Let’s get creative to end period shame

Peninsula schools and community groups are being encouraged to help end period shame by taking part in Share the Dignity’s Creating Period Pride competition. The winner will receive $5000 for their school or group, and there are also prizes for the second and third placegetters and five category winners.

The impetus for the competition came after the charity’s Bloody Big Survey in 2021 found 41 per cent of people were embarrassed to talk about their periods and one in five had experienced period poverty – being unable to afford to buy period products. “To end period poverty we must also remove the shame and stigma around periods,” said founder and managing director Rochelle Courtenay. “With this competition I am hopeful our future leaders can help us move forward into a period-positive future.

“Period education is incredibly important not just for kids who get their period but for young boys as well. They grow up to be brothers, fathers, colleagues and friends, so I encourage schools and community groups to get all your kids involved to be part of the conversation. The entries in the first two years have blown me away. We’ve had original songs, murals, TikTok videos, poetry, major artwork and more, so I cannot wait to see what these creative minds come up with in our third year.”

Creating Period Pride was developed to give schools and community groups the tools to start having conversations with their students about periods and encourage them to create some content that would aid in promoting period pride. Melbourne Year 11 student Lucy Diggerson, who won last year’s competition with her original song I’m Not the Only Girl, said it helped start some meaningful conversations around periods.

“For me as an older student, it has been so rewarding to see how this initiative has impacted the younger girls at my school,” Lucy said. “The competition has reassured and readied those girls who are still new to their periods that it's nothing to be ashamed of and given the older girls the platform to act as role models to them, instilling period pride in everyone.”

You can register for the competition at www.sharethedignity.org.au/end-periodpoverty/creating-period-pride; the first 100 registrations will receive a free Creating Period Pride toolkit that includes Share the Dignity’s menstruation-specific education program and a variety of period products. Entries close at midnight on October 14 and can be sent to periodpride@sharethedignity.org.au