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Menstruation Justice: Articles

Resources to combat period poverty and advocate for menstrual equity in Salisbury, Maryland, and beyond. Also includes books on women's health across the lifespan.

Suggested Readings

Alugnoa, D. N., Cousins, T., & Sato, M. (2022). Period poverty and menstrual belonging: A matter of climate justice. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(7), e551–e552. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00141-3 

Andersh, K., Francis, Z., Moran, M., & Quarato, E. (2021). Period Poverty: A Risk Factor for People Who Menstruate in STEM. Journal of Science Policy & Governance, 18(04). https://doi.org/10.38126/JSPG180401 

Bobel, C. (2006). “Our Revolution Has Style”: Contemporary Menstrual Product Activists “Doing Feminism” in the Third Wave. Sex Roles, 54(5–6), 331–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9001-7 

Bobel, C., Winkler, I. T., Fahs, B., Hasson, K. A., Kissling, E. A., & Roberts, T.-A. (Eds.). (2020). The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies. Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0614-7 

Brinkley, J. L., & Niebuhr, N. (2023). Period Poverty and Life Strains: Efforts Made to Erase Stigma and to Expand Access to Menstrual Hygiene Products. Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality, 11(1), 1–26. 

Cardoso, L. F., Scolese, A. M., Hamidaddin, A., & Gupta, J. (2021). Period poverty and mental health implications among college-aged women in the United States. BMC Women’s Health, 21(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-020-01149-5 

Carnevalli, É. (2023, April 5). Women can’t afford period products. Talking about it is key to fixing this shame. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/05/period-poverty-menstruation-us 

Crawford, B., Johnson, M., Karin, M., Strausfeld, L., & Waldman, E. G. (2020). The Ground on Which We All Stand: A Conversation About Menstrual Equity Law and Activism. Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, 26(2), 341–388. https://doi.org/10.36641/mjgl.26.2.plight 

Cups, lingerie and home-made pads: What are the reusable options for managing your period? (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/cups-lingerie-and-home-made-pads-what-are-the-reusable-options-for-managing-your-period-86838 

Diamant, A. (2021). Period, end of sentence: A new chapter in the fight for menstrual justice. Scribner. 

Durkin, A. (2017). Profitable Menstruation: How the Cost of Feminine Hygiene Products Is a Battle Against Reproductive Justice. Georgetown Journal of Gender & the Law, 18(1), 131–172. 

Fingerson, L. (2006). Girls in power: Gender, body, and menstruation in adolescence. State University of New York Press. 

Frank, S. E. (2020). Queering Menstruation: Trans and Non‐Binary Identity and Body Politics. Sociological Inquiry, 90(2), 371–404. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12355 

Freidenfelds, L. (2009). The modern period: Menstruation in twentieth-century America. Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Griffin, T. (2019, September 13). A Teenage Girl Killed Herself After Being Called “Dirty” While On Her Period. BuzzFeed News. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tamerragriffin/teenage-girl-killed-herself-period-dirty-kenya 

Hall, N. L. (2021). From “period poverty” to “period parity” to meet menstrual health needs. Med (New York, N.Y.), 2(5), 469–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medj.2021.03.001 

Hassan, S., Ghandour, R., Bakri, L., Shwiki, S., Safi, S., Abuzaid, R., & Zeidan, H. (2023). Menstrual health and hygiene among young Palestinian female university students in the West Bank: A cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 13(3), e069222. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069222 

Hunter, E., Palovick, K., Teni, M. T., & Sebert Kuhlmann, A. (2022). COVID-19 made it harder to access period products: The effects of a pandemic on period poverty. Frontiers in Reproductive Health, 4, 1003040. https://doi.org/10.3389/frph.2022.1003040 

If You Can’t Afford Tampons, What Do You Do? | HuffPost Impact. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/if-you-cant-afford-tampons-what-do-you-do_b_5352396 

It’s Getting More Expensive to Have Your Period, Thanks to Inflation. (2022, June 9). Bloomberg.Com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-09/inflation-is-pushing-tampon-prices-up-10 

Jaafar, H., Ismail, S. Y., & Azzeri, A. (2023a). Period Poverty: A Neglected Public Health Issue. Korean Journal of Family Medicine, 44(4), 183–188. https://doi.org/10.4082/kjfm.22.0206 

Jiang, Xuan, & Casabone, N. (2021). Menstruating Tutors’ Perceptions of Having Free Menstrual Product Access in a Writing Center. Praxis, 18(2), 17–32. 

