Tampons, pads, and menstrual cups are on a regular basis objects utilized by many although hardly ever thought of noteworthy. However what can a bunch of interval merchandise say concerning the social and environmental issues of Scotland as we speak? Georgia Vullinghs, Assistant Curator of Trendy and Modern Historical past, discusses some latest acquisitions regarding the marketing campaign towards Interval Poverty and entry to menstrual merchandise in Scotland.
In January 2021, the Scottish Parliament handed the Interval Merchandise (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act. After a number of years of campaigning by grassroots organisations, and parliamentary debates concerning the Invoice proposed by Monica Lennon MSP, this was an vital step in bettering entry to interval merchandise. By legislation, they have to now be ‘usually obtainable freed from cost’ in all native authorities in Scotland.
The implementation of the Interval Merchandise (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act is now a part of Scotland’s social welfare and public provision duties. Interval Poverty was recognized by campaigners as a giant downside in Scotland. Some surveys discovered that as many as 1 / 4 of people that menstruate have in some unspecified time in the future missed college or work as a result of they couldn’t entry interval merchandise. Boundaries are normally monetary, however they may also be bodily: generally we get caught out and don’t have the precise materials at hand. Embarrassment and stigma round menstruation may also stop folks from asking for what they want.
Paige Holland, a pupil at Kilmarnock Academy and Younger Scot Award winner, was shocked to listen to that a few of her friends had been lacking college as a result of they couldn’t entry merchandise. As a part of a marketing campaign to deal with the issue in her college, she used her craft abilities to make cotton drawstring luggage which now dangle within the bathrooms, stocked with the issues that is likely to be wanted by folks when on their interval. Paige and her trainer mentioned it has made a giant distinction on the college.
This sort of motion at a neighborhood stage, and the passing of the Act on a nationwide one, signifies a wider change in society. By publicly speaking about durations and acknowledging the important nature of the merchandise used to handle menstrual fluid, it looks as if among the stigma across the matter is being damaged down. Somewhat than being hidden away, many public bathrooms in Scotland now proudly supply merchandise for folks to assist themselves to. Whereas many of those initiatives pre-date the Act, like at Kilmarnock Academy, their formalisation in legislation has positioned a public seal of approval on the concept.
To symbolize this alteration in modern Scotland, we not too long ago acquired a choice of interval merchandise made by Scottish firm, Hey Women. Taking a look at our nationwide collections it was evident that the day by day lived expertise of menstruation, and its materials tradition, the instruments many individuals use to cope with the (normally) month-to-month move of blood, wasn’t notably seen. Presumably due to social taboos round brazenly discussing ‘durations’, in addition to their very on a regular basis nature, traditionally the subject has not been thought of vital for assortment and show by curators. The passing of the Interval Merchandise Act introduced a possibility to revisit the subject, whereas linking these on a regular basis objects with different points of life in Scotland as we speak.
Hey Women was arrange in 2018 as a social enterprise by Celia Hodson and her daughters Kate and Bec. These ladies skilled Interval Poverty themselves and needed to create an environmentally and ethically sustainable vary of merchandise in a manner that will tackle the issue. Whereas Hey Women work throughout the UK, the enterprise began in Scotland. They’ve contributed to the marketing campaign towards Interval Poverty and developed an app with the Scottish authorities which permits customers to find free merchandise close to them.
By their ‘purchase one, donate one’ scheme, the corporate works with communities to offer free entry. Only one model amongst many, as a result of their involvement within the marketing campaign, their ongoing contribution to creating interval merchandise accessible, and their Scottish origins, buying Hey Women merchandise for the museum gives greater than merely an instance of the merchandise utilized by individuals who menstruate in Scotland as we speak.
The objects themselves are materials proof of up to date attitudes in direction of menstruation, and extra, that can be preserved within the nationwide collections for hundreds of years to come back. By these objects, future guests will find out about an vital side of day by day life in addition to among the wider issues dealing with twenty-first century Scotland.
The product packaging emphasises the social and environmental values that Hey Women need to pursue: “we’re good for society”, “we’re good for you”, “we’re good for change”, and “we’re good for nature” are simply among the slogans carried throughout the packing containers and wrappings.
Branding the corporate and merchandise as socially and environmentally acutely aware will not be distinctive to Hey Women. Many different merchandise in Scotland are being marketed on this manner. They’re an indication of a rising variety of customers who need to know extra concerning the issues they’re utilizing, the place they arrive from, and the impression they’ve on the surroundings. We would infer that customers of Hey Women merchandise purpose for a life-style that adheres to the values the packaging promotes: that they need to be “good for” society, change, and nature too.
