The Love Your Period Campaign
The Meic Helpline has teamed up with the Love Your Period Campaign to raise awareness around periods and reduce stigma surrounding women’s health.
This is a guest blog written by Molly Fenton, a young activist and founder of the Love Your Period Campaign.
Becoming a youth activist
At 16 years old, I started the Love Your Period campaign to use my voice in the conversations around period dignity here in Wales. These conversations include chatting about poverty, shame and education.
I grew up having painful, heavy periods. This was found to be caused by a brain tumour. I left school after finding out about my tumour. Whilst I was waiting to retake my GCSE year, I began this campaign online. It grew quickly, and I was invited to contribute to the Welsh Government’s Period Proud Wales plan.
I found school very hard after taking so much time out. However, I really loved campaigning, creating social media posts and public speaking. I’ve created my own job out of that, despite failing most of my exams and getting rejected from university. I love to show people that you don’t have to go down conventional paths to succeed. When something bad happens, it doesn’t mean no good will happen to you again.
Why ‘Love Your Period’ (LYP)?
I have realised that asking people to ‘love’ their period is unrealistic. However, at the time, my friends and I were seeing so much hate and disgust around periods when we first started these conversations. The idea of the name was to go in the complete opposite direction.
The goals of LYP are to:
- End period stigma
- Make sure everyone who needs period products can access them
- Create spaces where people feel safe and supported to talk about periods
- Continue youth voice inclusion in schemes that affect us
And here’s the big aim: to ensure that no person who has a period has a worse quality of life whilst they’re menstruating versus when they aren’t.
Where can I get free period products?
You can get free disposable and reusable period products in:
- Your school
- Your local hub (community centre or library)
- Leisure centres
- Sports clubs
- Youth clubs
- Sexual health clinics
This list is expanding as the Welsh Government recognises the need for free products!
A message to young changemakers
I am most definitely not what we’d stereotypically think successful campaigners to be. On paper, I didn’t look like the best student or most successful person. I was told not to do this campaign at the beginning, but I trusted my gut instinct and knew I could do this. We hear it all the time, but it’s true: believe in yourself. We all have a voice, and I promise you, your voice has value somewhere.
A massive thank you to my friends who helped me make my vision possible.
Here is a series of blogs from me and my friends talking about all things periods. We do hope you find them useful!
Blogs in the Love Your Period Campaign
These blogs have been written by young people as part of the Love Your Period campaign.
- Tips for Dealing with Period Pain and Other Symptoms
- Breaking the Stigma of Having Sex on Your Period
- Talking to a Doctor about Periods and Other Intimate Issues
- Period Products… Which One is Right for You?
- Periods: Breaking Down The Basics
- PMS vs. PMDD: What’s the Real Difference?
- Why Are We Still So Weird About Periods?
Support from Meic
This blog has been written by Molly Fenton, a young activist part of the Love Your Period Campaign.
Meic want to amplify young people’s voices across Wales, using our platform to co-produce meaningful content that truly reflects their experiences and helps drive positive change. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Love Your Period to create our “Love Your Period” campaign.
The Love Your Period Campaign aims to end period poverty by ensuring free access to menstrual products and to combat period stigma through better education and open conversations. It strives to make periods a normal, accepted topic, ensuring everyone has dignity and support during menstruation.
Affected by anything you read about in this blog? Reach out to our friendly advisors on the Meic helpline. Meic is there for children and young people in Wales to get free information, advice, and advocacy every day from 8am to midnight. We’re someone on your side.
