Małgorzata Szostak, a member of the Cracow circle of Szymon Hołownia’s party, started the fight against “menstrual exclusion”, ie – according to this nomenclature – with a lack of money for sanitary napkins (the cheapest cost 20 groszy each). The crusade started with a press conference, but soon we can expect an onslaught of pamphlets, video spots and happenings.
PiS responsible for menstrual pain?
The authors of the report prepared three years ago for Dominika Kulczyk, the daughter of a Polish oligarch, say that too little is said about the menstruation of “menstruating people”. TV serials. Menstruation should be talked about in “public discourse”, on television, in pop culture, in magazines, in schools. The report even states that the “current political climate” is getting in the way of discussing menstruation. Yes – menstrual cramps are Law and Justice’s fault too! Let’s change the power, it will be easier to get through the period!
The report even mentions the joint celebration of the first menstruation by mother and daughter.
Who will earn from it?
So we are waiting for a social campaign, which shocks the topic of menstruation in public space, and ideas that will make someone a lot of money. It is therefore about placing vending machines with free sanitary pads or tampons for “menstruating people” in public places, including schools. Of course, they will be free for users, because someone will pay for them, and knowing this kind of education of society, the point is that the state budget buys thousands of such machines and hundreds of thousands of sanitary napkins from some supplier who is already happy at the very thought al. Plus, in the thick of the heated “menstrual discussion” a swarm of activists, happening performers and, God forbid, experts will explain to the cameras that it hurts, it’s hard and something needs to be done.
Let’s not be fooled into thinking that men have no right to speak on this issue. Norbert Góra, a social activist, is on the board of the association “Akcja Menstruacja”, so if he can be in favor of rolling out the topic, maybe another man, say Jakub Maciejewski, could be in favor of doing different visualizations letting go of vaginas in public space. Since everyone has to pay for it, everyone has the right to vote.
Even sanitary towels are politicizing
In early 2020, the Kulczyk Foundation was the first in Poland to raise the issue of menstruation in the public sphere. Many editors and opinion-forming circles received a box with a piece of red cloth, symbolizing menstruation, and a letter full of strong statements about the fight against ‘menstrual exclusion’. The pandemic and the war have cooled the initial enthusiasm at the start of the campaign, but in recent weeks the initiative of Dominika Kulczyk’s entourage has refreshed the subject – not only the Krakow candidate from Hołownia, but also Henryka Bochniarz and PO- Member of Parliament Marzena Okła-Drewnowicz spoke about this. A press conference was held in the Sejm, at which the girls were informed
during menstruation they do not leave their homes, do not go to school, because they do not have hygiene products, because sanitary napkins are a luxury. This country is Poland, and this problem is “menstrual exclusion”. (tvn24)
Sanitary napkins as luxurywhen the cheapest ones can be had for a dime a dozen is gross exaggeration, foreshadowing the misrepresentations and emotional blackmail that will accompany the public debate on this subject.
The problem of “menstrual exclusion of menstruating people” contains three components that herald social glorification: ideology (terminology such as “menstruating person” instead of “woman”), money (public procurement) and politics (PO and Polska2050 women build recognition campaign of the Kulczyk Foundation). Only ordinary women will be of little importance here.
Source: wPolityce