Standing out as a charitable organisation can be difficult but Bloody Good Period have got it nailed! Focusing on portraying a strong and unique brand message whilst working with influencers and hosting events to further their message, BGP has expanded their reach to a massive audience. Helping to increase their donations and create endless opportunities for collaboration and charitable growth.
Astra
Hello and welcome to On The Same Landing Page Episode 18. As always, I am Astra, Head of Advertising at Web Presence. I’m here with my co-host, Jason. Hello. And then this particular podcast, we are fortunate enough to be joined by Heather Moss who is the public fundraising manager at Bloody Good Period. Hello, Heather, Thanks for joining us.
Heather
Hi, it’s great to be here.
Astra
Nice to have you. I’m going to dive straight into our first section because there’s a lot we want to talk about in this episode. But if the name didn’t give away what your charity does. Can you just give us a brief, brief overview of the mission of Bloody Good Period?
Heather
Yes, of course. So BGP was founded by Gabby Atlan in 2016 when she found out that very few food banks and asylum seeker drop-in centres were providing period products. Despite the really obvious need for period products to be provided. And so she successfully developed BGP from Facebook whip around for products to the charity that we are today. So essentially we get period products and menstrual health supplies to refugees, asylum seekers and those less likely to be able to afford or access them. And we also provide menstrual, sexual and reproductive health sessions led by medical professionals to refugees and asylum seekers.
Astra
I mean, that’s a brilliant testimonial, isn’t it? Just a quick whip round and an amazing show of force from people who are obviously also passionate about this. So you guys started as kind of like, welfare bags I suppose is kind of where it came from. But as you kind of touched on that, you are much more than that now. And you do lots of education as well. So obviously a lot of the products go to asylum seekers, that kind of thing. How important is it to introduce education as well? Because I know when we spoke before you said they don’t often know how to use a tampon and stuff like that. So it’s no good kind of giving them the resources.
Can you just talk a little bit about the link between education and resources in Bloody Good Period?
Heather
Yeah, of course. I mean, we started providing education sessions after several of our partners said that the people they support were asking questions about menstrual, sexual and reproductive health. They simply didn’t have the answers to that. And then we did some research and found out how infrequently refugees and asylum seekers were actually having medical appointments for these issues. And so we set up the education program in collaboration with our amazing partners, our medical volunteers so that we could deliver these sessions and support menstruating asylum seekers and refugees to help them understand what was going on with their bodies and also about sexual and reproductive health. Because all of those are linked and it’s really important that they are also able to have autonomy over their bodies and able to look after themselves and their flow.
Astra
I like that your branding is so strong throughout Bloody Good Period. Flow, I like it. Sorry Jason, go on.
Jason
And it’s not just in that area. You’re also helping corporates and companies with the education around these subjects, is that right?
Heather
Yes. So recently, or about a year or so ago, we launched our Bloody Good Employers program, which is an accreditation program run by our amazing employer’s manager, Alicia. So that is for companies to basically come to us and we run an accreditation program so that we can work out kind of exactly what needs to be improved in workplaces because so many workplaces don’t have menstrual products available in the workplace. But it’s also making sure that everyone has the education as well, not just the people who are menstruating, but everyone around them, their co-workers, their managers so that everyone can be supported in the workplace or at home, wherever they are, that everyone has the knowledge to be able to look after themselves and be able to support their team as best they can.
Astra
Yeah, so your Bloody Good Employers post before actually before coming on the podcast sent it to our directors of like
Heather
Maybe we should do this. Very good to know.
Astra
No, but that’s a really cool, really cool resource. And you guys obviously have Bloody Good Employers. You’re called a Bloody Good Period not to dive headfirst into like the marketing side of things, but how important is that branding for you guys? I mean, I know you have events that you’ve named ‘Bloody Good’ I’ll let you talk about those and can you talk about some of the examples where you’ve used the branding, how important it is, and then maybe your next your latest event for you guys that you get the job of that?
