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- Mar 6, 2017
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House Bill 1069, also known as the "Don't Say Period" bill, which passed in Florida's Republican-controlled House at the end of March, means what you think it means.
The bill proposes banning any form of health education until sixth grade and would prohibit students from asking questions about menstruation, including about their own first periods, which frequently occur before the sixth grade. If passed by Florida's Senate and signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the ban will be effective July 1.
In response, much has been written about the harms of depriving young people of information about their own changing bodies, and how in such a void, schools will instead be teaching a culture of shame.
It's a dizzying moment.
How do we make sense of a culture in which state-sponsored shame and ignorance is possible in the very same year that Hollywood is set to release the first major motion adaptation of Judy Blume's "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," an ode to puberty and menstruation, ushering us into what critics have called a Judy Blume-aissance?
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How can all of this be happening at the same time that youth activists are advocating for free menstrual care products in their schools, grassroots groups across the country are distributing free period products as part of mutual-aid initiatives, and we are witnessing what is a veritable menstrual justice movement?
Because Florida's "Don't Say Period" bill is a backlash.
But like the proverbial King Canute, helpless in stopping the rising tide, conservatives are powerless against a rising wave of open dialogue. This bill can't and won't stop the cultural tide.
(full article online)
www.salon.com
The bill proposes banning any form of health education until sixth grade and would prohibit students from asking questions about menstruation, including about their own first periods, which frequently occur before the sixth grade. If passed by Florida's Senate and signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the ban will be effective July 1.
In response, much has been written about the harms of depriving young people of information about their own changing bodies, and how in such a void, schools will instead be teaching a culture of shame.
It's a dizzying moment.
How do we make sense of a culture in which state-sponsored shame and ignorance is possible in the very same year that Hollywood is set to release the first major motion adaptation of Judy Blume's "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," an ode to puberty and menstruation, ushering us into what critics have called a Judy Blume-aissance?
--------
How can all of this be happening at the same time that youth activists are advocating for free menstrual care products in their schools, grassroots groups across the country are distributing free period products as part of mutual-aid initiatives, and we are witnessing what is a veritable menstrual justice movement?
Because Florida's "Don't Say Period" bill is a backlash.
But like the proverbial King Canute, helpless in stopping the rising tide, conservatives are powerless against a rising wave of open dialogue. This bill can't and won't stop the cultural tide.
(full article online)
Floridaâs âDonât Say Periodâ bill canât stop the menstrual wave
Florida’s “Don’t Say Period” bill can’t stop the menstrual wave
www.salon.com
