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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie Samantha and welcome to Stephane. Never

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Speaker 1: told your production of I Heart Radio. Now as we

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Speaker 1: record this, it is our potentially final recording day of December,

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Speaker 1: and as you're listening to it, it's so things could

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Speaker 1: have changed a lot of things could have happened in

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Speaker 1: that time. I just want to say that I feel

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Speaker 1: like that's big, you know, a little warning at the

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Speaker 1: beginning of every single one we have learned from things

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Speaker 1: changed quickly. They do in need they do indeed. Uh.

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Speaker 1: For for my question today, I mean, We've had related

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Speaker 1: questions on this show, but I'm just curious, what's a

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Speaker 1: time you've had a period minstrels fiasco while you've been

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Speaker 1: out and about. Oh lord, Uh. I don't want to

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Speaker 1: get too graphic into some of the things, but yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I've definitely had the bleeding through the pants,

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Speaker 1: putting a sweater over yourself, walking backwards to the wall

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Speaker 1: hoping no one notices the blood. Um. I've definitely when

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Speaker 1: I was younger, very embarrassed by tampons slipping out of

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Speaker 1: my pocket or into the floor and people knowing that

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Speaker 1: I have my period. Seven four birds. Um, you know

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Speaker 1: what the I was in so much pain from my

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Speaker 1: period that it wasn't shamed me. I was just in

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Speaker 1: pain and I really just wanted to go away. So

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Speaker 1: to me, it wasn't necessarily like I was concentrating on that.

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Speaker 1: It was just why the hell does not only my uterus,

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Speaker 1: my actual vagina, my boobs, my head, my back all hurt?

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Speaker 1: What is happening? So that's that's more of what I

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Speaker 1: went through of like, oh god, everything is the worst? Right?

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Speaker 1: Um well, I have a lot of those similar experiences,

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Speaker 1: but I wanted to bring one that's not necessarily period

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Speaker 1: related because I just made me I thought of it.

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Speaker 1: I totally forgot. But um, as as I've mentioned before

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Speaker 1: on this show, I haven't had a period and maybe

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Speaker 1: a decade. Sometimes I'll spot um but remember at times, Samantha,

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Speaker 1: we went to that holiday party back when there were

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Speaker 1: that was a thing. And so in our building, our

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Speaker 1: building is sort of a mixed use like Chelsea Market

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Speaker 1: type thing, and our company had split, so how Stuff Works,

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Speaker 1: which used to be a part of us, have moved

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Speaker 1: down to a different floor and they were having a

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Speaker 1: happy hour and I we went down to enjoy this

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Speaker 1: happy hour, Samantha and I, and it was lovely, and

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Speaker 1: I gave birth to what I call a period baby

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Speaker 1: while I was there, and it was just a huge

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Speaker 1: gas blood clot and I panicked and I was like,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, what is what am I gonna do?

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Speaker 1: I gotta get out of here, and like this really

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Speaker 1: cute guy I was talking to me and I was

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Speaker 1: like trying to back away. Oh no, And I was

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Speaker 1: so so grateful that in our building they are free

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Speaker 1: period products because I don't care them around, Like after

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Speaker 1: that event, I've started doing it. But I was like,

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Speaker 1: what am I gonna do? Like, I guess I'll have

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Speaker 1: to just follow up a bunch of toilet paper or

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Speaker 1: something like I'm gonna have to go home, like and

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Speaker 1: I walked to work, so I was just thinking, it's

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Speaker 1: definitely gonna go through my clothes, like it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: this whole thing. But we're very, very fortunate in our building, uh,

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Speaker 1: that there are free minstrel products. Yeah. I hate those

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Speaker 1: moments when something just feels like the bottom drops out

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Speaker 1: and you're like, yeah, tidal wave, tidal wave of blood.

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Speaker 1: It just happened. It was bad, and then it never

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Speaker 1: that was it. So I still am not really sure

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Speaker 1: what that was about. But anyway, today we wanted to

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Speaker 1: talk about Scotland recently becoming the first place to offer

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Speaker 1: tampons and pads for free in public facilities. Novemb Scottish

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Speaker 1: Parliament unanimously passed the Period Products Free Precision Free Provision

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Speaker 1: Scotland Bill. And this access falls providing this these products

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Speaker 1: falls to educators and local authorities. Um. And they're supposed

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Speaker 1: to provide them quote to anyone who needs them reasonably

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Speaker 1: easily and with quote reasonable dignity. This is all after

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Speaker 1: Scotland became the first country to require schools and universities

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Speaker 1: to provide these products in two is it is estimated

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Speaker 1: to cost eight point seven million pounds or this bill right.