Heather
I mean, our branding is just so important to us. We always wanted to be a trailblazing charity and we think that you can’t talk about periods without being completely bold about it. Being unapologetic, being apologetic about periods and whispering about them is why we got to this position in the first place. So not being able to talk about them using things like, Oh, just using euphemisms instead of just talking about the period I’m having my period. So it’s really important to us that we’re very bold in that brand because part of our mission is making sure that with an end to shame and stigma and really dispelling these myths about periods. So it’s really important that we maintain that throughout our message and that we have a really consistent tone and that people genuinely engage with us because they love how bold we are about what we do and that we really care about what we do.
Astra
Yeah, that harks back to like Tampax using blue liquid in their adverts instead of just showing something that actually looks like blood. Yeah, I mean, you guys from off the top of your head better than I do, but what are some of the examples we’ve obviously given? Bloody Good Period. I’ve seen things about Sustainable Flow that kind of thing. What are some of your favourite little titbits.
Heather
And Oh my gosh, I think whenever it comes to like, I think we just love slipping in bloody as much as we possibly can. As you mentioned events and like our most recent event coming up I think is the 12th of September. We’ve got our annual comedy night, which is bloody funny and it’s just all of those just little tips.
It’s not just a comedy night is bloody funny because we’re talking about periods and that’s what we hear and we care about, but we can still have a good laugh with it. It’s about being really like free to be able to kind of laugh and have a good time talking about this while also acknowledging that it’s a really serious topic to talk about.
So I don’t feel like normalisation can really come about if you can’t even like to joke about it and just be like, I’m on my period.
Astra
There’s something so like quintessentially British about it as well. Like “bloody period”.
Heather
Exactly, Yes.
Jason
Even the even comes across in the tone of voice as looking through the website. You go the way that you explore these like quite crucial topics is even done with some humour and it really like engages you. There’s like a piece of think like how do you, how do I support you? And it says cold, hard cash, honey. And it’s like, why don’t you accept physical product donations anymore? Because we’ve changed our way of working babes. So it’s just a brilliant way, a refreshing way to talk about this stuff and it keeps people interested and will learn more as a result of it.
Heather
I think that’s a really great point actually. We recently received an email from a man in his seventies literally emailing us saying that he found being called Babe immensely pleasing. And it really shows us how much our brand resonates with everyone. It’s not just people who menstruate, it’s so much wider than that. And it really goes beyond just a specific age bracket.
It’s really we are for everyone. And I just I really love that. I just love that email. I think it’s on our socials now. I think we made an Instagram post about it and everyone was just like Dave the Babe in the comments. It was Amazing.
Astra
Bless Dave. Shout out to Dave! To touch on your Instagram, which is incredible. I really urge our listeners to go and have a look at it. Again, the theme is super strong and obviously, you guys started as a Facebook whip-around if you like. How important is social media in sort of achieving your mission, spreading the word?
Heather
I mean, social media is just vital to us and getting our messaging out. As you said, that’s where we started. I think that’s where a lot of people engage with the news now. People aren’t necessarily like sitting down and watching a broadcast at the start of the day. They’re getting their news from their Twitter feeds or scrolling through Instagram. And we’re also in the age of influencers as well, where really all of that information is coming a lot from people that just individuals that they care about. So for us, it’s really important to make sure that we are in these spaces as well. And I feel like our tone fits in really nicely with those spaces as well. But we also really stand out with the brand that we have it, and it’s really a great place to have these conversations. If we post a testimonial or a story, we have people in our comment section that are saying about their own experiences or how they’re really bloody angry about the things that we’re angry about, and it kind of snowballs from there because then they’ll share that post on their story and someone else will engage with it that way. And it’s really just snowballs and just gets bigger and bigger, which is amazing for us though.
Astra
It’s really good. It’s one of the best charity Instagrams I’ve seen in a long time. But obviously aside from doing the like comical website copy, the bloody funny comedy nights, you guys do get really serious lobbying for legislation change as well. Can you just talk a little bit about your most recent lobbying?
Heather
Yes. So we’ve just launched a penalty campaign that went live on Menstrual Health Day, which is the 28th of May. And we were actually at Parliament this week for an MP drop-in, which was amazing. We had a really strong engagement. So we’re really making sure that we are doing all we can to make changes. As we know that Scotland has now been the first country in the world to legalise free period products for everyone who menstruates. And so we really want to follow that. We want to be next in line. So that’s one of our key policies that we want to lobby for. We want free period products for everyone in England and Wales. We really think that that should be paired with a campaign to let everyone know how to access these products because a lot of the time people don’t know how to get to them. So it’s really important that they know that as well. So we really want straight, stronger legal policies. We would like this to be enforced by local councils to give their free period products and then the government help support through funding. And we also would really love some national rules and guideline guidance on how to help with menstrual and menopausal health and this can be really for public places like in schools and temporary accommodation and even in businesses like the employers programs and making sure everyone is supported who menstruates in every aspect of society.
