Why This 15-Year-Old Is Calling On Teen Boys To Bring Pads And Tampons To School
He may be just a high school student, but Jose Garcia is displaying way more understanding of women than most when it comes to dealing with periods and the unfortunate stigma surrounding it.
By Samantha Khor — 29 Apr 2015, 02:00 PM
High school student Jose Garcia might have just sparked a social movement with his viral Instagram post, encouraging fellow men to support their female peers by bringing pads and tampons to school
While any boy his age would most probably run in the other direction at the mere mention of "periods", 15 year-old Garcia was inspired to lend a helping hand after seeing his female classmates' struggles during their times of the month
"My inspiration didn’t come from one source only, but just from day to day things that have happened around me, like a friend staining her pants or feeling uncomfortable to ask for a sweater to tie around their waist because their pants are stained," he said.
hellogiggles.comGarcia, who grew up in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Miami three years ago, also realized that a girl's period could arrive more or less at any given moment, and that she may not have the right products on hand. He could never fully understand the experience of having a menstrual cycle, so the least he could do was lend a helping hand—or a tampon, at the very least.
dailydot.comThe objective behind Garcia's bold message goes beyond helping out his female friends when they are in need of supplies. He also hopes to show people that women and their periods are not as shameful or taboo as the general society makes it out to be.
Garcia's mission extends beyond these simple day-to-day acts of kindness. He wants to end the stigma about periods in general.
“I also believe that asking for a pad or a tampon shouldn’t be such a taboo thing to boys. It’s a natural thing that happens to women,” he said.
While his efforts have been met with overwhelming praise and appreciation - especially from women - on social media, the boys are still quite resistant to the idea with some going as far as to calling him names behind his back
Most of my guy friends have just been kidding with me and teasing me for the attention that I’m getting from girls,” he said. “But guys in general are just calling me names or assuming that I’m homosexual…behind my back.
dailydot.comBut Garcia, who identifies himself as a feminist, is adamant about going through with his mission to champion the fact that women's bodies should not be a source of shame with his newly-acquired Internet fame
"I, in fact, consider myself a feminist. I believe that there should be equality for everyone regardless of their sex, gender, skin color, race, religion, etc. so it would be nice to use this attention for something positive," Garcia told the Daily Dot.
Garcia is realistic about the fact that he may not be able to affect change on a large scale. But that isn't going to stop him from trying.
"I realize I can't help solve any of the big issues right now regarding women and/or men (rape, discrimination, slut shaming, unrealistic body standards, objectivism). Maybe with this hashtag I could help with other minor things," he said.
Because, to tell you the truth, there's nothing more bad-a** than giving birth to the lining of your internal organs every month
