“We Bleed More Than Bobcat Pride,” A Stand for Feminism

On Thursday, April 26, female students at Frostburg State University (FSU) gathered in front of the clock tower to organize a movement on the lack of feminine hygiene products available on campus. They joined side-by-side with a banner that read, “We bleed more than Bobcat pride.”

According to students, The Brady Health Center is the only place on FSU’s campus that provides free feminine hygiene products, but they only provide sanitary napkins (pads). Not to mention, The Brady Health Center is out of the way for many students, especially in light of a “bathroom emergency”.

“We are creating a movement in hopes to gain more feminine hygiene products on campus. Being a women on this campus and most other women know that your cycle can come at any time of the day. Brady health closes at 5pm. And what if you’re all the way across campus and can’t make it to Brady Health? Then what? This is an issue that shouldn’t be taken lightly. However, some faculty members believe that it should be the responsibility of the woman and yes that is true to a certain extent but, we all have accidents. Frostburg should stand with us in providing the things their students need all over campus, not just in one central location,” remarked FSU student, Alexus Clanton.

FSU student Rachel Pettiford mentioned, “There should be no question on the importance of feminine hygiene. It affects half of the population and a part of nature. Frostburg should take the initiative to help the female students feel comfort in their own skin by providing at least the minimum products necessary.”

Last year, during a nationwide debate, Nancy Kramer, founder of Free the Tampons said, “Women risk finding themselves in a situation where they lose their dignity and feel really humiliated because of the consequences of not having access to that they need.”

However, some universities have already tackled the problem. Brown University has been providing free tampons and pads since 2016, following the Brown’s Undergraduate Council of Students (UCS) release on September 6, 2016. It reads:

Starting September 7th, Brown’s Undergraduate Council of Students (UCS) will be providing tampons and sanitary napkins in non-residential women’s, men’s, and gender-inclusive bathrooms across campus. This initiative is a student-run effort. UCS will be restocking and maintaining these items on a weekly basis. In the long term, we are optimistic that this program will be institutionalized. We will also be working with the University to eventually expand sanitary disposal bins to men’s restrooms as well.

We hope that this step, making Brown one of the first institutions in higher education to implement such a program at this scale, will motivate other universities and student governments to take similar actions to address this issue of equity. Tampons and pads are not luxuries, but necessities, and should be treated as such.

We also hope to set a more inclusive standard for this issue moving forward, both in terms of the language used and how future initiatives will be implemented, keeping in mind that menstruation is experienced by more than just those who identify as women and that not all people who identify as women menstruate.

We want to stress that this has been long overdue and encourage other student governments to make this issue a priority going into this school year.

Viet Nguyen

UCS President

An unnamed FSU student said, “Brady Health always has condoms. Yeah, safe sex is important but they can have unlimited condoms and not tampons? It’s truly mind boggling.This is a problem.”

Alexus Clanton urges students to let FSU hear their voice regarding the matter. It is time to take a stand.