Contributor
Every 28 days, a uterus bleeds.
Menstruation is a fact of life, an involuntary bodily function, and quite often the bane of our existence. Many women soldier through their cycle in silence, despite how undeniably messy, painful, and downright gruesome it can be.
To add insult to injury, period management is a costly expense; the average American can expect to spend over $18,000 throughout their lifetime on menstrual maintenance alone.
Though we are fortunate enough to live in a country where the appearance of Aunt Flo is not necessarily the end of the world, not all women can say the same. One in 10 girls in Africa will miss school because of their period, with girls in Ghana missing up to five school days per month due to lack of sanitary products in schools.
Women make up more than 60 percent of CSUB’s student body, yet nearly all ladies’ restrooms on campus are lacking in the supplies needed for their daily lives.
In a recent audit of 48 campus restrooms designated for women or unisex, only six had at least one tampon or pad available either for purchase or free. Four restrooms stocked tampons alone, while one carried only pads.
The second floor women’s room in the Student Recreation Center is the only restroom on campus where one might find both options in stock, in a working coin-operated machine (though the cost is double what one would pay in any other restroom on campus.)
Ladies are not the only people with periods, however; men who menstruate are even less likely to find what they need on our campus, with just one unisex restroom campuswide that is stocked with tampons.
Restrooms on all five stories of the Walter Stiern Library showcase dilapidated coin-operated machines adorned with ragged signs announcing that “Feminine hygiene products are no longer available in the library.”
We are left to wonder who in their right mind believes that such products are an optional luxury, rather than a bathroom necessity.
Facilities Management reports spending $2,000 per year on feminine hygiene products. Split evenly between CSUB’s 5385 female students, this amounts to a whopping .37 cents per student, per year.
For reference, the budget allocates four times this amount for Associated Student Inc. branded shirts, sunglasses, and apparel. Two times this amount is spent each year providing parking passes to ASI members. CSUB even spent more on its telephone bill this year than it spent stocking student restrooms with all of the necessary supplies.
The disappearance of period products from our campus can no longer be put aside.
As we strive to become a more progressive and inclusive campus, we need to break the silence and secrecy surrounding the natural bodily functions of over 50 percent of the world’s population.
Let our students maintain their dignity and spend more time in class: bring tampons back to our restrooms! (We shouldn’t even have to ask!)
