Periods may have once only been thought of as a woman’s issue, but nowadays their impact is felt in numerous ways. For one, our Earth is struggling against the overwhelming weight of plastic pollution – and yet just one sanitary pad is the equivalent to four plastic bags. Couple this with the fact a female uses on average 11,000 throwaway tampons and pads in a lifetime, there’s no doubt that periods have become an environmental problem, too. And sadly, it’s not only the planet that suffers. Periods, despite being an inevitable part of a woman’s life, are a source of poverty for many. In fact, one in 10 girls can’t afford to buy menstrual products, according to Plan International UK, and over 137,700 girls in the UK have missed school because of this. It’s hardly surprising when you consider that menstrual products cost more than ￡18,000 in a women’s life time – totalling to ￡13 every month. It is incomprehensible that females become slaves to their body when it’s doing something perfectly natural. How periods are experienced shouldn’t be down to how much is in our back pockets. And still, discussing periods as a whole remains a taboo topic. How many of us admit to hiding a pad or tampon in our pockets when we’re due to freshen up? Or feel embarrassment creeping in when we place these items on the checkout conveyer belt? It’s time to change the way we think about periods, and the best place to start is by opening up the conversation, instead of hiding in shame.