Feeling Period Proud

Pioneering students are set to host their second ‘Period Pride Day’ at Newcastle University to celebrate organisations who are giving free menstruation care to their students and employees. The campaign, which was launched in February 2015 by members of Newcastle University Students’ Union’s (NUSU) Feminist Society, has now become a national event with Universities and Students’ Unions throughout the UK, as well as the National Union of Students (NUS), getting involved to stamp out the stigma and host their own Period Pride Day on Thursday 18^th February. Rohan Kon, Period Pride event organiser, said: “Period Pride Day serves as a big drive for organisations to put their voices to the national debate and show solidarity in reducing the stigma and instil Period Pride into their students and employees because periods are not shameful.” Events will be held all over the country including an online Twitter storm, using the hashtags #PeriodPrideDay and #FreePeriods. Events at Newcastle University include fundraising outside of the Students’ Union, workshops and volunteering events to make menstrual care packs for the homeless. Rohan continued: “I’m extremely proud of what the Feminist Society has achieved and the popularity of the campaign shows that it is an issue that many Universities, Students’ Unions and organisations want to give their support to.” The luxury tampon tax debate has been a wildly discussed issue in Parliament and in the national media, with many MPs lobbying against the tampon tax. Now students are putting their support behind it and raising the issue on campuses across the UK. Luke Alinson, NUSU’s Welfare and Equality Officer, said: “It’s important for the Students’ Union to get behind campaigns such as this and raise awareness of a topic that isn’t talked about enough. “If we can add our voices to the national campaign and encourage others to embrace Period Pride, then we know that our campaign has achieved something.”