First Post!

Welcome to the blog of Bristol: The Homeless Period. For our first post, we thought we would outline what we do and why we do it!

For homeless women it really is the dreaded time of the month. With limited or no access to sanitary products, they are often forced to go without. While razors are classed as a healthcare product, and are therefore available through the NHS, tampons and pads are still considered a “luxury” item and are not readily available. The stigma against periods also means that even if pads and tampons are available in homeless shelters, it is uncomfortable for women to ask, however much pain or discomfort they are in. 

The right to sanitary wear should be a given: a woman experiences on average 3,000 days of periods through their lives. 

To expect women to suffer through this without the basic tools needed to manage it is archaic. 

Bristol’s issues with homelessness are self evident, with a rise of almost 90% in the last three years the problem is growing. Despite this Bristol City Council’s budget for preventing homeless decreased 20% from 2011-15. 

It’s time we took matters into our own hands, the #HomelessPeriod initiative has been petitioning to gain an allowance from the government for tampons/pads; in the same way there is a condom allowance. But until that can take place, we want to raise funds and supplies to provide for the homeless women of Bristol.