Name: Zoe Karp

Social Justice Group: Menstrual Health

Date of Fieldwork: November 18, 2017

Name of Organization: Period.org

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Nadya Okamoto – Founder and Executive Director, Ingrid Nilsen – Youtuber, Congresswoman Meng, and so many more.

Type of Fieldwork: Conference

What I did:

We went to the first ever Period Convention and we listened to so many amazing speakers and met many amazing women who are involved in the field we are interested in. They offered me an application for the summer internship, and it was all so amazing.

What I learned:

I learned many things at this convention. I learned that many women all around the world have to skip school every month because they don’t have the resources to deal with their periods. It is the number one reason that girls miss school, and in more developing countries, that leads to women dropping out of school. I also learned that we shouldn’t be calling feminine hygiene products that. There are now transgender men who menstruate and saying feminine can be offensive to them. Also, the word hygiene can have negative connotations because it makes it seem like when you are menstruating you aren’t clean or pure.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

Nadya Okamoto was 16 when she started the non-profit in a Starbucks with one of her best friends. I learned that all you need to start a movement is a few people who really care, and then you can build your following from there.