The Middflow Project · Lived experiences
When the need to buy menstrual products becomes entangled with financial control and violence.
Nana needed menstrual products for herself and her daughter.
She used money she found in the house to buy them. Her husband believed that the money had been wasted. He beat her badly because of that decision.
What followed was even more disturbing. Her husband sold her to a friend for a day to recover the money he believed she had spent unnecessarily.
This is not simply a story about the price of menstrual products. It is an account of violence and financial control surrounding a basic personal need.
No one should be beaten for obtaining menstrual products for themselves or their child. Menstrual care should never become a reason to punish, control or exploit another person.
What Nana’s experience asks us to consider
Period poverty cannot be understood through product affordability alone. Household power, financial control, personal safety and the freedom to meet basic needs also shape people’s experiences.
Menstrual products are not a solution to domestic violence. But access to essential products should not require someone to face violence or exploitation.
Help make practical support possible
The Middflow Project is raising R30,000 to provide 50 women with menstrual products and personal-care essentials for five months.
R120 is the average monthly support allocation per woman. It is an average, not a fixed amount for every individual. Allocations may vary according to need.
Every contribution helps move the appeal forward. You can also share it with someone who may be able to help.
Contribute to the appeal Back to CommunityNana is a pseudonym. This account contains sensitive information about violence and exploitation. Do not publish without explicit, informed consent and a safeguarding review. Protect all identifying details.
The Middflow Project · NPO 292-415 · Equity by Design.
