‘A period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education.’
Accepting the 2019 Academy Award for producing the documentary Period. End of Sentence, Melissa Berton, founder of The Pad Project spoke those words. And so it was no leap to turn to New York Times bestselling author of The Red Tent and award winning journalist, Anita Diamant. With the foreword by Melissa, PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE. The Next Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice, Anita explores menstrual issues and period poverty around the globe.
Some overwhelming facts:
- 30 out of 50 states make tampons subject to sales tax
- Georgia has a tax on tampons but not on tattoos
- Wisconsin has a tax on tampons but not on gun club memberships
- Across the U.S. 25% of teens have missed class due to a lack of menstrual products
- Many in the U.S are forced to make a choice between buying food or menstrual product
A gripping, informative and very necessary conversation with Anita and Melissa;
- Why the Pad Project
- Period poverty – it’s affects around the globe
- Old myths and period stigma
- Period shaming – mental and physical health
- The very lucrative menstruation industry
- Tampon tax
- Menstruation and race
- The fight to supply free products
- Baby Boomers, Millennials and GenZ
- Standing up and speaking up
Anita Diamant and Melissa Berton
Anita Diamant is the bestselling author of the novels The Boston Girl, The Red Tent, Good Harbor, The Last Days of Dogtown, and Day After Night. And the collection of essays, Pitching My Tent. Anita is an award-winning journalist whose work appeared in The Boston Globe Magazine and Parenting, and many others. Additionally, Anita is the author of six nonfiction guides to contemporary Jewish life. She lives in Massachusetts
Melissa is the Academy Award-winning producer for Best Documentary Short (2019) for PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE., available on Netflix. She is a Los Angeles-based teacher, writer, and speaker. Melissa is the Founder & Executive Director of The Pad Project, a non- profit organization dedicated to the principle that “a period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education.”