{"id":8479,"date":"2024-04-22T11:44:13","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T04:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/?p=8479"},"modified":"2024-05-03T13:22:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T06:22:17","slug":"sga-pushes-period-products-in-acc-bathrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/sga-pushes-period-products-in-acc-bathrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"SGA Pushes Period Products in ACC Bathrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Alice Wilson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the semester, the Student Government Association (SGA), along with the recently formed Safe and Empowering Knowledge for Sexuality (SEKS) club, have been campaigning to secure funding for free menstrual products to be available in every ACC bathroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[In the Fall 2024 semester]\u2026 we will be launching our research trial, which will be helping with our data to get ACC to fund free menstrual products across all campuses and all bathrooms,\u201d said Nivedita Anandaramankala, the chair for the project and historian for the SGA, in an episode of ACCENT’s podcast. \u201cWe will be conducting surveys during the project and after the run\u2026 tell everyone about it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two groups’ main priority is to gather sufficient data about both the need and expected effectiveness of a program like this, in order to make a convincing presentation to the higher-ups at ACC. With 11 ACC campuses located throughout Central Texas, their first challenge has been navigating the differing financial policies of each. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery campus is different,\u201d said Marisela Perez, the former president of the SGA and co-chair of the project. \u201cWe actually visited all of them in December to understand if they\u2019re accessible or not. We realized that [period products] are in Student Life [rooms] on some campuses\u2026 [San Gabriel] campus already has them in the bathroom and that\u2019s something that Student Life manages from their budget.\u201d Some campuses, such as the one in Elgin, have period products in certain bathrooms funded by teachers or staff. \u201cThat was our first challenge, to understand the situation in so many different campuses. The budget, because, again, we are just a student organization. Our job is just to do the research and present it to the administration, so hopefully they address the situation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Group photo of some attendees to the Ascender program’s “SEXucation SEXsion” featuring Alejandra Cardenas of the SEKS club (lower middle left) on February 14, 2023. The SEKS club will be hosting a similar “Seksapalooza” event on April 25. Photo courtesy of the SEKS club. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With available access to proper hygiene products, the research shows that having a period need not impact the daily lives and education of female students. Without access, however, reports show that periods become a disempowering experience, impact women’s education and even become sources of anxiety and shame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a study published by the research site Statista, 25% of female students in the United States are unable to do schoolwork because of a lack of access to period products \u2013 an aspect of a larger issue referred to as \u201cperiod poverty.\u201d Period poverty encompasses both a lack of access to menstrual products \u2013 largely but not solely due to economic factors \u2013 as well as insufficient education about menstruation and menstrual hygiene. A 2021 study from the BMC Women\u2019s Health Journal <\/a> reflects that this is more commonplace than one might expect, reporting that 10% of college-aged women experience the effects of period poverty every month. These numbers are higher among low-income families as well, particularly amongst immigrants to the US and first-generation college students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One plausible reason that menstrual products haven\u2019t already<\/em> been made available in all restrooms at ACC, might be that they are currently available at student life for free already. Despite this, representatives from both the SGA and SEKS club make the case that this isn\u2019t enough; that ACC needs hygiene products available in the bathrooms themselves. Their reasoning comes from Student Life\u2019s restricted hours, which don\u2019t always or even often align with the needs of part-time students who rely on night classes. What’s more, the location of the Student Care Center is not easily accessible to all buildings or classrooms in ACC\u2019s large Highland campus; additionally, visitors without a student ID card are prevented from accessing menstrual products at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Adding to this, the SEKS club believes that many students may feel uncomfortable sharing their personal health information with unfamiliar people manning the desk at Student Life (no matter how friendly and approachable ACC’s staff might be). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2023 study also published by Statista, reports that 63% of teenage students in the US are \u201cespecially self-conscious of periods in the school environment,\u201d and 88% of students \u201chide period products when walking out of class to go to the bathroom.\u201d The SEKS club argues that these numbers give firm ground to the importance of offering free menstrual products in all<\/em> public female restrooms \u2013 beyond just ACC, which already seeks to provide access to groceries, transportation, and child-care programs at no cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are periods so taboo? \u201cIt\u2019s because we don\u2019t talk about it,\u201d answers Alejandra Cardenas, founder of the SEKS club. \u201cThat\u2019s what needs to change.\u201d Cardenas\u2019 main goal in starting the ACC Student Organization was to tackle such stigma that continues to exist not only around menstrual health and education, but sexuality in general. \u201cMy hope for the club is that we can hear people out. If we want to talk about Safe Sex\u2026 if we want to talk about pleasure, because that\u2019s also important, if we want to talk about anatomy, that’s fine. I just want it to be as inclusive as possible too.\u201d Aside from physical<\/em> access to period products themselves, tackling the stigma<\/em> around menstruation is one of the main goals of the SEKS club and SGA\u2019s partnership. \u201c[Periods are] something that you are supposed to be celebrating, it\u2019s womanhood,\u201d affirms Anandaramankala. \u201cEven now, my friends [are] educating their brothers on it. Which I find is the most amazing thing ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When one in four girl\u2019s experience in education is limited by a seemingly preventable access-barrier, it\u2019s hard not to question what the hold up is. Undoubtedly, a consciousness of the school\u2019s budget, paired with doubt around the importance of having menstrual products in the bathrooms, have impeded both the SGA and SEKS club\u2019s goals. Anandaramankala is confident, however, that new awareness<\/em> around the lack of available menstrual care will make all the difference about showing the importance of their efforts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just that people don\u2019t know about it, it\u2019s that it’s never been brought up before. The only reason why we have the student care center, the only reason why we have student life, is because someone brought it up,” said Anandaramankala, “and this right now is students bringing it up. We\u2019re hoping this will cause a bit more noise than an employee [would].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens from here? The organizations emphasize that the realization of the project in full will depend primarily on student participation. Research trials will begin at both Highland and Rio Grande campuses in Fall of 2024, where a survey will be available via a scannable QR code in the bathrooms. The two organizations are calling on the collective student body at ACC to take part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo the survey,\u201d urges Anandaramankala. \u201cYour voice is so important, and I don\u2019t think people realize that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two student-run clubs at ACC have partnered together to provide free menstrual products in every bathroom at ACC. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4103,"featured_media":8480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}