31/08/2026
💜 BREAKING THE SILENCE STARTS WITH UNDERSTANDING
Our Coordinator had the opportunity to take the men and women who attended the Patch It Wellness Hour through an engaging conversation on The Role of Boys and Men in Supporting Menstrual Health.
The session explored some important issues, including:
🔹 Understanding menstruation as a normal biological process — and challenging the shame, embarrassment and myths that often surround it.
🔹 Understanding menstrual pain — recognising that period pain can be severe and can affect someone’s physical, emotional and mental wellbeing, as well as their ability to work, study and participate in daily activities.
🔹 Breaking stigma and harmful language — challenging period-related jokes, teasing and the idea that girls and women should feel ashamed when they menstruate.
🔹 Menstruation as a public health issue — discussing how menstrual health is connected to dignity, mental wellbeing, education, sanitation, access to menstrual products and overall health.
🔹 The role of boys and men as allies — encouraging men to learn, listen, respect, support and advocate rather than treating menstruation as “just a women’s issue.”
🔹 Practical support matters — from being comfortable buying menstrual products, helping with responsibilities when someone is experiencing severe pain, offering emotional support, and creating safe spaces at home, school, work and in communities.
🔹 Changing the culture starts with us. We challenged the question: Why can a boy comfortably ask for a condom, but a girl may feel embarrassed asking for a pad?
Men may not experience menstruation themselves, but they have an important role to play in creating an environment where women and girls experience understanding instead of shame, support instead of silence, and dignity instead of discrimination.
Our key message was simple:
Learn. Listen. Respect. Support. Advocate. 💜
Because breaking the silence doesn’t mean speaking for women — it means creating a world where women and girls don’t have to be silent in the first place.
