wishes to help his wife get better access to sanitary products after finding out that she has to live in separate quarters during her period. he works hard in order to create a low-cost pad accessible to every woman in india. his journey was chronicled by twinkle khanna in her fictional story the legend of lakshmi prasad. the 2020 film borat subsequent moviefilm features a scene that uses humor and irony to subvert taboos surrounding menstruation. in the scene, borat and his daughter tutar do a "fertility dance" at a debutante ball, and the audience is enthusiastic about the dance until tutar lifts her dress to reveal she is menstruating, which prompts disgust and walkouts amongst the crowds. the scene was praised by writers for its satirization of common menstruation stigmas. as said by lindsay wolf of scary mommy, since society has "been conditioned…to basically pretend that periods don't exist, putting them in the spotlight like did forces us to confront that 1) they happen, and 2) we need to get over it and stop treating girls like dainty little prizes who secretly have them." more realistic and accurate representations of periods onscreen have increased with the number of women in production roles in tv and film, with notable examples including films the runaways and turning red, and the tv series broad city, orange is the new black, i may destroy you, and yellowjackets. yellowjackets, a series which involves a group of female characters who must learn to survive while stranded in the wilderness, received praise for not ignoring the subject of periods in comparison to other survival dramas. in the fifth episode of season one, the series addresses the issue of the girls’ periods and how they must improvise in the wild with makeshift pads. though turning red does not explicitly address menstruation, it is used as a metaphor for a girl’s coming-of-age. the film sparked controversy amongst critics who thought the topic of menstruation was inappropriate to reference in a children's movie, while others disagreed and emphasized the importance of normalizing a process that is a part of growing up for girls. menstrual suppression main article: menstrual suppression with the recent fda approval of menstrual suppression medications, researchers have begun to shift their focus to the attitudes of american women toward their periods. one study in particular found that 59% of the women they surveyed reported an interest in not menstruating every month. of these, one-third said they were interested in not menstruating at all anymore. anthropologists lock and nguyen (2010) have noted that the heavy medicalization of the reproductive life-stages of women in the west mimic power structures that are deemed, in other cultural practices, to function as a form of "social control". medicalization of the stages of women's lives, such as birth and menstruation, has enlivened a feminist perspective that investigates the social implications of biomedicine's practice. "ultural analysis of reproduction... attempts to show how women... exhibit resistance and create dominant alternative meanings about the body and reproduction to those dominant among the medical profession." activism menstrual activism (otherwise known as radical menstruation, menstrual anarchy, or menarchy) is a movement that addresses menstrual taboos. overcoming this taboo is a point of contention amongst feminists. the primary argument behind this movement is that if menstruation is normal, there is no reason why the topic should be avoided: "after a while it becomes psychologically disorienting for women to look out at a world where their reality doesn't exist." the prominent rise of menstrual activism began with the rise of feminist spiritualist menstrual activists in the late 1960s. in 1973, a "bleed in" was held by janice delaney, mary jane lupton, and emily toth, who believed that their shared menstruation experience merited discussion. the rise of early menstrual activism was prompted by rising cases of toxic shock syndrome due to unhygienic menstrual practices, which prompted responses feminists and menstrual activists alike. as such, a group of women gathered in boston in the spring of 1969, calling themselves the boston women's health book collective (bwhbc). this culminated in the publishing of a manual called women & their bodies, which has been adapted and currently sells today under the title of our bodies, ourselves. though the manual itself rarely discussed menstruation, it opened the floodgates for an honest criticism of the way women's health is discussed. in the following decades, women's liberationists called for pushback against the status quo. a primary vehicle for these messages was through art; in 1971, judy chicago created "red flag", a photolithograph, and a year later, an interactive art installation called "womanhouse". artistic expression transcended into national recognition, as evidenced by figures like emily culpepper. culpepper released a short film in 1972 that featured menstruation images that detailed realities of having one's period. the fame generated from this piece made culpepper the figure of knowledge surrounding menstruation for laypeople, and initiated her nationwide involvement with the bwhbc. the height of second-wave feminism led to landmark changes during this period, including the establishment of the society for menstrual cycle research and literature that more directly addressed the existence of menstrual stigma. menstruation can be conceptualized as a stigmatized condition that both reflects and reinforces women's perceived lower status in relation to men. feminist scholars extend this theory to explain negative attitudes towards women's bodily functions. such stigmatization occurs when menstrual blood is viewed as one of the "abominations" of the body and reflects a gendered identity among women, which leads to consequences for women's psychological and sexual well-being. feminists such as chella quint have spoken against the use of shaming in advertising for feminine hygiene products. she created a zine, adventures in menstruating, to "help alter the visibility of menstruation, so that it's at least normal to talk about it. because, right now, it's not". other menstrual activists include rachel kauder nalebuff, who published my little red book; filmmaker and academic giovanna chesler, who created the documentary period: the end of menstruation; and artist ingrid berthon-moine, who exhibited a video and series of photographs at the venice biennale. menstruation activism has also begun to emerge in china in recent years. starting with the outbreak of covid-19 in china, a