Jimenez, C. (2023). An Introduction to Gateway Crimes Through Period Poverty [M.C.J., University of Colorado Colorado Springs]. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2902780581/abstract/5B89F71C84C54F85PQ/1 

Johnson, M. E. (2019). Menstrual Justice (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3389773). Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3389773 

Johnston-Robledo, I., & Chrisler, J. (2013). The Menstrual Mark: Menstruation as Social Stigma. Sex Roles, 68(1–2), 9–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-0052-z 

Kilpatrick, A. R. and S. (2020). Changing the Cycle: Period Poverty as a Public Health Crisis. Retrieved February 2, 2024, from https://sph-webprod.sph.umich.edu/pursuit/2020posts/period-poverty.html 

Lowik, A. J. (2021). “Just because I don’t bleed, doesn’t mean I don’t go through it”: Expanding knowledge on trans and non-binary menstruators. International Journal of Transgender Health, 22(1–2), 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2020.1819507 

Maloney, C. B. (2017, May 5). H.R.2379 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): Robin Danielson Feminine Hygiene Product Safety Act of 2017 (2017/2018) [Legislation]. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/2379 

Mejia, M. (2022). Menstrual Health Red Zones: An Analysis on Period Poverty in the San Fernando Valley and its Influence on College Students. http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/222928 

Menstrual Equity. (n.d.). Urban Libraries Council. Retrieved October 2, 2021, from https://www.urbanlibraries.org/innovations/menstrual-equity 

Menstrual Products Are Now Free for Women in Arizona Prisons—ProQuest. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2021, from http://www.proquest.com/docview/2565081242?accountid=14553 

Michel, J., Mettler, A., Schönenberger, S., & Gunz, D. (2022). Period poverty: Why it should be everybody’s business. Journal of Global Health Reports, 6, e2022009. https://doi.org/10.29392/001c.32436 

Munro, A. K., Hunter, E. C., Hossain, S. Z., & Keep, M. (2021). A systematic review of the menstrual experiences of university students and the impacts on their education: A global perspective. PLOS ONE, 16(9), e0257333. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257333 

Network of the National Library of Medicine [NNLM] (Director). (2023, February 15). Health Bytes—Flipping the Script on Period Poverty and Standard Puberty Education (Feb 8, 2023). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjUcTS-YiIE 

Oladunni, O., Astril, E.-U., Great, O., Victoria, A. A., Chigozirim, O. O., Favour, A. T., Oladunni, O., Astril, E.-U., Great, O., Victoria, A. A., Chigozirim, O. O., & Favour, A. T. (2022). Factors influencing period poverty among female adolescent students in public secondary schools in EDE North, Osun State. Journal of Gynecological Research and Obstetrics, 8(1), 014–021. https://doi.org/10.17352/jgro.000109 

Olson, M. (2023). The Impact of Period Poverty on Low-Income Adolescents in the United States. University Honors Theses. https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.1364 

Period. End of Story. (2022, May 2). American Libraries Magazine. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2022/05/02/period-end-of-story/

Poston, L. (2019). Unmet Menstrual Hygiene Needs Among Low-Income Women. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 133(6), 1284–1285. https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000003299 

Rawat, M., Novorita, A., Frank, J., Burgett, S., Cromer, R., Ruple, A., & DeMaria, A. L. (2023). “Sometimes I just forget them”: Capturing experiences of women about free menstrual products in a U.S. based public university campus. BMC Women’s Health, 23(1), 351. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02457-2 

Reed, E. V. (2020). Bleeding us dry: Menstruating college students’ perceptions of the cost, environmental and health impacts of menstrual products. https://arminda.whitman.edu/theses/2020028 

Reilly, B. (2019). Wisconsin Capitol, state office buildings now offer free menstrual products. In Wisconsin State Journal.  

