"Removing taboos is a crucial step towards  greater equality and social justice"

One evening in November, the StuCa student café is full. At the invitation of the Centre for Women* and Equality at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences, Berlin-based menstruation activist, journalist and author Franka Frei has come to the campus to give a captivating and interactive lecture on the topic of ‘Periods are political’. Her goal is to break the persistent taboo surrounding menstruation, and in doing so, she highlights its profound and intensifying social and global implications. She introduces the topic with a knowledge quiz, debunking common myths and asking questions about the amount of blood loss during menstruation, the duration of menstruation in relation to lifetime, drawing comparisons with mammals and providing astonishing gynaecological knowledge.
She takes the audience on a historical journey to trace the origins of society's devaluation of periods, describing them as something ‘disgusting, weak or evil’. Franka Frei uses these traditional ideas of (gender) roles and patterns to explain why gender equality still does not exist. In summary: an open, fact-based, inviting dialogue on a topic that is still shrouded in silence and shame. With it, Franka Frei raised awareness that breaking taboos is a crucial step towards greater equality and social justice. The audience's keen interest, comments, experiences and feedback underscore the fact that menstruation is not a private matter.
If you missed the lecture, you can watch it on YouTube; see the link below this article.

A follow-up report by Simone Israel from the Gender Offensive team at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences. Translation: DeepL