April 28, 2021

KOAK Special Show with The Pad Project

MON May 10 | 8pm
>TUNE IN HERE<

Oakwood’s student radio station KOAK welcomes Melissa Berton, English teacher and Executive Director of The Pad Project, to celebrate the publication of Period. End of Sentence. A New Chapter in the Fight For Menstrual Justice. written by Anita Diamant (author of The Red Tent) and inspired by The Pad Project’s Oscar-winning documentary. Melissa Berton wrote the foreword! This special show will be hosted by Emma Blankstein ’22, and feature a live-read of the book’s foreword plus contributions from other members of The Pad Project team.

More about The Pad Project

The Pad Project was started in 2013 by a youth-driven community of Oakwood students and educators convinced that menstruation matters for everyone. What began as a documentary film project highlighting a single village has expanded to an organization with a global reach. In the last year alone, The Pad Project was able to form global partnerships with 16 organizations in 9 countries (Afghanistan, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Uganda) and domestically The Pad Project provides grants to non-profit organizations to purchase and distribute period care products.

The idea for the film Period. End of Sentence. began when Melissa Berton took a group of her students to the 2013 Annual Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations. There they learned about the issue of girls in low-income countries missing or dropping out of school with the onset of menstruation. They also learned about Indian inventor Arunachalam Muruganantham, who created a pad-making machine to produce cheaper and more easily accessible menstrual pads. They were so inspired by Muruganantham’s invention that they decided to shine a spotlight on the issue of menstrual inequity by funding the placement of a pad machine and making a documentary about its effects.

Click here for more about The Pad Project at Oakwood School.

 

 

Sometimes the uncharted path leads to the largest clearing, and every student is a teacher.

Melissa Berton

Period. End of Sentence.: A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice

Period. End of Sentence. examines menstruation and the experiences of menstruators around the world. Written by New York Times bestselling author Anita Diamant, with a foreword by The Pad Project’s Executive Director Melissa Berton, Period. End of Sentence. explores the deep rooted nature of menstrual stigma, the widespread effects of period poverty, the changing attitudes towards menstruation, and the ongoing fight for menstrual equity. READ MORE