Why Switch to Reusable Menstrual Products?

I'm prepping for the South Broad St Market this upcoming Saturday (Oct 8. 12p-6p) with The Peach Coven, an organization that regularly donate period products to homeless shelters in the Atlanta area, which means there are sanitary napkin cutouts, thread and fleece scraps all around my room. Not to mention a barely made bed, an abandoned yoga mat and dirty dishes. 

As I'm sealing together layers of remnant fabrics to make an item that will transform one woman's relationship with her menstrual cycle, I can't help but consider how much of an uphill battle it is for women to embrace their cycle experience.

On top of sewing menstrual pads this week, I also wrote a non-profit about an opportunity to teach a workshop on making reusable pads in lieu of disposable products in their swag bags. The obvious reason for this being that teaching them to make reusable pads would give them a lifetime supply of menstrual products versus disposables which can  run out an leave the young women with out the choice to attend school, play a sport, ride public transportation, etc.

After getting a not-so-great response, where a leading director of the organization responded with a 'YUK', and also deemed reusable pads 'OK' for other countries but not for the USA.

The first response in my head was: 1. Can we all take a mature approach to menstruating by using sophisticated language? 2. Why the double standard on menstrual pads? Are women in other countries less deserving and therefore suitable for reusables, or are women in America conditioned to be aloof to their own experience?

I had to kindly reply with the message below, but I thought it was very worth sharing here as well.

Happy menstruating!