom hoping I wouldn’t bump into any boys on the undercover mission.
Loads of us feel embarrassed by our periods, according to research by Unfabled it’s a massive 58% of menstruators that get red in the face when talking about it. This is sad and evidence of internalised misogyny as periods are, obviously, natural. On top of that, we spend 3000 days of our life menstruating, which (depending on your cramps) is a little depressing.
To help combat period embarrassment, Hannah Samano founded her brand Unfabled with the goal to change the language we use to talk about tampons and sanitary pads. ‘Language like “sanitary products’ and “feminine hygiene” is dangerous and holds people back,’ she said and explained that the word ‘hygiene’ implies periods are unhygienic and ‘feminine’ isn’t gender inclusive.
‘In a world where mainstream menstrual brands are garish and where sterile supermarket aisles labelled ‘feminine hygiene’ are often situated next to the pet food aisle, purchasing menstrual products just doesn’t make us feel good,’ she said.
'Cycle health affects everyone. Daughters, sisters, wives, partners, mothers, friends. By maintaining that menstrual health is a niche topic only for women, we prevent boys and men from understanding menstruation which maintains stigma. The more we dismantle the stigma around women’s health, the healthier and happier society will be as a whole.'
And in the first steps forward to combat period embarrassment, Asda Supermarket has changed their ‘feminine hygiene’ signage to say ‘period products’ instead—which has gone down sensationally well with users on Twitter.
‘AMAZING news!” wrote one fan. “Let’s see @BootsUK @superdrug and all other retailers do this. The term ‘feminine hygiene’ belongs in 1822, not 2022.’
‘Excellent news! “Period” is not a dirty word,’ added another ‘Let's stop using sugar coated language to hide what it actually is - a normal biological function that is night shameful nor gross.’
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Asda said of the shift: 'We're proud to have made this change in our stores to better reflect shoppers' attitudes around period products. These items are an essential part of the shop for so many, so this change in wording helps us move towards removing the stigma from periods and period products.'
READ MORE: How Understanding Your Periods Could Get You That Next Promotion