Menstrual equity in Dallas
For LGBTQ+ Dallasites, period products are often out of reach SYDNI WALKER | Special Contributor skwalker@mail.smu.edu Am I going to buy groceries this week or pads?
This was the question that Ash Thye, a Southern Methodist University graduate and menstrual equity advocate, asked himself when he was “broke broke” in high school.
He almost always chose food, he said, since he would rather eat. “Because I was dirt poor, I was making pads out of toilet paper,” Thye said. “That’s the point I was at, and so I was using toilet paper for several years off and on. “But for me, when I came out as trans in high school, that also put me in a position where it was less safe for me to ask an acquaintance for a pad, because it involved a lot more explaining myself.” Ash’s situation is, unfortunately, not unique.
Whether it’s due to unpreparedness, fear for one’s safety or for financial reasons, menstruators of all ages lacking access to the appropriate products during a period is not only embarrassing but can cause both educational and career setbacks.