One other notable function of the packaging is that it doesn’t embody any depictions of human figures. Whereas most individuals in all probability interpret durations as a lady’s expertise, and interval merchandise as ladies’s issues, Hey Women (and different interval product producers) need to acknowledge that not all individuals who menstruate establish as ladies. Certainly, not all ladies menstruate! This latest design change for Hey Women displays shifting societal attitudes in Scotland (and past) round gender identification, a problem which has change into extra publicly seen and spoken about.
Preserved within the collections, these new objects doc the instruments obtainable to customers in twenty-first-century Scotland to handle their menstrual move. The few earlier examples from our collections embody a packet of pads from the Thirties (giant chunky wads of cotton which might have been worn with a belt) and tampons from the early 2000s. There are additionally some leaflets from the Thirties and Nineteen Eighties which give recommendation on how these merchandise needs to be used. The addition of up to date merchandise paperwork a wider instance of the supplies obtainable in trendy Scotland.
You will need to take into consideration interval merchandise as applied sciences. They’ve been designed to assist folks cope with the ‘waste’ produced by the physique within the menstrual cycle. Adverts that present sporting ladies getting on with their recreation whereas on their interval emphasise the concept that merchandise assist folks hold residing their life as in the event that they weren’t. This identical perspective applies to the power to hold on with work and training. On the identical time, nonetheless, this strategy can counsel that menstruation needs to be hid, with unfavorable connotations, slightly than brazenly acknowledged as a standard and pure expertise.
The event of latest supplies to be used in interval merchandise has enabled folks to dwell a extra environmentally sustainable life, whereas nonetheless benefitting from the comfort of commercially obtainable merchandise. These disposable tampons and pads are product of plant supplies and are biodegradable. Whereas that itself will not be fully new, the sugar cane tampon applicators take instruments that are generally product of plastic and remake them in a viable degradable various.
Equally, the plastic-like wrapping used to maintain every particular person tampon and pad clear (important for his or her hygienic use) is product of PLA/PBAT (polylactic acid and polybutylene adipate co-terephthalate) mix. This materials is a biodegradable plastic, which, though nonetheless partly constructed from petrochemicals, reduces landfill waste and the issue of long-lasting, floating plastics in our surroundings.
The newly acquired reusable panty liners are product of bamboo and cotton textile. They’re designed for use, washed, and re-used for round 15 years. Equally, menstrual pants are designed to resist leakage. Reusable material will not be new to the historical past of menstruation. Folks have traditionally used rags, extra deliberately crafted handmade knitted and sewn pads, and aprons to catch menstrual fluid and stop staining of clothes. These twenty-first-century merchandise present that perform for customers who don’t need to make their very own, utilizing textiles which might be engineered to be tender, absorbent, simply washable, and sturdy with out being too cumbersome.
One other instance is the reusable silicon menstrual cup. Rubber menstrual cup know-how has been obtainable because the Thirties however was not on the time broadly adopted. It’s only not too long ago that use of medical-grade silicon menstrual cups has change into extra mainstream.
These interval merchandise symbolize a really on a regular basis expertise for a good portion of individuals in Scotland. Seeing extra of those objects in our collections is a crucial step in higher documenting and representing a side of life frequent to many individuals, however sometimes mentioned in public.
Past that, their design, development, and promoting symbolize a lot wider points which might be on the forefront of public and political discourse in Scotland as we speak. They present that environmental impression has change into a priority, and merchandise are being designed to assist individuals who menstruate dwell a extra environmentally sustainable, however nonetheless handy, way of life. As a part of the Interval Poverty story, these objects additionally discuss societal modifications that are being supported in Scottish legislation.
We proceed to gather objects which doc our altering world, by way of completely different points of day by day life, know-how, design, and nature. Increasing collections that relate to beforehand neglected experiences contributes to telling a wealthy story of Scotland as we speak, for now and sooner or later. As a bunch, these interval merchandise paint an image of a socially and environmentally acutely aware nation, one which many would love twenty-first-century Scotland to be recognised as. Whether or not this would be the lived expertise of future generations is one other query.
We’re at present working in direction of making free interval merchandise obtainable in our museums. Subscribe to our publication or observe us on our social media channels for the most recent updates from Nationwide Museums Scotland.
