Our Periods, Their Profit: Taboo Ends Here Now
Inspired by the Period Futures interview with Ileri Jaiyeoba, Founder & Executive Director of Code Red
Dismantling the Monopolization of Menstruation
The Code Red Collective (Code Red Co.) is a co-powering organization that promotes period wellness and de-stigmatization through literacy, aid, and advocacy. Over the past six years Code Red Co. has worked to tackle prevalent period-related stigmas on both the individual level (such as period shame) and systemic level (such as period poverty).
Have you ever wondered how much money menstruators around the world spend on average to hygienically manage their periods? It’s truly a behemoth to behold when one considers the various products required, across cups, pads, and tampons; the much-needed pain relievers like acetaminophen, CBD; prescribed medications like Nurofen; and doctors visits for various conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome or endometriosis. The costs can quickly add up. It is estimated that the average menstruator in the United States will pay approximately $18,000 over the course of their 33 years of menstruation for various period necessities. So why does it cost so much money to menstruate? And why are menstrual hygiene products taxed as ‘luxury goods’?
Unpacking and answering these questions requires an understanding of how our global society has been built on capitalistic, androcentric, and white-centerd foundations. Any lived experiences that exist beyond these exclusive norms often come at a price. When it comes to menstruation, the current status quo is rooted in the mantra “you bleed, you pay,” and if you don’t have the money, then you suffer the consequences. Furthermore, this leads to a wide gap in access for many menstruators.
“Decoloniality entails thinking about modernity and how to decolonize the present systems that are at work in our world and how to think outside of them. Reparations on the other hand is thinking about abolition viewpoints of holding people accountable for their wrongdoings and also helping victims of oppression heal. In the menstrual health space, we need to think about the ways in which a white supremacist, patriachal worldview has shaped how we conceptualize menstruation, because menstruation has not always been taboo and shamed in all communities of the world,” says Ileri, Founder of Code Red Co.
Over the past few years, many initiatives and organizations have been developed to advocate for Menstrual Equity and combat Period Poverty around the world. For example, in 2003 the creators of the Diva Cup — a small, easy to clean and use silicone cup that can be inserted into the vagina to manage menstruation — were amongst the first organizations to create a more mainstream alternative menstrual product. Sulabh International, an organization in India, teaches girl children in various parts of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal to sew their own sanitary pads at school and not be afraid of their own bodies. Despite progress made, there are still a number of institutional inequities that reinforce period poverty and act as a barrier against strides toward menstrual equity.
Ileri from Code Red Co.is reimagining how to approach menstrual justice through ‘co-powering,’ and building of cooperatives. With these two concepts at the core of her work, Ileri focuses on movement during menstruation, rest, and expectations on Black women in the United States.
Emphasizing Rest as a Requirement
Rest is often a luxury, particularly in marginalized communities. In many societies with a ‘work-centered ethos,’ people tend to reward themselves with rest and self-care in celebration of an accomplishment. Restful practices are not often the norm in the daily lives of those who live in ‘work-centric’ and ‘productivity-driven’ cultures; therefore, successes are often only rewarded after reaching a point of exhaustion. Being stuck in the ‘grind’ culture means that any moment a person rests or relaxes, he or she is denounced as ‘lazy’ and ‘unproductive.’ Even during the global pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people in the United States alone, many folks are still hyper-focused on having used the many months of the pandemic to be productive and achieve goals. “Rest is a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy,” according to The Nap Ministry. It’s crucial that we incorporate rest in the efforts to overhaul the oppressive and capitalist systems that turn survival, hygiene, and health into a struggle.
Many times, society burdens Black women with the expectation to be constantly doing something or serving others.
“When it comes to menstruation, I think specifically for Black women, it’s like we’re always on the grind. Go, go, go. Fast, fast, fast, and the world doesn’t want us to have time for ourselves” Says Ileri. “In the patriarchal cultures that many of us grew up in, the thinking is why are you sitting down and doing nothing?” because there’s always something wrong with sitting down since it is seen as unproductive.
Furthermore, patriarchy and capitalism generally put pressure on those who have vaginas and/or menstruate and downplay how these oppressive institutions shape their menstruation. Many times, menstruators cannot rest, do not have someone to care for them, or do not have their basic needs met. Stress and movement influence menstruation, the body, and one’s mental health. Ileri speaks of her own experiences in menstruation and being cared for while having endometriosis, a condition where uterine lining grows on the outside of the uterus, causing water build-up in the abdominal cavity and intense experiences of pain.