Jason
So there’s a really good summary of what the problems are in the UK and that is, is that what you think has caused this period of poverty because we shouldn’t be in this position, right? If Scotland can seem seemingly make steps in the right direction, why are we still in a position where this is so overlooked in so many places? What’s your kind of personal opinion on it, or what do you think needs to be addressed? First of all, of these huge, huge tasks.
Heather
I mean, it does feel very overwhelming. It does feel like there’s a lot to be done, but we’ve got to start somewhere. And the start of that is just making sure that we have free period products available. We know right now that everyone has so many demands on their finances. We’re stretched too thin. Like minimum wage is not rising with the cost of inflation going up. We had the pandemic that made a tough situation even worse. A lot of people lost their jobs or were on furlough, so they weren’t having the same income that they were before. And then on top of that, we now have the cost of living crisis. So people are just being stretched so thin and they haven’t made some really, really tough decisions whether, oh, do I put food on the table tonight or do I buy the period products that I need? And sometimes people have more complicated periods where they need more products or they need more painkillers. And so there’s all those additional costs as well that kind of build up. And it’s it’s every month. So and that really does build up over time. So I think it needs to begin with making sure that we have the products available for everyone and then following that with education. So everyone actually understands this issue from the start, and not just for everyone who menstruates, but just everyone in total needs to know about this, because I’m sure even if you don’t have a period, just, you know, someone that does your mum, your sister, your colleague, your friend, there is someone in your life that you know that is going through this too.
Astra
Yeah, exactly. It’s it’s just it’s so bizarre how we make up over half of the population now, I think menstruaters and
Heather
I think so.
Astra
Yeah. Yeah. But we don’t get any of this sort of representation, which is insane, but there you go. And how do you encourage you to get involved? Obviously cold, hard cash babes. Obviously you can’t accept donations of. tampons and pads. How can the every person get involved with what you guys do?
Heather
I mean, literally just sharing our messaging as far and wide as much as possible, sharing our stories on socials, get putting them on Facebook, Instagram, bring them into the workplace. If you can’t donate to us necessarily yourself, organise a fundraiser at your place of work with your friends. Look coffee morning, have a little complaint at the same time. Always good fun, isn’t it? And if you’re able to like come to our events coming up that would be amazing. Are Earlybird tickets are available for our fundraising comedy night at the moment so little plug there. That’s okay. Yeah. And also you can write to your MPs if you’re available to do that. We have a template on our website under the period penalty tab, so you can just copy and paste that and send that right over to really make sure that we are spreading this message as far and wide as possible.
Astra
Yeah, I think that’s so great as well. You guys are about like inclusion and diversity in everything, so much so that you even have a template that someone can just sign into their MP. I think that it’s the little things like that that really make people feel like welcome on the site if you like, so really enjoy that. Can you talk to us about your bloody strategy?
Heather
Our amazing bloody strategy. So I mean it’s as simple as basically what we’ve gone through already of what we’re kind of lobbying for with a period penalty. So we want product provision, we want education and we want to keep campaigning to make sure that happens because you cannot have the provision of products without accurate and inclusive education. About menstruation, contraception and sexual and reproductive health. They all go together hand in hand and light. The shame and stigma and the myths run deep and they’re not going to be dispelled without meaningful education. It’s all well and good, handing people free products and saying, Right, off you go. But some people don’t even know how to use them. I remember the first time I was handed a tampon and I was like, What on earth do I do with that? So it’s really important that we pair that with education so people know what’s happening to their bodies and that started before it happens. And also educating people around them of what’s going on. It’s just really important that all of those come together. We need lasting change and that is how we do it.
Jason
How does that how do you kind of you know, you’ve got some great ambassadors as well to kind of like further the message. And my knowledge of how ambassadors come into play for charities is very small. Can you help me understand what kind of role they play in the charity’s goals and objectives?
