“Being in a co-ed school for the first time in 10 years, I realised that men knew close to nothing about women’s health and periods. I started out this project in the hopes of spurring more transparent conversations about menstruation overall,” says Sheryl.

 

Sheryl’s main objectives for this project were to ease the discomfort of female peers and to help them get through long school days. According to her, many students had felt awkward and anxious to borrow a pad from their friends, even more so in the presence of male schoolmates.

 

Ms Vanessa Paranjothy, 32, a co-founder of Freedom Cups, lauded this initiative. Ms Paranjothy says, “Education and conversations on menstruation should also be expanded within schools and society in general. There is currently still this idea that menstruation should be a personal issue, which is just not true.”

 

While Sheryl’s teachers and peers were supportive, she also notes that the implementation of the Menstrual Kit wasn’t without any issues. “I remember hearing complaints about males not having a kit in their toilets, and I just got really perplexed about it because what do they even need?” she said.

 

When Goh Ray Wehn, a second-year male student at Eunoia Junior College, first heard about the project, he didn’t put much thought into it.

 

He said, “From what I do know, pads are a necessity, and if it helps to improve the livelihoods of female students in the school, then it’s definitely a good idea.”

 

On the subject of a Male Kit, he thinks that “the male students were simply joking around”.

 

“It’s quite obvious that items that males often use, like shaving cream and shavers, shouldn’t be shared between students for hygienic purposes and aren’t exactly necessary like pads,” he said.

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