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Speaker 1: And debate around the bill included discussions around heavy bleeding

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Speaker 1: in a matriosis. Why bathrooms need trash receptacles and toilet

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Speaker 1: paper but don't supply minstrel products, which is still a

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Speaker 1: big question again in the country because yes, as we

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Speaker 1: know in our office is beautiful, but everywhere else why not. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a very optional thing. Um. And you know a

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Speaker 1: lot of places in the US it's not free. It

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Speaker 1: would be like fifty cents or something. Um. And I

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Speaker 1: never really thought about that before, about how that you

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Speaker 1: have to have the trash can but you don't have

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Speaker 1: to have the minstrel products. Good point. Um. Yeah. The

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Speaker 1: bill was introduced by lawmaker Monica Lennon, who has been

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Speaker 1: working on ending period poverty since and said after it

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Speaker 1: passed to that it was quote a signal to the

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Speaker 1: world that free, universal access to period products can be achieved.

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Speaker 1: Nicolas Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister, tweeted after it passed out

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Speaker 1: to vote for this groundbreaking legislation, making Scotland the first

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Speaker 1: country in the world to provide free period products for

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Speaker 1: all who need them. Important policy for women and girls.

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Speaker 1: In Scotland's official account tweeted that's right, Scotland has become

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Speaker 1: the first country in the world to make period products

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Speaker 1: free for all because in Scotland we believe it's fundamental

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Speaker 1: to dignity, equality and human rights. Right. Whoop, whoop, amen,

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Speaker 1: all of the things. Uh. Twenty seventeen study found that

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Speaker 1: in the UK, one in ten girls can't afford minstrel products,

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Speaker 1: and a twenty eighteen survey of university students found that

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Speaker 1: one in four had difficulty affording minstrel products. And may

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Speaker 1: miss entire days of school because of it. And then

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Speaker 1: you know, this is a whole other conversation about how

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Speaker 1: there's a whole lot of shame in that in itself

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Speaker 1: just having a period all over the world. UM, and

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Speaker 1: the loss of jobs due to the pandemic has worsened

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Speaker 1: this problem, not surprising. And according to reports by Forbes,

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Speaker 1: people may spent up to six thousand dollars in their

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Speaker 1: lifetime on minstrel products and up to thirteen dollars a month. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so this is I mean, that's a big deal. If

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Speaker 1: if that's something we could remove from as a worry

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Speaker 1: as a financial strain. Um and the loss of like

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Speaker 1: the reverberations felt in the loss of education because of this, um,

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Speaker 1: loss in the workforce because of this, Uh, that's it's

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Speaker 1: a big deal. Um and and and just those like

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Speaker 1: like my story at the top of just having that

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Speaker 1: comfort and have like, as they said, dignity of like

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Speaker 1: I had an option, and you know that if I

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Speaker 1: wasn't sure that that was there, but I mean it

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Speaker 1: was like the scots opened up and the angels started singing,

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Speaker 1: and I was like, you're and then again this kind

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Speaker 1: of also opens up the conversation about the dignity of

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Speaker 1: the like that there's so much shame behind what is

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Speaker 1: a natural part of your body that we have no

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Speaker 1: freaking choe saon, like that is not a thing that

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Speaker 1: we have any control about. And the fact of the

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Speaker 1: matter is there's so much shame and so much pressure

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Speaker 1: on girls trying to figure out how to normalize this,

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Speaker 1: that having it being accessible normalizes it and gives an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to move on and move past the fact that

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Speaker 1: this is just a bodily function that happens in our

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Speaker 1: reproductive system and our growth period. Yes. Nice. On that note,

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Speaker 1: I'm very excited to see, Yeah, if the rest of

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Speaker 1: the world will start to follow this example, if we

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Speaker 1: see other countries take note of what Scotland's doing, If

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Speaker 1: we have any listeners in Scotland, do we have some experience,

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Speaker 1: knows something more? Please right into your correspondent, Yes, Pirit correspondent.

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Speaker 1: You can email us at steph Medium Stuff at I

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Speaker 1: hurt media dot com. You can also find us on

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Speaker 1: Instagram and Stuff I've Never Told You are on Twitter

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Speaker 1: at mom Stuff Podcast. Thanks as always to our super

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Speaker 1: producer Andrew Howard. Thanks Andrew, and thanks to you for

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Speaker 1: listening stuff I've never told you this production of radio.

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Speaker 1: For more podcast on iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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