Heather
Yeah, I mean, ambassadors are important for a number of reasons. As I said, we live in the age of influencers, so being able to have people like celebrities, actors, all different people from different walks of life, being able to show our messaging is really, really important to get our message to a wider audience. People that wouldn’t necessarily engage with us directly without seeing it on someone else’s story or seeing them taking part in an event mentioned in events. We also have amazing ambassadors that do organise events for us. Bloody Funny, our comedy night was organised by Jen Brister, who brings all the talent together for us. We probably wouldn’t know where to start without Jen bringing in amazing comedians for us. So that’s great. And then we have Clara Amfo amazing Radio One DJ who organised our bloody good music event. It was the first one of its kind last year. It was incredible. I couldn’t be there, which I was so upset about. But it’s those kinds of events that are really amazing is very different types of events as well. So really make sure that we are open and everyone can engage with us because not everyone wants to attend a very serious sit-down panel event like they can be quite heavy. Not everyone’s to engage with our message in that way, but if you have a comedy night or a music night where you still have our messaging laced throughout that it can be really, really tangible, the difference that that makes. So ambassadors are really important for spreading that message. We also have amazing Kenny, who is a trans man, and so that’s really important to us as well to acknowledge that not everyone who menstruates is a woman or identifies as a woman. So it’s really important for us to be as inclusive as possible. So to have people like Kenny also standing with us and being our ambassadors is just really incredible for us.
Jason
Now I’ve got some ideas as to why you’ve managed to get this incredible reach and so many fantastic people on board and it links to probably messaging and the way you stand out. But how do you know if you’re if you’ve got a new charity, you’ve got you’re really passionate about it. How does someone get these massive names involved? Like is it a snowball effect? Does it take a lot of time? What went into that to make these great events? Because I’ve seen them, I haven’t been to one but I’ve seen them and they look fantastic. What I mean, there’s a lot of work, I’m sure. But can you tell us some things or some of the strategy that kind of makes that happen?
Heather
I mean, you’re right. It’s a lot of time and a lot of emails a lot of the time, a lot of back and forth for a long time. But what’s really important is, I think, is just to have a really clear objective like setting out from the start, what do we want to achieve with that particular event? Is our focus just on bringing in as much money as possible. Is the focus building relationships? Is it both of those at the same time and is really making the most of having those opportunities to talk about the realities of our work face to face with people so that they can really understand and engage with us as representatives of the charity as well? And is really understanding as well that the different contexts, the events throw up, like I said, like a comedy night compared to a formalised panel event. They’re very different audiences, so it’s really important that you kind of adapt your messaging accordingly to that and then apply it so then that people really resonating as much as possible.
Jason
When they look great. When’s the next event?
Heather
Before the 12th of September Earlybird tickets are out now for bloody funny. We have an incredible Line-Up. I’m very excited.
Astra
A big event is on the calendar and I you guys do a few of the kinds of partnerships we’ll kind of wind this bit up now, but can you talk to us about some of your corporate partnerships and sort of how they play into your mission and why you need them?
Heather
I mean, yeah, like corporate partnerships are amazing and they are so important for us. Like their endorsement means that our support increases, much like with the ambassadors and reaching those wide audiences. But it also means that we can work with other companies and businesses that align with our own beliefs and missions. A lot of the time they come to us because they messaging really resonates with them and is really great when we hear that they are trying to implement that stuff already, that they’re already trying to implement like free period products in their workplace and just really know that they resonate with what we have to say and that they really care and believe in our work. So that’s really, really important for us. And what’s really important as well, I think, is making sure that we work with large and small businesses and seeing the different ways that those relationships can play out. Sometimes it is just like donated that donating a percentage of profits from certain sales, but sometimes it is literally that they come to us because they would like to run events.
