{"id":40027,"date":"2019-02-25T16:51:01","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T21:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=40027"},"modified":"2021-04-28T09:50:48","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T13:50:48","slug":"period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/","title":{"rendered":"This Oscar Winner Got Folks Talking About Period Stigma. These Women Have Fought it for Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5DxRHIo6fbY\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA period should end a sentence &#8212; not a girl\u2019s education.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those wise words were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7PCt_WE6mqI\">spoken<\/a> by producer Melissa Berton as she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cosmopolitan.com\/uk\/entertainment\/a26504881\/period-end-of-sentence-won-oscar-best-documentary-icky-acceptance-speech\/\">accepted her Academy Award<\/a> for Best Short Documentary last night. She won thanks to her work on \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Awards shows have increasingly become homes for high-profile political statements, and last night\u2019s Oscars ceremony was no different. When Berton and director Rayka Zehtabchi took to the stage to claim their prize, they contributed to that trend by speaking out against period stigmas &#8212; in part, by opening with a joke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not crying because I\u2019m on my period, or anything,\u201d Zehtabchi said when she got to the microphone, earning laughs. \u201cI can\u2019t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>[Related: <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/story-exchange-women-hollywood\/\"><i>The Story Exchange on Women in Hollywood<\/i><\/a><i>]<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The documentary was no laughing matter, however. It examined how period stigmas negatively impact young girls\u2019 lives, focusing on its effects in a rural village in India to make a global point &#8212; and banging a drum that women social entrepreneurs have been beating for years.<\/p>\n<p>Celeste Mergens, the founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/days-for-girls-cares-periods-meghan-markle\/\">Days for Girls<\/a>, is one such leader. Her nonprofit provides reusable sanitary pads and economic opportunities to women in poor communities internationally. Founded in 2008, it is one of a number of organizations that seeks to destigmatize menstruation and provide access to sanitary products so that girls can continue to attend school when they have their periods.<\/p>\n<p>While speaking with The Story Exchange, Mergens recalled a formative trip to Kenya that sparked her startup story. While there, she inquired about feminine hygiene practices at an orphanage she had been working with at the time. \u201cIt turned out that they would sit on a piece of cardboard for days,\u201d she told us. \u201cI knew we needed to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>[Related: <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/london-startup-tackling-period-problems\/\"><i>This London Startup is Tackling Period Problems<\/i><\/a><i>]<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Filipa Carreira also started up to address this problem. Her nonprofit, <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/combining-cold-facts-warm-heart-empower-african-women\/\">Wamina<\/a>, provides girls and women with low-cost, reusable sanitary pads, and teaches menstrual health and hygiene. She does her good work in Mozambique, another area where girls are negatively impacted by period stigmas.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_40029\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40029\" style=\"width: 475px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-40029\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG.jpg\" alt=\"And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on the period stigma holding back girls the world over. (Credit: &quot;Period. End of Sentence&quot; Instagram account)\" width=\"475\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG.jpg 600w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG-525x395.jpg 525w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG-133x100.jpg 133w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG-100x75.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-40029\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on the period stigma holding back girls the world over. (Credit: &#8220;Period. End of Sentence&#8221; Instagram account)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The work is direly needed. In India, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4408698\/\">23 percent of girls drop out of school<\/a> because they lack access to toilets and sanitary pads. In rural Nepal, girls are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/01\/10\/world\/asia\/nepal-woman-menstruation.html\">sent<\/a> to live in small, isolated sheds while menstruating. And in Ethiopia, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/1471-2458-14-1118\">a study<\/a> found that 56 percent of girls were absent from school specifically because they did not have a sanitary pad.<\/p>\n<p>The effects are both practical and emotional. Martha Silcott is another female founder who wants to get rid of \u201cthe negative feelings [felt by menstruating] women up and down the country and around the world\u201d during their menstrual cycles. Her business, <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/martha-silcott-eradicating-menstruation-taboos-startup-fablittlebag\/\">Fab Little Bag<\/a>, seeks to eliminate the taboo surrounding period discussions, in addition to providing an eco-friendly disposal option for tampons and pads.<\/p>\n<p>The more women continue to fight the good fight &#8212; be it through entrepreneurship, Academy Award-winning documentaries or anything in between &#8212; the more period stigmas are eroded. And the numbers show that young girls need that taboo eradicated in order to thrive.<\/p>\n<p>Period.