Pittsburgh Period. I don’t think I could have been more obvious if I tried. But let’s talk about it. It’s amazing how taboo such a natural event can be. If you think about it, periods have been around since the dawn of man (or, more appropriately, woman), and yet the human race can’t seem to stomach the idea of a woman shedding her uterine lining. People in our own modern society still associate periods with being unclean, unnatural and even untrustworthy - myths that have held their sting for centuries in many parts of the world.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Never trust something that bleeds for a week and doesn't die.” It’s largely due to this stigma, and ones like it, that women in need can’t get the supplies they need to keep the “red sea” at bay. Who wants to ask for a tampon? Who wants everyone to know their shame? Hell, some companies purposely made their tampon wrapper look like a candy wrapper as to not let on that you have a functioning vagina. What a time to be alive, right?

As I was driving my daughter to one of her many after school activities one Friday, I passed a bevy of homeless people on the side of the highway, hoping to get the attention of the onslaught of bumper to bumper traffic. I slowly crept past a woman, mid-thirties, carrying nothing but a sign. And as I crept by, all I could wonder was, “God, I hope she's not on her period because if she feels the way I feel right now, I couldn't imagine standing on the side of the road all day with nowhere to go home to.” I’m a mother of three (two girls and one boy) so the period suffering is so real. Often I have to run in three different directions while crampy and exhausted. In other words…TORTURE. That inner monologue led to a deeper question: “Where does that woman get her tampons and pads from?” which led me down the Google rabbit hole, reading article after article about women in need of these products, not just in shelters, but in prisons, in high schools, basically anywhere women are. I started to envision a utopia, where tampons are treated much like toilet paper, available in every public bathroom for FREE. I mean, could you imagine what kind of world this would be if toilet paper was BYOTP? I prefer not to. But that’s why I came up Pittsburgh Period.

It’s not just about providing these products to homeless women. It’s also about the teenager who comes from an underprivileged home and can’t afford them. It’s about the Veteran that’s disabled and can barely get by. It’s about the woman at a lunch meeting, when suddenly “Aunt Flow” comes for a surprise visit with a kick to the uterus. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know that I’m tired of whispering the “P” word when someone asks why I look like hell and couldn't be bothered to change into “real” clothes. I can’t possibly be the only person tired of hiding a tampon in the palm of my hand, afraid that if a man locks eyes with it, he’ll turn to dust like I’m some sort of Menstrual Medusa.

If we break the stigma, then we can get serious about making these products a right, and not a luxury. So lets be loud about it. Lets leave shame at the door. And while we’re at it, lets make sure to smash the BYOT: “Bring Your Own Tampon.” We all deserve to feel clean, secure and dignified. I didn't come up with this saying, but damn it, I believe in it: “Power to the Period!”