California is poised to become the next state to require schools to teach students about menstruation after legislation passed both chambers—making it one of the few to have a requirement for curriculum on the topic as lawmakers nationally scrutinize what can be discussed about gender in the classroom.
The bill, which passed the Democratically-controlled state Senate unanimously on Aug. 28 and now goes to the desk of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, would require that students in grades 7-12 receive menstrual health education as part of their comprehensive sexual health education, which also addresses human development, sexuality, pregnancy, contraception, and sexually transmitted infections.
California will become one of only a few to mandate that schools have a curriculum about menstrual health, according to advocates for the measure. The legislation was propelled in part by a push from students, who saw how the gap in education was affecting them personally. The premise was proposed by one student who lost her period and didn’t know why.
There has been a wave of states making period products, like pads and tampons, available in schools for students for free (Minnesota’s requirement, in particular, has garnered attention in the past month since Gov. Tim Walz, who signed his state’s requirement into law, became Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate). Researchers say the uptake for teaching students about their menstrual cycle—including premenstrual syndrome (PMS), pain management, and menstrual irregularities—has been scant nationwide.
Grassroots organizations have largely covered the gaps when it comes to teaching young people about periods, and providing them with age-appropriate education.
“I think this particular set of topics has been relegated to the private sphere for a long time, like, ‘Oh, families take care of it. We don’t really need to cover it,’” said Marni Sommer, a professor at Columbia University, who has researched experiences of menstruation globally. “I’m waiting for that wave.”
Some legislation targeting the discussion of sex education earned the moniker from critics ‘Don’t Say Period,’ for restricting classroom discussions before 6th grade—despite puberty often starting for many children before then.
“It’s just our human bodies. Others put a stigma, or a label on it, or make it political, but it’s really just about the physiology of our bodies, basically,” said Erin D. Maughan, a professor in the school of nursing at George Mason University. “If we can make sure that everyone in school understands that, then I think some of the issues we hear about could be averted.”
Community organizations seek to fill the period education gap
In states that lack a curriculum, some community organizations have tried to bridge the gap. As part of the programming at 3D Girls Inc.—a nonprofit in Georgia that seeks to educate and empower young women—instructors focus part of their curriculum on special and emotional wellness, said founder Raioni Madison.
Instructors use age-appropriate books—such as A Girl’s Guide to Puberty & Periods, developed by Sommer and colleagues—to guide the conversation. They make “diva kits” stocked with period products for students to keep in their backpacks.
The organization works with poorer school districts and under-resourced communities, where students are often facing period poverty—a lack of access to period supplies, which are often expensive and taxed.
“What we do find is that creating a safe space for them to [learn], they’re more open to talk about it. We’ve heard them say, ‘My mom doesn’t talk to me about this,’” Madison said. “We’ve had parent period puberty sessions virtually, and the parents are scared to talk about this with their children, whether they want them to grow up or not, or not know what to say or nobody ever talked to them about it, and they don’t know how to articulate it.”
Without basic information, advocates worry students will find misinformation
Culturally, families can be reticent to discuss periods, Sommer said. And nationally, there’s no consistency in how districts handle discussions on the topic.
“You could be in one state, and one district in one school is doing it really well, and another school or another district is not managing to include it adequately,” she said. “And so what that means is that young people are left to find what they can on the internet, which can be a great source, but also can be a very misleading source of information, and sort of lead them to feel more afraid or confused than if they were getting basic, accurate information.”
That’s, in fact, what Sriya Srinivasan experienced. The high school junior in Solano County, Calif., lost her period in 2020, and began searching for the reason why online. She was told she had cancer or terminal illnesses. Three years later, when she went to the hospital for a running injury, she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, which had caused her period to stop.
She realized the lack of education she’d gotten around her period, and in talking with her friends, saw how many of them also had struggles with their period. She wondered why schools weren’t teaching about it.
Her experience prompted her to enter a bill-writing contest put on by Wilson, the California assembly member. Srinivasan proposed mandating a menstrual education curriculum. It was picked from hundreds of others, she said.
“I 100 percent believe that storytelling is the best piece of advocacy, the most strongest piece of advocacy,” she said.
Srinivasan’s proposal rose to the top when Wilson, a Democrat, found that young women still had a stigma around their cycle. The more she and her staff explored it, the more they found it necessary.
“We needed to have something that was standard and consistent across the state, and recognized that menstrual health is part of health education overall,” she said. “If you know your body, it’s going to lead to better health outcomes.”
They learned that even though California has a law mandating access to period products in school bathrooms, young menstruators were uncomfortable taking free products, or talking about their periods to their peers. Young people were turning online to seek out basic answers about their menstrual health
“I hope this will lead to the next generation of young people not having the stigma that happened in this generation, and my generation, and my mother’s generation, and the generations before us,” she said.
