In summary
Many California youth are not properly taught about periods and feel alone without reliable sources of information. A bill to amend a 2016 law to include age-appropriate facts about menstruation in sex education has received wide support, especially among teenagers.
When I was 12 years old, I stopped having periods. I once attended a sex education class in middle school, and I learned a lot about what menstruation is, how to regulate it, how to care for it, and especially how to notice abnormalities and when. , no one told me how to get medical care.
Many young people do not have a parent, guardian, or trusted adult to talk to. I turned to online sources, where I encountered misinformation that only increased my anxiety. A disreputable health website told me I might have cancer or a terminal illness. It took several months for my doctor to finally identify a treatable underlying health problem that was causing my menstrual irregularities.
So much silent suffering and stress could have been avoided if I had been taught to understand my periods.
Although California is a progressive state with a robust sex education curriculum, there is still much work to be done to help young people understand our bodies. It’s not just our state. Almost all states have no curriculum requirements regarding menstruation.
This is an even bigger problem because young people are hitting puberty earlier than previous generations.
Armed with this information that menstrual-inclusive sex education is urgently needed, my friends at the Solano Reproductive Health Club and I joined with hundreds of young people across California to support Assembly Bill 2229. We launched a campaign to “know your menstrual cycle.” Written and presented in collaboration with Congresswoman Laurie Wilson.
Learn more about the legislators mentioned in this article.
The first-of-its-kind proposal would update the California Healthy Youth Act of 2016 to include age-appropriate facts about periods, giving young people the tools they need to understand their bodies and development. I will do it. We will cover period stigma, premenstrual syndrome and pain management, menstrual hygiene, disorders, irregularities, and more.
As a girl growing up in Solano County, I never thought I would be at the Capitol asking legislators to pass the bill I helped write. After passing through the Legislature’s Education Committee, it is now on the hold file in the Appropriations Committee, but we are hopeful that it will move forward.
The legislative process felt distant and nebulous. It was something I learned about in school, but it had little relevance to my daily life. Everything changed when I realized that my state’s sex education curriculum was failing me and that I needed to step up and be an advocate for young people like me.
This job has taken me to places I never imagined I could belong. I’m 16 years old and can’t vote yet, but I can use my voice. A few weeks ago, I joined over 100 young women in Sacramento for the “Light the Capitol” event, calling on our representatives to take action on the issues that most impact our lives. .
Young women and girls in California and across the country should understand that it is possible to break down social divisions and move forward by advocating for the issues that matter to us. I know I’m young, but I’ve learned to use my voice. And now I’m calling on my colleagues and the adults in our lives to use their voices and join the Know Your Period campaign.
Being young means being isolated enough. No one should experience shame, confusion, or pain related to periods. It starts with education and today it starts with advocacy.
Source link