Period products should be free in every bathroom in NJ schools (Opinion)

One New Jersey high school has started a movement that should become standard in the Garden State. Bergen County Technical High School has been stocking its bathrooms with free menstrual products in restrooms for years.

This is done as a way to ensure that students won’t have to miss classes or extracurricular activities due to unexpected circumstances. Not to mention a way to save a good pair of pants.

In my opinion, this should be the case everywhere, and there’s a chance that could become a reality.

There’s legislation put out by health care advocates that would increase access to said products in an effort to solve “period poverty.”

Period poverty is the struggle many women deal with when they can’t afford pads or tampons. Even more worrisome, it also encompasses the lack of understanding about women’s cycles.

This doesn’t just have to be a class or income issue, sometimes you’re just caught off guard. For that reason alone these products should be readily available for anyone who needs them in a pinch.

Let’s be honest here: if men started bleeding randomly *from down there* once a month this would have always been implemented. It wouldn’t even be a question. So why should women have to be inconvenienced? (And that is a light way of putting it, by the way)

As one former student of Bergen County Technical High School, Lexi Columbo, put it, “period products should not be treated any differently from toilet paper, paper towels or even tissues.”

It’s true, products should be available right there in the bathroom for those in need. Don’t give me the “students who need something can walk to the nurse’s office” excuse. That walk is enough time to do some damage, if you know what I mean.

It’s now on the Senate and Assembly to put this to a vote before it could possibly be signed into law by Gov. Murphy. In my opinion, it’s long overdue. This should have been a given for decades.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.

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