Riley, A. H., Slifer, L., Hughes, J., & Ramaiya, A. (2020). Results from a literature review of menstruation-related restrictions in the United States and Canada. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, 25, 100537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srhc.2020.100537 

Rohatgi, A., & Dash, S. (2023). Period poverty and mental health of menstruators during COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons and implications for the future. Frontiers in Global Women’s Health, 4. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2023.1128169 

Røstvik, C. M. (2022). Cash Flow: The businesses of menstruation. UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787355385 

Sang, K., Remnant, J., Calvard, T., & Myhill, K. (2021). Blood Work: Managing Menstruation, Menopause and Gynaecological Health Conditions in the Workplace. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041951 

Sayers, J. G., & Jones, D. (2015). Truth Scribbled in Blood: Women’s Work, Menstruation and Poetry. Gender, Work & Organization, 22(2), 94–111. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12059 

Schizer, M. W. (2021). Q&A: Anita Diamant. Newsweek Global, 176(14), 10–11. 

Schmitt, M. L., Dimond, K., Maroko, A. R., Phillips-Howard, P. A., Gruer, C., Berry, A., Nash, D., Kochhar, S., & Sommer, M. (2023). “I stretch them out as long as possible:” U.S. women’s experiences of menstrual product insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Women’s Health, 23(1), 179. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02333-z 

Schwartz, B. I., Effron, A., Bear, B., Short, V. L., Eisenberg, J., Felleman, S., & Kazak, A. E. (2022). Experiences with Menses in Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Adolescents. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, 35(4), 450–456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpag.2022.01.015 

She put newspaper in her underwear because her school charged for pads. A new law ends that | The Fresno Bee. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education-lab/article180114836.html 

Sommer, M., Hirsch, J. S., Nathanson, C., & Parker, R. G. (2015). Comfortably, Safely, and Without Shame: Defining Menstrual Hygiene Management as a Public Health Issue. American Journal of Public Health, 105(7), 1302–1311. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302525 

Sommer, M., Lee, C., Liu, D., & Gruer, C. (2020). The Extent to Which Menstruation-Related Issues Are Included in Graduate-Level Public Health Curricula. Frontiers in Public Health, 8. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00442 

Stewart, K., Powell, M., & Greer, R. (2009). An alternative to conventional sanitary protection: Would women use a menstrual cup? Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 29(1), 49–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443610802628841 

Tabor, J., & Delgado, O. (2022). Addressing Period Poverty: The Cost of Menstruating in America and the Ethical Responsibility to Provide Free Menstrual Care. Academic Festival. https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/acadfest/2022/all/102 

Taylor, S. (2023). Menstrual dignity and stigma: How college students perceive period poverty. Oregon State University. https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/1j92gg53p 

Vogel, W. (2022). Upcycling Invasive Species to Address Social Issues: Developing a Compostable Menstrual Pad from Water Hyacinth. https://hdl.handle.net/10877/16112 

Westin, E., Holm, T., Björling, M. W., & Rodrigues, C. (2021). The effects of a subscription- based business model: A qualitative study of women who consume menstrual hygiene products and how subscription-based business models influence customer experience. Linnaeus University Bachelor's Thesis.

Williams, C. R., Huff, A., & Mason Meier, B. (2021). Dissident Blood: Using Critical Feminist Study to Advance the Health and Human Rights of Menstruators. Health & Human Rights: An International Journal, 23(1), 293–296. 

Zivi, K. (2020). Hiding in Public or Going with the Flow: Human Rights, Human Dignity, and the Movement for Menstrual Equity. Human Rights Quarterly, 42(1), 119-144. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2020.0003 

New Period Research

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