In the film “Period: End of Sentence”, it made me really emotional to listen how the women in the village had to deal with periods. The stigma of the period in that village was very negative and many girls didn’t want to say what a period is or were even too embarrassed to talk about it. But why? A period is such a normal thing and it is the anatomy of life and the human cycle of a woman. From a young age, my mom had always spoken to me about periods, what the process of it was, and what to use while on my period. These young girls in the village don’t have the same privilege as me to go buy pads or tampons or even medication to help stimulate painful period cramps. Watching this documentary made me feel very grateful that I am able to get these period products easily but it made me sad as well because I feel that all women should have access to any period product they need. At this point, period products shouldn’t even cost money. Watching a man help these women by making a machine that makes pads and showing the women how to make them brought joy to my heart. Finally, someone is seeing an issue and making a difference and helping. Watching the process of how they make the pads was very interesting because they compared a regular pad that I would buy and their pad that they made from scratch, and there was more durability shown in their pads. I like that while trying to sell the pads to other women, they also educated them and showed them how to use them because most women used cloths for their periods and were ashamed of it.

The article “A Birth Story” by Dana-Ain Davis, is a great example that oppression can be in everything including medical care. LeConté faced a tremendous amount of discrimination and racism but a specific kind of racism: Obstetric racism. Dana-Ain explains that obstetric racism sits between violence and medical racism. It doesn’t surprise me at all that there is racism even while getting medical care that is necessary. What LeConté faced during her labor and delivery is appalling. Of all the seven dimensions of obstetric racism, LeConté faced at least three including: neglect or disrespect, intentionally causing pain, and ceremony of degradation. I now know that unfortunately anyone can experience racism and discrimination anywhere, anytime no matter what environment you are in.