The charity using comedy to help refugees have a Bloody Good Period

Are the painters in, do you receive a visit from Aunt Flo or maybe you ride the crimson wave? There are countless euphemisms for the entirely natural bodily function that around half of the world experiences at some point in their life.

Periods: they’re inconvenient at the best of times. They make us bloated, leave us deftly avoiding anything white (forget what the adverts say), and being caught short has you attempting to smuggle a donated pad up your sleeve like you’re exchanging government secrets with a colleague.

Three years ago, Gabby Edlin was volunteering at a drop-in centre when she discovered that period products aren’t considered essential items, “despite the fact that half the people coming to the drop-in centre were women and people who menstruate”. One Facebook status asking for donations later and Bloody Good Period was born.

“I thought a few people would send me pads but when they came in, the flow was unstoppable – pun intended,” explains Edlin.

Bloody Good Period is a non-profit organisation providing menstrual supplies and education sessions to people in need at 38 centres around the UK. Partnerships with companies like The Body Shop have helped spread the message further with customer donations flooding stores.

“I love that giving pads is saying: ‘we’ve got this covered, you don’t ever have to worry about your period when you’ve got so much else to worry about,’” says Edlin on their website.

While working alongside LGBTQIA groups and prison resettlement schemes, BGP helps refugees and asylum seekers who arrive in this country and are expected to survive on just £37.75 a week. “Money is incredibly tight” for them, explains Edlin. “If you’re considering what to buy, whether it’s food for your kids or a packet of pads a month then you’re pretty much gonna be screwed.”

The average lifetime cost of a period is £4,800. Factor in a heavy period, medical condition or the fact that you might not have the luxury of a selection of shops nearby with cheaper tampon options and this number could be quite different.

“The people that we work with come from all over the world; there’s no one type of asylum seeker,” Edlin says. “But the one thing they have in common is that when they get to the UK, they don’t have an easy time.”

“A lot of them have been through sexual trafficking, they’ve been raped or some have suffered from FGM,” she explains. For these reasons BGP tends to deal with pads rather than tampons or other products. “Women know their own bodies and if they tell us that they want a certain type of pad, that’s what we get for them,” says Edlin.

Practical problems surrounding eco-conscious products such as menstrual cups means that often they just aren’t suitable. Edlin tells the Standard about one woman she met who was sharing accommodation with dozens of other families and had access to just one washing machine. “The most important thing for us is that the people that we work with feel safe and comfortable, and get to use the things that they’re used to,” she says.

Education is a key part of BGP and the organisation is currently working with a government task force: “Our main focus is helping people around the UK campaign for better access to supplies and better education because we genuinely do not feel like we should exist.”

Their work alongside medical professionals helps to ease some of the misconceptions and worries concerning menstrual health without forcing people to reveal their experiences which can often be “traumatic”. Advice is offered about everything from how to see a gynaecologist to sexual health and menopause information but “there’s no poverty porn in this,” insists Edlin. “ We don’t want to know everyone’s gory stories if they don’t want to tell it to us.”

Having helped an estimated 50-60,000 periods, BGP is really making a difference while breaking the stigma along the way. Edlin believes that “the taboo breaks the second you talk about it,” and you can have a laugh while doing it.

Bloody Funny is the organisation’s annual fundraising event which sees some of the most hilarious people in the business open up the bloody conversation: “The great thing about comedians is that they’re the people who get people talking,” says Edlin. And their subject? Periods of course, and how they’re “just really funny sometimes”.

This year’s event is hosted by funny woman Jen Brister who’ll be joined by: Felicity Ward, Josie Long, Sophie Duker, Bridget Christie, Rosie Jones, Rose Matafeo, Ingrid Dahle and Heidi Regan.

Bloody Funny promises to be a “leak out loud” night but the focus remains on helping people. Attendees are encouraged to bring their pals for laughs and their pads for collection, while taking home the message that access to menstrual supplies “should be a basic human right”.

“Period products should be free like condoms are free,” says Edlin. “It’s not just about period poverty, it’s about inequality in general that periods, a natural part of the human body, should not be holding back half of the population just because the other half aren’t comfortable talking about it.”

So what does Edlin say to those who think menstruation should be kept hidden away and out of the public conversation? “Keeping periods quiet is not the same as keeping them secret and having shame surrounding them,” she insists.

“People who feel uncomfortable about it, I often say: ‘You know what, it’s kind of worse for the people who are going without pads actually, so you’ll be alright.’”

Bloody Funny is taking place on Thursday 19 September at Union Chapel, Islington. You can buy tickets here. If you’re interested in donating or helping Bloody Good Period then you can find more information here.