We recently work with a smaller independent company called Nemetz who came to us because they wanted to run an event for Refugee Week, which took place last week and was amazing. It’s quite a small event, but there was really, really strong engagement, really good conversations happening about the real life experience for refugees right now. So it’s having those different connections are really allowing those relationships to develop and blossom over time because it’s not just about money or like that quick win of a donation. It is about really building relationships that last where you both resonate with each other’s causes. And I think what’s really important on this as well is that we do say no, but I feel like a lot of people are surprised that as a charity, we do we do say no. They’re like, Well, you just won all the money. Like we would love all the money, but it’s really important that we stick to our morals and our values. Like we had a vaping company come to us. And for us this just. It just doesn’t align with the message now. And a very large, fast, fast fashion brand came to us as well. And like that could have generated a lot of income for us, but it simply doesn’t align with our values. Like how can we accept money from them who are using like cheap labour when we ourselves are campaigning against this specific aspect of poverty? Yeah, it just doesn’t work. So it’s really making sure that we have our clear values, a clear line of when we say yes and when we say no.
Astra
I think that’s it. If you if you take all the money and then a few years down the line, you’re aligned with the fast fashion brand who doesn’t give free period products to it’s workers or whatever. You kind of your mission is over, you lose your credibility. So it makes sense. But also how to turn away the hard cash babes.
Heather
So give us some more, babes.
Astra
This is going to be my personality for the next few weeks. now I’m sure. Well, thank you very much. I feel like I’ve learnt a lot about sort of the inner workings of what goes on at Bloody Good Period. But now we’re going to see how much you really know with our Fake Facts section. And I think these have been created from things on the website of Bloody Good Period. Jason also does not know they will be playing along with you.
Heather
And I feel like I should have memorised a lot more.
Astra
So it’s all a bit of fun. Nobody’s going to get fired or anything like that, so. All good. Right, let me just pull this up, make this big section two Fake Facts. Feel like we need a jingle here, we should have called it bloody fake facts. But there you go. So the first bit fake fact, which of these three facts is fake?
A . Women spend on average seven years of their life on their period.
B. Being on your period changes how your voice sounds
C. The average age people start that period is 17. Which one is the fake fact.
Heather
My gosh, that’s hard.
Astra
A few nose scratches around.
Jason
Seven Is there life on that period? Oh like, oh, yeah. Like if you add all of the time up. Yes.
Astra
It doesn’t just happen for seven years and then.
Jason
Yeah
Astra
That might be better.
Heather
Yeah.
Jason
Yeah
Heather
My instinct is to say about the voice because I genuinely never heard that before but.
Jason
Yeah, I’ve never heard that. But then that makes me think that’s what this is. There are so many tricks in the way that these are set up.
Heather
But then I also think that is the average age. Because I thought the average age was lower than that.
Jason
Yeah, I’m going to go out. I’m just copying you over. Yeah, I’m going to go with the third one is the fake fact
Heather
So I can.
Jason
Do Before you go to the next site, can you click view or present or play? I think it is.
Astra
Yes. All right. I will say sorry.
Jason
Just because I could see I wasn’t looking, but I could see the results of the.
Astra
Well, we will see
Heather
Well there it is, you looked.
Jason
I didn’t.
Astra
The average age people start that period is not 17, it’s actually 12, which I also didn’t think it would be that low. But there you are.
Jason
So when do you start having conversations with with people about that? Typically when it’s maybe a bit of a personal question. But I, I’ve no, no idea about it.
Heather
I mean, as a charity, BGP only works with people over the age of 18. That’s simply because of capacity. If we could work with everyone, we would. We get a lot of enquiries to work within schools, but we simply just do not have the capacity to do that. And it’s really hard that we can’t. But I think it’s just important to have these conversations as early as you feel that that person is mature enough to understand. Yes. And but also definitely before it’s happening so that you are prepared and that you understand it.
Jason
But that’s the thing. Is that right? That’s the average. So obviously there’ll be some below, lots below that as well. And when when I when I was asking, I was thinking like, when do people come in your life to tell you to prepare you for this is it normal for you to get a conversation from. You might be a mum or someone like that at that age or?
Heather
I think might happen when I was like in school when I was in year five. So what would I have been about? Like nine, ten, about nine and all. I really I don’t I don’t remember very much. I don’t feel like that was very much like comprehensive knowledge about periods and menstruation what’s actually happening to the body. All I can really remember now, and it’s been what, like almost ten years, they just like. Almost 20 years. We go, I’ve got how old I was. I remember they got like a glass of water and just put a tampon in it and was like.“That’s how a tampon works” and I was like, “What?” Like it was a big glass.
