Menstruation is a natural bodily process for those born female that’s often seen as disgusting and taboo. According to an article called “Smashing Period Taboo for Girls in the U.S,” by Kylie Schuyler, the coded language women and girls use to talk about their period continues the stigma surrounding menstruation and makes periods a “taboo” subject.
Period taboo, and the secrecy that it raises, gives rise to a reality known as period poverty, or a lack of access to menstrual supplies, which quietly affects millions of American girls and women every day, Schuyler writes.
This issue is why many schools across the country, including Hellgate High School and buildings on the University of Montana campus, are offering free period products in public restrooms.
At Hellgate, there are free baskets of products sitting on the counter of most of the women’s bathrooms.
“Usually, I have them in one (bathroom) on each floor,” said Kristy Pizzolato, one of Hellgate’s school nurses. “There’s a group in Bozeman who have a grant. And they’re able to donate to the schools in Montana.” Pizzolato said the group is Crescent Montana, a nonprofit dedicated to, in their words, “ending period poverty” in the state, according to their website.
According to Crescent Montana’s social media, when menstruators have to leave class and make a special trip to the nurse’s office for products, the natural process of menstruation can be associated with illness. Having pads and tampons openly available in school restrooms, Crescent Montana social media says, allows for quick and easy access.
Crescent Montana couldn’t be reached for a direct interview before this story was published. .
At Big Sky, there are no free period products within the restrooms. The options for students are to either go down to the nurse’s office, which also has products donated by Crescent Montana, go to the FRC in the F-wing, or, as written on one of the bathroom mirrors, talk to Mrs. Zilkey in room 47. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence. According to State of the Period by Period.org, a website that actively fights against period poverty, 53% of teens say they rarely or never find free period products in school bathrooms and 64% in public bathrooms.
Shanna Nickerson, head of Big Sky’s FRC, said having period products in the bathroom would help out females in an emergency situation, as they usually don’t have their phones to text someone for help.
“What I hear from a lot of students is that putting your phone in the caddy, which is not a terrible policy, but if you’re a girl and you go to the bathroom and you don’t have your phone, how are you gonna find someone to bring you feminine products if you’re in an emergency? Because you’re kinda stuck there,” Nickerson explained.
On top of that, sometimes it can feel uncomfortable to ask for products from someone you don’t know.
“It would be great if we could have some (period products) in the bathrooms because, I will say, especially being a male nurse, I’ll have some students come in, expecting to see a female nurse,” said Jim Sorensen, one of Big Sky’s school nurses.
“For me, I’m a nurse. I don’t care. I’ll sit there so it doesn’t bother me, but I know, especially for a high school student, that can be very true, even just awkward,” Sorensen said of female students asking him for period products. Sorensen said he has run into this scenario often.
However, assistant principal Sabrina Beed said Big Sky has already tried leaving free period products in the women’s bathrooms, with little success.
“We did have them in the bathroom for a time,” Beed said, “But we noticed that people weren’t using them responsibly. Students were clogging the toilets with them and sticking them on things [stalls].”
She continued.
“Our school isn’t at the right maturity level. But I am open to solutions.”
Em • May 13, 2025 at 10:56 am
This is such an informative article! As a young woman I have been in that position of having to ask complete strangers for period products because the bathroom didn’t have any. The only issue with this article is that we are almost never allowed access to the F-Wing bathroom so there is no way to get period products from there anymore. Thank you for raising awareness to this issue!