Name: Io Weintraub
Social Justice Group: Menstrual Health
Date of Fieldwork: January 29, 2018
Name of Organization: Periods Gone Public Book
Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Jennifer Weiss-Wolf
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did:
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf came to talk to our class about her book, Periods Gone Public – Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity. She told us about how she came to realize that menstruation was an issue, she saw it on a Facebook post. She told us about her struggles in changing the taboo, people thought periods were “gross”. And she told us about how we can make a change, talk openly about periods because it’s not something to be ashamed of. She was so inspiring to our group because she used her book to spread awareness about such an unspoken topic. That is what we are trying to do for our school. Afterwards, we interviewed her privately (with our group only) asked her questions like people she knows in the field, her new book coming out (Period: Twelve Voices Tell The Bloody Truth), and we asked her about one of her personal period stories.
What I learned:
Jennifer knew a lot about people who menstruate around the world and how it affects them differently. Some people have to live in a tent for the duration of their period because their society thinks that it is impure. While some people believe their blood wards off evil spirits. It was inspiring to listen to her because when she has her mind on an issue, she goes very deep into it and that is very brave to me.
What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:
As I said before, it’s brave to dive into a new human rights topic because you are passionate about it. This is because you might not know how others will react, especially in an issue like menstrual equity where it’s very tabooed. Jennifer Weiss-Wolf taught me that it’s important to dive in because you could be the one to educate others about a topic and show them that they are swimming in dirty water. You could also have a great experience meeting people with the same interest as you and find that there’s a whole world surrounding that topic. I had no idea that menstrual equity was a social justice issue. Then we found Period Con, Periods Gone Public, and all these other great people changing the taboo and stigma around the topic.