Astra
What does the water represent?
Heather
I know, I was like “what?”. I’m not going to say it was helpful so I don’t want to say that was helpful to me.
Astra
I mean the fact that you’re asking like it just shows one of the key issues is like particularly sex education in schools is that they separate out. Yep. The men and the women. And then like you learn about different things, which is mental, you know as well.
Jason
Yeah, I might have a daughter who doesn’t have any and no female family members and I might need to tell her so I should know and.
Astra
Yeah, exactly. But like, just, just a quick note on that same thing. I remember my mum like having the birds and the bees chat with me and just being filled with shame and wanting the conversation to end of that. Why are we talking about this? What are we doing? And that’s exactly the response that you just don’t want, you know, it’s super natural. Like it’s as natural as blowing, your nose, kind of thing. So how ingrained the generational trauma is anyway.
A.2.3 billion lack basic sanitation services can’t be the last word could provide the spoke both well me just let me just move you guys down a bit. Sorry. Technical issues, we are doing it live. Worldwide. Yes. Thank you, Jason.
B. 12% of people who have periods report that period pains are so severe that they have had to miss work or school and
C. endometriosis affects one in ten women aged 15 to 49.
What do we think?
Jason
I’m going to I’m going to go first just because I robbed your answer Heather on the last one. Okay. I think number three is correct. I think number two is I think the numbers are going to be quite different. I think it’s just different. The number I think number one is probably actually I think one is the fake fact.
Astra
You said one, two.
Jason
I mean, between one and two. One is fake. I think one is fake.
Astra
Well, on this fake. Heather, what do you think?
Heather
Well, tough.
Heather
I know that the percentages are unfortunately higher than we think It is about. People missing school because of their periods which again, so annoying, we need education and practical support. I have an inkling that I feel like it’s the top one too.
Astra
That would be fair if you copy Jason to be fair.
Heather
I did think of it beforehand, but I wasn’t allowed to speak
Astra
Let’s find out. Oh, so the second one is the fake fact. 12% of people who have periods report their periods are so sever they have missed work or school also fear. It’s actually between 32 and 40%, which is very high but unsurprising.
Heather
Yet that is.
Astra
Fake. Fact number three,
A. only 70% of women went for a cervical screening in 2020/ 2021,
B. Nearly 50% of women will switch their contraceptive method in the first year due to side effects.
C. Only 42% of women attend their breast screening appointments in 2021/2022. Lots of facts and figures here.
What are our initial thought?
Heather
My initial thought is the top one’s fake. I feel like it’s lower. How many women actually go to have the cervical screening, which is very sad. I thought it was closer to 50%, but hopefully I’m wrong. And it is. Yeah. Hopefully that is the case.
Astra
What about you, Jason? What do you think?
Jason
Yeah, I both the screenings seem I would have expected maybe I would have thought maybe they were low because it’s obviously not a fun process at all. Maybe I think I think you’re right Heather the first one. It’s only 70% like you’d expect, only for a number that was a bit lower. So I think.
Astra
Wondering as I actually I haven’t seen them. I’m wondering if there’s a spanner in the works here because the first and third fact are covid years. I wonder if that’s swaying the number of people who went to their screenings. I don’t know. I’m just playing devil’s advocate here. So let’s find out.
Heather
I will find out.
Astra
Only 40% of women attended their breastfeeding appointment in 2021, 22, which is actually 62% of women, which is a good fake fact, I suppose.
Heather
I mean, wow. It’s better, but it could be even better than it could be. So I’m happy to be proved wrong on that one. I thought I was being too cynical.
Astra
I feel like that kind of proves the power of, you know, missions like Bloody Good Period because we’ve been hammered with cervical screening reminder social media, TV ads over the years. And now as a result, people uptake more breast screening. You don’t see as much you you know, it happens, but you don’t really get the same kind of in your face. You should do this. Why that good? Maybe that’s why it’s true. Maybe that it needs to come back.
Jason
You touch on that as well when it comes to not pushing this as a hygiene thing, but pushing it as a health thing as well, don’t you? It makes it much more serious when you talk about it in that respects. And this is kind of proof of that, it backs that up.
