Every Body is Different and Deserving

541. That’s how many item codes The Period Place has in their inventory system. The Period Place encourages stigma-crushing period conversations, facilitates the delivery of safe and inclusive period education, and has distributed over 1.4 million period products around Aotearoa to those who face barriers accessing them. So, what’s an item code and why do they need an inventory system? We’ll let Co-Founder and CEO, Danika Revell, explain.

Our item codes each represent disposable period products like pads, liners and tampons, and reusable period products such as period underwear, menstrual cups, reusable pads and period swimwear. They represent the many different brands, packaging sizes, types of products, shapes, and styles of them.

Five hundred and fourty one. Quite a number isn’t it? Who knew there could be so many ways that the girls, women, and people that get a menstrual cycle could be supported during the menstrual week of their cycle? We certainly didn’t when we got started! 

From Kaitaia to Dunedin, our 85+ partners don’t just receive donated period products from us – they get a bloody wide range of them. Those partners include food banks, health services, iwi and marae, city missions, whānau services, charities, teen parent units, social workers and more.

And that, is what makes us different – well that, and a lot of other things to be honest, but let’s just focus on what we think is the best thing that makes us different! Every single body is different. Every single period for every single body is different. So it makes sense then that every single person in every single body should be able to choose how they want to look after themselves when they have their period. We’re not at the place yet where every single person can choose from the widest possible range, but you better believe we are on our way.

Autonomy when it comes to periods is something a lot of people don’t think about. People don’t sit on the couch with a cup of tea and think, ‘Jeez, when I have my period, I like to be able to choose exactly what I want to manage the flow, and you know what, everyone should be able to do the same’. But for us at The Period Place, it’s always been at the core of our kaupapa. 

Just like awareness of period inequity or period poverty has grown, so have our item codes. And they’ll keep growing, thanks to you bloody legends in our One Percent Collective whānau and the incredible financial support you bring to us to enable our range and our reach to grow.

We’re going to keep doing everything we can to source products of all types, for people all over Aotearoa, and we’ll do our best to do it with a smile on our face while channelling our Big Uterus Energy!

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Words and images supplied by The Period Place.