“Acknowledging the menstrual pain and discomfort I was in, enduring that pain while still being cared for and acknowledging that some other folks don’t have that level of comfort — be it lack of access to resources, support, and care — allowed me to reflect upon the issue of access and care for those who are dehumanized by having their basic need stripped from them.”
With having a vagina comes various needs for rest and care. The current institutionalized ways of being focused on productivity and individual responsibility do not allow for those that need rest and care to receive it. Shifting our thinking from empowering the individual to co-powering in a community could be the key.
Co-Powering in a Community
Words matter, and changing the words used in addressing issues in the menstrual health space makes a difference. The word ‘empowering’ is used frequently but suggests that some people do not have power or that power must be transferred from one person to the next.
“Solidarity unfolds when each of our individual experiences and our diversified voices are equally valued. This is empowerment. Realizing that we all have power and voices that can work to bring about an end to our oppression is critical to our liberation” according to Ileri.
In lieu of the word ‘empowering,’ Ileri suggests ‘co-powering’ because it reframes the image to focus on how individuals and organizations can build their power together. While discussing empowerment with Ileri, she highlighted the importance of restructuring nonprofits to achieve the changes needed. Nonprofits in the period space have been monopolized. She believes that nonprofits need to be re-structured into cooperative models if they wish to effectively dismantle the many issues that plague the period space, which is a central operating belief for her organization, Code Red Co.
Increasingly research shows that non-profit systems are broken, people are questioning the problems of the nonprofit industrial complex, and menstrual justice advocates are showing the value of grassroots efforts. Period activism has historically involved a large amount of monopolization, which has led to the co-opting of efforts of many diverse voices in this space.
“Monopolization diverts attention from the issues at hand and stops collaboration and cooperation from happening. It is important that we as individuals in this space pick up the word co-powering because we can only be empowered together when we co-power each other” says Ileri.
According to Ileri, the cooperative model in the menstrual health space prioritizes the need in communities over profiting from communities. Code Red Co. is introducing a new era: decolonizing wellness and divesting it from a system that criminalizes and incarcerates into an investment based on collective and community care. She highlights that cooperatives are more democratic because each person has a voice and a vote. Solutions that utilize collaborations and cooperatives are challenging the status quo. A cooperative model embodies and enforces a non-hierarchical organization, with each decision being made collaboratively and collectively. Ileri’s vision for the future and in using the cooperative model is vast.
Code Red Co.’s Approach
The Code Red Co. works through various organizational roles — project and structural coordinators as well as a consumer cooperative that collaborates on specific projects. Project coordinators (covering advocacy, aid, and literacy projects) present viable menstrual equity projects based on their community’s needs that the collective is interested in pursuing. The entire Code Red Co. team then votes on these project ideas prior to pursuing next steps in bringing them to life. If the project is accepted, the project coordinator leads it from conception to execution in a decentralized leadership model. These project leads have a team of volunteers, cooperative members, participants and Code Red Co. staff members to help them achieve their project work plans and impact. Each project coordinator’s team also has structural coordinators, who help the specific projects in social media, technology, finances, and partnerships. Their consumer cooperative members — including volunteers, voters, and participants — are also involved in the individual, community-driven projects carried out by the collective. Finally, members of the Code Red Co. cooperative are not required or asked to speak about the brand or become an ambassador. All the Collective’s projects are open for any interested members to join and volunteer their skills.
Code Red Co. currently has a number of very interesting ongoing projects such as Reading for The Revolution, partnership with Women’s Relief Initiative and Operation Period; and the Indigenous mutual aid project.
Ileri’s long-term vision is a collaborative, organizational community working to break down structural barriers, lift each other up, and improve the menstrual health and justice space. In that vision is the idea for a cooperative period space that goes beyond just buying menstrual products.
“I am working on building a period concept space that functions as a workers cooperative! It would be an intersectional space for and by the community where we can discuss period wellness and its stigma, provide information about menstrual necessities, and benefit community members on a membership or volunteer basis. The space would reinvent the period wellness experience.”
How many lives would change and in what way if we all embraced co-powering and the power of collectives in the menstrual health and hygiene sector?
Written by Lilly Khorsand, Writer at Period Futures
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