PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — It’s a discussion that a lot of people find taboo.
But for Portland 20-year-old Nadya Okomoto, a current student at Harvard, periods are not embarrassing, or gross — they are the topic of her new book and the focus of a nationwide movement.
Okomoto is the author of Period Power, ” a manifesto for the menstrual movement.” She’s also the co-founder and executive director of “PERIOD. The Menstrual Movement,” which refers to itself as a group of young activists “united by the belief that menstrual care is a basic right.”
Her movement, which now has over 200 chapters at universities and schools across the country, is about fighting for social and systemic change when it comes to menstruating. She said it’s also about helping others by distributing products to people who need them most. One-in-four women, according to her, can’t afford proper menstrual care.
On top of that, Okomoto said 36 states have a sales tax on period products because they’re considered luxury items. In those same states, health care products like Rogaine or Viagra are considered essential goods.
The idea to help people with menstrual products stems from personal experience. Okomoto said she and her family lived without a home in Portland for a time.
“And during that time we talked to homeless women in Old Town who were in worse living situations than I was,” she said, “and we heard these stories and what we continue to hear today is when there’s no access to period products people have to turn to toilet paper, socks, grocery bags and cardboard and cotton balls to take care of their period.”
To create change, Okomoto says people have to ask questions and be open minded, something this 20-year-old — a young woman who has run for office and given TED talks — is hoping to invoke.
For more of Jennifer Hoff’s Women Crush Wednesday stories, click here.