Hudson Warm, Contributing Photographer

Yale Bleeds, a student organization dedicated to menstrual equity, hosted a Period Action Day on Saturday, Oct. 14.

From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Bass Cafe, attendees packed period product kits to donate to the Yale division of People’s World, a national news publication that centers on labor unions, as part of ongoing efforts by Yale People’s World to help the New Haven community prepare for the cold season by collecting warm clothes and personal care items. At the event, Yale Bleeds organizers also promoted a petition calling on Yale administration to make menstrual products more accessible on campus, which has amassed more than 350 signatories since its Oct. 11 release.

Co-presidents of Yale Bleeds Maddy Corson ’26 and Karley Yung ’25 said that they hope the Period Action Day will bring attention to the need for menstrual equity.

“We want to spearhead this conversation and get people talking about periods more openly,” Yung told the News.

Because of the taboos and perceived shame that surround menstruation, many people refrain from engaging in conversations about it, Yung said. However, she hopes facilitating more open dialogue about periods will eliminate some of the stigma, allowing for more tangible change.

Elise Wilkins ’25, a Yale Bleeds member, said that aside from the organization’s campus-specific goals, removing the stigma of periods in everyday conversation is also important.

“Having a period can be a very isolating experience, and when there is a stigma around it and no one talks about it, it can feel even more isolating,” Wilkins told the News. “Yale Bleeds is getting more people talking about periods.”

Corson said she first became passionate about pushing for period equity during high school. At her school, she said she noticed that students who menstruated missed class because they lacked easy access to period products, with the pads and tampons tucked away in the nurse’s closet — a far distance from the classrooms.

Corson added that some people who menstruate are forced to miss days of school because they lack the resources to take care of their bodies and selves during menstruation.

“People who do menstruate should be able to access the same things and do the same things that those who don’t menstruate can,” Yung said.

Yale currently stocks period products in laundry rooms in residential colleges and on Old Campus. Yale Bleeds members told the News that they see this as a “stopgap” approach. Yung and Corson said that instead, the products should be where they are really needed — in academic facilities. They also added that Yale should improve disposal systems for period products in bathrooms.

Corson said that while bathrooms are consistently stocked with toilet paper and paper towels when students have requested menstrual product dispensers, they have been told the dispensers are seen as “intrusive or obstructive.”

“It blows my mind a little bit that this isn’t something that already exists — that not all bathrooms already have period products,” Rhea McTiernan Huge ’27 said while packing a period product kit at the event.

Paul McKinley, senior associate dean of strategic initiatives and communications, wrote to the News that the Office of Student Affairs is working on a pilot project with the YCC and residential colleges to provide baskets containing menstrual products in bathrooms close to residential college dining halls.

The YCC began working on a project to supply pads and tampons in residential colleges in 2018. In 2022, the YCC granted money to the Yale Women’s Center to stock higher-quality menstrual products in better locations. 

Petition for period products

In addition to packing period products, the event also provided students the opportunity to sign Yale Bleeds’ online petition.

The document cites the most recent Yale College Council fall survey, which Yale Bleeds organizers said showed that nearly three-quarters of student respondents support free menstrual products on campus.

“Students all across Yale want this to happen,” Corson said. “Why isn’t the administration doing anything about it?”

In the petition, which is addressed to administrators, Yale Bleeds demands that menstrual products be placed in bathrooms. The petition also points to peer institutions, including all other Ivy League universities, which they said are ahead of Yale in terms of period product access.

Samuel Olmstead, director of facilities operations, wrote to the News that while Yale Facilities currently stocks period products in select locations on campus — including Yale Health and the Humanities Quadrangle — they are committed to expanding the program and have been in contact with Yale Bleeds’ leaders to solicit feedback on where to expand access.

“We hope that this partnership can help guide our approach to meeting this important need for our students and the broader campus community,” Olmstead wrote to the News.

Accessibility to menstrual products for Yale students is one aspect of Yale Bleeds’ goals. Yung and Corson said they also aim to expand their advocacy locally and state-wide as they call for other long-term solutions, such as implementing free menstrual products in New Haven public schools.

“We hope that at some point Yale does implement what we’re asking for, but even when that happens, our mission isn’t done there,” Yung said. “It goes far beyond the physical borders of this campus.”

Yale Bleeds also has launched educational initiatives including classes about endometriosis, the history of periods and “reproductive longevity” — or how menstrual health changes with age.

The group hosted a conference with Zeppelin Universität and the German endometriosis advocacy group #EndEndoSilence last Friday as well.

Corson told the News that menstrual equity is a “holistic issue,” and involves issues beyond access to pads and tampons.

“It’s an ongoing process, and it’s also a global project,” Corson said.

Yale Bleeds — formerly known as PERIOD@Yale — was formed in 2018.