Heather
I think for us as well. It’s really important not to use the words like hygiene or sanitary because periods are not dirty. So like those words really reinforce those shame and stigma, myths about periods being dirty and like they need to be hidden and something really unnatural is happening to your body, which is not the case at all. It’s very natural process for the body. So for us it will always be menstrual health and not menstrual hygiene, and it will be period products, not sanitary products, because periods are not dirty and they should not be shamed.
Astra
I like it. I don’t know. It is another fake fact. There is a ha and that was.
Jason
What was are score? Are we equal?
Astra
I think yeah, one all.
Heather
Yeah.
Astra
A. 8% of British people that have periods are affected by period poverty.
B. A quarter of people who have periods have experienced negative comments about their period.
C.And 84% of people in the UK said they have given a period product to a friend or family member or a stranger in need.
We are still. What do you think of the period poverty one? I feel like you’re most qualified to know.
Heather
I think it’s higher. I do feel like that’s a fake one. But again maybe I just keep getting caught out of my brain is just like there is so many numbers coming out.
Astra
What do you think, Jason?
Jason
I think that more people have experienced negative comments about that period, but that’s a perception thing, is that it’s like you could be you could think that it’s not about your period. It actually was caused by that because you were you know, if someone’s not making space for you to talk about it at work and then someone says, Oh, you’ve been a bit unhappy lately, that that might not be directly perceived as related, but it is, you know, not so about the reasons for why you are down at that moment. So I think it’s higher, but that depends on if the awareness is that perhaps, yeah, I think that maybe more people have experienced negative comments about their period.
Astra
Okay. Locking in the answers. Are you going with one, Heather two Jason? I think number one is correct. So 8% of British people that have periods are affected by period poverty. It’s actually 12%. So not a happy stat to end on but with that we will declare you the winner Heather, congratulations. You have out-perioded Jason, which brings us nicely onto our third and final section. Jason as a commiseration prize, you could introduce this one.
Jason
Yeah. So what we normally do is at the end we play a strategy analogy where we, we pick a word from a random word generator and just try and nicely summarise the conversation that we’ve, we’ve had today. I haven’t prepared So let me just load up the generator. Not a number generator, a word generator. So yeah, so let’s go with the first word that this loads is going to be and now actually it’s not any, it’s queue as in queue as in lining up.
Heather
Yeah. Okay.
Astra
An analogy do with queuing. Well who better to ask than three people in the UK as well.
Heather
True, we do love a queue.
Astra
I suppose. No, go ahead.
Heather
I was just going to say it would be me queued up lobby in for free period products.
Astra
That was where I was going to go as well, that there’s a queue that is far too long of people in need of period products in the UK and so we should do a mad dash to the bar of period products instead of queuing.
Heather
Yet.
Astra
On them. And by them I mean Parliament. Jason is trying to think of a period analogy as someone who does not have periods.
Jason
Well.
Astra
They might have an opportunity for education. This I think you just go just spitballing. Yeah.
Jason
Yeah, yeah. I literally don’t have the end to the sentence as I start it. So yeah, I think it’s about time. I know queuing roughly related to wait in your turn and it’s about time that you know 50% plus of the population was well listened to when it comes to this and given the chance it doesn’t just affect as you said Heather it doesn’t just affect them it affects every environment they’re in. They just the voices are kind of quietened and the conversation is tabooed And yeah, it’s absolutely time for this to be top of the agenda. There’s so many things that everyone’s worried about, cost of living as you said, that is that those are the things that people have issues with. There’s lots of marginalised groups, but this affects so many people that it’s crazy. It’s not like talked about more and yeah, that’s, that’s my attempt at summarising a little bit with queue, very roughly.
Heather
I think that was a really good one. Yeah, it is about bloody time.
Astra
It is about bloody time. I think on that note is the perfect note to round up Heather. Is there anything else you’d like to add, any plugs you’d like to make that you haven’t already?
Heather
Follow our socials? Bloody Good Period, saying our name. We’ve got a comedy night coming up in September. Earlybird tickets are available now. We have a really amazing line up, so if you fancy doing that in London, then that would be amazing. We would very much love to see you.
Astra
That brilliant. And for the listeners, we will link everything in our show notes to everything that Heather has talked about today. Thank you very much for your time. It’s been lovely having you on.
Heather
Thank you so much. It’s been really great.