grassroots movement provided free sanitary pads to diverse groups of women in china and aims to remove the stigma of menstruation. starting by donating menstrual products to female frontline health workers in wuhan in february 2021, the movement features the wider discussion sparked by the hashtag "package-free sanitary pads" on social media platform weibo in september 2021 and reveals the unspeakable pain of period poverty to the public. following the campaign by the advocacy group stand by her on social media, university students set up "sanitary pad help boxes" and provide free sanitary pads at over 250 campuses in china. at 16 years old, nadya okamoto founded the organization period, and wrote the book period power: a manifesto for the menstrual movement. new york congresswoman grace meng has been a longstanding advocate for menstrual equity, and proposed the menstrual equity for all act of 2021 to congress. many women's rights organizations have endorsed this bill, including the alliance for period supplies, plan, girls inc., human rights watch, and i support the girls in addition to their various campaigns that fight for destigmatization, free menstrual products, and more. activism roles have also been taken on by young black women like the brown sisters, who founded the organization 601 for period equity in response to the "white-washed" nature of many other organizations. medicine blood from female menstruation has been used in medicines. in chinese daoist alchemy, menstrual blood from females who had not had sexual intercourse was used to make a substance to prolong an individual's life, called red lead (chinese: 红铅; pinyin: hóng qiān). the substance was taken by the ming dynasty jiajing emperor and the abuses inflicted on the palace women to ensure the blood's purity led to the renyin palace rebellion. menstrual synchrony menstrual synchrony is an alleged process whereby women who begin living together in close proximity experience their menstrual cycle onsets (the onset of menstruation or menses) becoming more synchronized together in time than when previously living apart. a 2013 review concluded that menstrual synchrony likely does not exist. menstruation products main article: feminine hygienemenstrual products are part of menstrual culture, as they are prominent in shops, through advertising and through disposal methods (such as sanitary bins and bags). throughout the twentieth-century applicator tampons like tampax (always) and pads such as kotex were increasingly popular in the global north. menstrual pads there are environmental costs of using menstruation products containing plastic and chemicals. as an alternative, companies are manufacturing reusable period panties, cloth menstrual pads, menstrual cups, biodegradable sanitary napkins and other eco-friendly products. not all cultures use menstrual products, opting instead for natural materials or homemade options. menstrual inequity the term menstrual inequity refers to the disparities in affordability, accessibility, destigmatization, and safety of menstrual products. furthermore, calls for menstrual equity expand into demands for reproductive justice, which includes the subtopics of education, support systems, and healthcare. menstruation is a highly stigmatized biological process, to the extent that most women feel uncomfortable discussing their experiences. in the cbsn documentary "period", new york congresswoman grace meng discussed the complex feelings of shame that come with menstruation and how it contributes to gender inequality. beyond the perpetuation of gender inequality, the inclination to hide menstruation experiences contributes to the phenomenon of period poverty. period poverty is defined as "a lack of access to menstrual products, education, hygiene facilities, waste management, or a combination of these", according to medical news today. in fact, 25% of women cannot purchase period products due to income limitations. furthermore, period products cannot be purchased with government subsidies like food stamps, health spending allowances, medicaid, or health insurance. socioeconomic inequity menstruating is an expensive process, and thus difficulty in accessing period products disproportionately impacts low-income people. especially with laws like the tampon tax and the lack of free menstrual products in most bathrooms, many are forced to miss school or work due to lack of access. one in five low-income women have reported missing work, school or similar events due to lack of access to period supplies. with regards to mental health, 68.1% of women experiencing monthly period poverty expressed that they were experiencing moderate or severe depression compared to 43.4% of women who experienced no period poverty. in 2021, 51% of female students wore period products for longer than recommended. overtime use of period products may lead to the onset of toxic shock syndrome, in addition to the chances of used pads and tampons having the ability to carry stis. in a different study with low-income women, 64% of participants explained that they could not afford menstrual products in the previous year. of these women, around one-third expressed that they resorted to other products like rags, toilet paper, and children's diapers. the covid-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these concerns in a time when unemployment and financial insecurity has risen. in march 2020, the cares act allowed for money from health savings and flexible spending accounts to be used for the purchasing of menstrual products. in 2017, the u.s. department of justice promised to grant every woman incarcerated in a federal prison menstrual products free of charge. yet countless women are not housed in a federal prison, and go without access to period products keeping them safe and hygienic. 54% of women in prisons do not have access to sufficient period supplies, as they are forced to spend their 75 cent per hour wages at commissaries that charge up to 5 dollars for pads and tampons. efforts are now being made to reduce period poverty in scotland, as it became the first country in the world to make period products free in august 2022. the period products act made it a legal duty for local authorities to provide free period products such as tampons and sanitary pads to "anyone who needs them." racial inequity like many other health-related concerns, women's experiences are influenced by their race. medical racism extends to discussions of period pain as well. dismissal of period pain is further implicated by the history of violence against black women, originating with slavery and continuing into its aftermath. dr.