<\/p>\n<p><i>[Related: <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/transgender-customers\/\"><i>How This Period Underwear Company Speaks to Transgender Consumers<\/i><\/a><i>]<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on the period stigma holding back girls the world over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":40029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19477,73],"tags":[20412,246,19761,19682],"class_list":["post-40027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-women","category-happening-now","tag-menstrual-health","tag-mission-based","tag-social-entrepreneurship","tag-women-empowerment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u201cPeriod. End of Sentence\u201d Tackled Period Stigma, Won an Academy Award<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on period stigma.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Oscar Winner Sparked a Conversation on Period Stigma. These Women Entrepreneurs Have Been Fighting it for Years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on the period stigma holding back girls the world over.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Story Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-25T21:51:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-28T13:50:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"451\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Candice Helfand-Rogers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"This Oscar Winner Sparked a Conversation on Period Stigma. These Women Entrepreneurs Have Been Fighting it for Years\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on the period stigma holding back girls the world over.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheStoryXchange\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheStoryXchange\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Candice Helfand-Rogers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cPeriod. End of Sentence\u201d Tackled Period Stigma, Won an Academy Award","description":"And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on period stigma.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Oscar Winner Sparked a Conversation on Period Stigma. These Women Entrepreneurs Have Been Fighting it for Years","og_description":"And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on the period stigma holding back girls the world over.","og_url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/","og_site_name":"The Story Exchange","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange","article_published_time":"2019-02-25T21:51:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-28T13:50:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":451,"url":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Candice Helfand-Rogers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"This Oscar Winner Sparked a Conversation on Period Stigma. These Women Entrepreneurs Have Been Fighting it for Years","twitter_description":"And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on the period stigma holding back girls the world over.","twitter_creator":"@TheStoryXchange","twitter_site":"@TheStoryXchange","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Candice Helfand-Rogers","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/"},"author":{"name":"Candice Helfand-Rogers","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f5204a83b27f87166174a6de31eaafc9"},"headline":"This Oscar Winner Got Folks Talking About Period Stigma. These Women Have Fought it for Years","datePublished":"2019-02-25T21:51:01+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-28T13:50:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/"},"wordCount":595,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG.jpg","keywords":["Menstrual Health","Mission-Based","Social Entrepreneurship","Women Empowerment"],"articleSection":["Celebrity Women","Quick Takes"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/","url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/","name":"\u201cPeriod. End of Sentence\u201d Tackled Period Stigma, Won an Academy Award","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG.jpg","datePublished":"2019-02-25T21:51:01+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-28T13:50:48+00:00","description":"And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on period stigma.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/22213913\/Period-End-of-Sentence-IG.jpg","width":600,"height":451,"caption":"And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short went to \u2026 \u201cPeriod. End of Sentence,\u201d a movie shining a light on the period stigma holding back girls the world over. (Credit: Period. End of Sentence Instagram)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/period-end-sentence-academy-award-sparked-conversation-period-stigma\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This Oscar Winner Got Folks Talking About Period Stigma. These Women Have Fought it for Years"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/","name":"The Story Exchange","description":"Inspiration and information for women entrepreneurs","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#organization","name":"The Story Exchange","url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/24161459\/TSE-logo-web-e1525383604615.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/24161459\/TSE-logo-web-e1525383604615.png","width":500,"height":180,"caption":"The Story Exchange"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange","https:\/\/x.com\/TheStoryXchange","https:\/\/instagram.com\/thestoryexchange\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-story-exchange","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/StoryExchange"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f5204a83b27f87166174a6de31eaafc9","name":"Candice Helfand-Rogers","description":"Candice Helfand-Rogers has worked as a journalist for some of the largest news organizations in the country over the course of her career, including CBS Local News and The Star-Ledger. She earned her B.A. in Journalism &amp; Media Studies at Rutgers University. In her spare time, she enjoys singing with several ensembles in New York City and spending time with her son. Please contact candice@thestoryexchange.org with questions or pitches.","sameAs":["https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/candice-leigh-helfand\/"],"url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/candice-leigh-helfand\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51303,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40027\/revisions\/51303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}