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LYNNE HOGGAN: My period is not a dirty secret

It's 2023, and yet some people are still acting like having a period is something to be ashamed of.

A variety of period products pouring out of a toilet bag.
Can the Period Products Act in Scotland break down stigma, as well as reducing costs? Image: Shutterstock.

I found myself crying the other day because I dropped an egg and it cracked on my kitchen floor. Two days later, my period started and I remembered that’s why I was an emotional wreck.

If you’re the sort of person who screws up their face at the mention of the word ‘period’ in 2023, this column is for you.

Because when we talk about ‘the time of the month’ we haven’t mentioned some sort of plague. It can’t be spread through touch. It’s just a period.

Women have been having them for years. And yet it still feels like something we should be scared to talk about.

The writer Lynne Hoggan next to a quote: "Sanitary products aren't cheap and nobody should have to worry about using rolled up toilet roll or having to go without."

Personally, it’s something I have always been quite open about. At work, with pals, on social media, even on the radio.

Because periods might be normal, but if you have them they’re also difficult to ignore.

There’s the run-up to the period. The sore back, the hormonal shifts, the abdominal pain when it arrives, when only a hot water bottle and chocolate will do the job.

There’s the constant toilet visits. The wearing darker clothes “just in case”.

Everyone’s different. But no one should feel as if any of these things are something to be embarrassed about.

woman holding hot water bottle to abdomen.
Periods are a pain, and paying for products adds insult to injury. Image: Shutterstock.

Yet when someone asks what’s up and you tell them, the response is often a look of sheer disgust that you have even had the nerve to mention the word period in their hearing.

Period Product Act marks sea change for Scotland

Luckily, it feels like things might be changing for the better.

And I am proud that Scotland is the first country in the world to make period products free to all.

The Period Products Act, which came into force last autumn, means there is now a legal duty on local authorities to provide free tampons or pads to anyone who needs them.

Schools, colleges and other public buildings in Scotland must make a range of products available in their toilets.

Monica Lennon MSP holding a placard which reads 'free period products'.
Period poverty campaigner Monica Lennon MSP was the driving force behind the Period Products Act. Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.

I am also seeing a shift in private businesses, with lots of the bars and restaurants in Perthshire and Dundee putting little baskets in the loos containing tampons and sanitary towels.

It’s a definite step up from the days of being caught short with nothing in our handbags and having to scrabble around for pound coins for the machine.

Period products have always been a hidden expense for those of us who need them.

And with the cost of everything going up at the moment, the law change hasn’t come a moment too soon.

period products on a supermarket shelf.
Period products don’t come cheap, but people in Scotland can now access them for free. Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire.

Sanitary products aren’t cheap, and nobody should have to worry about using rolled up toilet roll or having to go without.

Providing a little selection of these items can save people a lot of stress and it’s a lovely thing to see.

Not only because these period products are now available to anyone who needs them but because they’re out there in the open, where they belong.

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