StampOn Period Stigma

Our project is called StampOn Period Stigma, and we want to create more access to high quality period products and create spaces for people to have access to education and talk openly about periods, without any shame.

For our project, we created a website to share information about periods, period stigma, period poverty, and the importance of education surrounding these topics. The link is located at the bottom of this page.

Who We Are:

Kate Queeney

I am a senior at Holliston High School, born and raised in Massachusetts. I'm intrigued by the mental health aspects of menstrual health as well as period stigma and want to study Social Work in college to become a LCSW.

Grace Burgett

I am a senior at Holliston High School, and I have lived in Holliston, MA my whole life. I have always been very passionate about women's rights and gender equality, and I hope to study Women and Gender Studies in college.

Why We Chose To Work Together:

We have chosen to work together, because we have seen how both the stigma surrounding periods and period poverty impacts people’s confidence, creates an atmosphere of embarrassment for people who have and don’t have periods, and creates inequalities in our own community of Holliston. Our aim is to change this.

Targeted Sustainable Development Goals:

Good Health and Well-Being

Gender Equality

Partnerships for the Goals

Period Stigma - Grace Burgett and Kate Queeney.pdf

Community Need Presentation

Eradicating period stigma is important to us, because we have seen first-hand how the embarrassment associated with periods has affected people’s performance in school and the workplace, and overall well-being. Periods are a completely natural bodily function, and the fact that there is so much stigma surrounding them is a concern for us. A big reason for this stigma is a lack of education surrounding what periods are and how they work, but this could be lessened with an updated curriculum. We also found that at this point, Massachusetts has no requirement or funding for period products in schools, and this is something we aim to change. Making period products more readily available in restrooms and public places will lessen the stress surrounding periods. It will be an assurance that everyone will have access to products whenever they need them, wherever they are.

Here is a presentation that lays out the origins of period stigma and its effects on the community:

StampOn Period Stigma - Kate and Grace.mp4

Period Stigma PSA

This is a PSA we created to show the effects of period stigma and period poverty in our communities, and the impacts it can have on education.

Our Mission/Goals:

Provide more easily accessible information on periods to lessen the stigma surrounding them
Update school curriculums to provide more education on periods
Advocate for increased access to period products in schools and throughout the community

Project Progress

We have created a website that you can access here that has resources about periods, period stigma, and period poverty, and information about who we are and our goals.
We met with Rep. James Arena-DeRosa to discuss ways we can get involved in advocating for the I AM bill to be passed, which would increase access to period products in schools, prisons, and homeless shelters across Massachusetts.
- - - We emailed 102 state representatives who are not currently supporting the I AM bill and urged them to co-sponsor the bill.
We have talked with Mrs. Smith about holding a lesson on periods, period stigma, period poverty, and the importance of education with one of her 9th grade Wellness classes.
- - - We taught the lesson on Wednesday, December 13th to her C Block Wellness 9 class.
We had a bake sale on Saturday, December 25th in collaboration with In Her Place.
- - - In total, we raised over $320 and were able to purchase 2,245 items (including pads, tampons, panty liners, and bras) for Dignity Matters, a non-profit organization in Framingham, MA that provides products to homeless women and girls.
We have created posters with a QR Code to our Project Website that are located around HHS.

Email we sent to state representatives

Poster advertising our bake sale

Photograph from our bake sale

Pictured from left to right - Rachel Griffith, Grace Burgett, Kate Queeney, Ella Talmanson, and Ishika Gandhi

Photograph from our lesson with Mrs. Smith's Wellness 9 class

Poster advertising our website, which is located around HHS

Community Partners:

Ida Pappas

We have partnered with Ida Pappas, the Unified Arts and Foreign Language Curriculum Coordinator at Holliston Public Schools for PreK-12, to have a better understanding about the current wellness curriculums at Holliston, and see if we can add our project website as a resource for students and the community in some way.

Rep. James Arena-DeRosa

We have partnered with James Arena-DeRosa, Massachusetts State Representative for Holliston's district, to understand what we can do to get the I AM bill passed in Massachusetts, and how we can spread knowledge and support for the bill. This would guarantee access to period products in schools, prisons, and homeless shelters.

Mrs. Smith

We have partnered with Mrs. Smith, a Holliston High School Wellness Teacher, to teach a lesson about our project to students at HHS. We taught the lesson to Mrs. Smith's C Block Wellness 9 class on Wednesday, December 13th, and talked to them about periods, period stigma, period poverty, and the importance of educating all people on these topics.

Ways to get involved:

Educate yourself: The most important step in eradicating a stigma is learning about where it comes from, so you can take action to change your thoughts and overall feelings about the subject. It can also help limit wrong assumptions that are often created out of a lack of information.

Our website lays out what a period is, the stigma that surrounds periods, period poverty, and ways to get involved to help stop period stigma and period poverty.

*Click on the photo to the left to be directed to our website*

Follow us on Instagram to see updates on our project, learn more about periods and period stigma, and learn how you can get involved in the fight against period stigma and period poverty:

StampOn_PeriodStigma