Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
Campus Life

Tampons in Men’s Rooms? It’s Just a Small Part of ‘Menstrual Equity,’ Campus Activists Say

By Alex Arriaga May 16, 2017

Over the past year, several colleges have improved access to menstrual products on their campuses, including in some men’s and gender-neutral restrooms. That last detail has prompted some conservative websites to take note.

The American Conservative mockingly headlined its report “Social Justice Washrooms,” from “tomorrow’s generation of American elites.” Commenters on Breitbart’s report on the trend called it “academic insanity,” pointing out that “men do not menstruate.”

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Over the past year, several colleges have improved access to menstrual products on their campuses, including in some men’s and gender-neutral restrooms. That last detail has prompted some conservative websites to take note.

The American Conservative mockingly headlined its report “Social Justice Washrooms,” from “tomorrow’s generation of American elites.” Commenters on Breitbart’s report on the trend called it “academic insanity,” pointing out that “men do not menstruate.”

6208-Diversity Cover
Diversity in Academe: Transgender on Campus
View the rest of our coverage of the voices of transgender students and academics as they gain visibility on campuses and elsewhere.
  • Why Colleges Need to Hire More Trans Faculty
  • Transgender Students Build on Feminism to Question Male Privilege
  • Been There, Done That

But campus leaders say stocking all bathrooms with such products is a relatively easy way to make sure no one is left out. The University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and Brown University are a few other institutions that provide free menstrual products in some men’s and gender-neutral restrooms, in order to be more inclusive of transgender students.

Part of the growing “free the tampon” movement has been an effort to make college more fair for students who menstruate, a concept for which Jennifer Weiss-Wolf coined the phrase “menstrual equity.”

Ms. Weiss-Wolf, president for development at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, has been advocating for legislative changes to make menstrual products accessible since 2015. That same year — in which President Trump, then a candidate, said the journalist Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever” — was deemed by NPR “the year of the period” because of the stigma-breaking discussion of menstruation in the news and on social media that gave way to the end of taxes on tampons in some cities and states. She thinks campus activism’s role in the push for “menstrual equity” is growing.

“That’s become a really popular rallying cry and source of activism on college campuses — the idea that these products should be freely available by the schools that these students attend,” Ms. Weiss-Wolf said. “This problem is eminently solvable, through a lot of avenues, and college-campus organizing is one of them.”

Bipartisan Support

At Emory University, a petition persuaded administrators to invest in a pilot program to provide free tampons and pads in some bathrooms. Molly Zhu, president of Emory’s College Council, said the program is operating at four locations to start, while usage and cost are tracked.

The program’s projected cost per year is $1,113, which Ms. Zhu said would be paid through health programs at Emory.

At the University of Rochester, a free-tampons proposal won the student-government association’s annual 5k challenge, which includes a $5,000 award. The plan, submitted by students, was to leave baskets of free pads and tampons in some campus bathrooms, including one men’s room.

Nobody expects you to carry around your own toilet paper, and so in the same sense we don’t think it should be required or expected of people to pay for or carry around their own tampons or pads.

“Nobody expects you to carry around your own toilet paper, and so in the same sense we don’t think it should be required or expected of people to pay for or carry around their own tampons or pads — that should be a service we are providing,” said Lance Floto, the association’s vice president.

ADVERTISEMENT

While some on the campus have scoffed at the idea of menstrual products in men’s restrooms, Mr. Floto said such comments often come from nonstudents. There have been a couple of attempts to sabotage the program by stealing the baskets, but Mr. Floto said he was not concerned, as officials plan to replace and restock the baskets.

“We have smaller baskets in men’s restrooms, but the reason we do that is because there are some men on the campus who menstruate and so it’s just the whole idea of inclusion and making sure that nobody’s left out — it’s a very easy thing,” he said.

Despite online criticism about gender-neutral menstrual products, Ms. Weiss-Wolf said that on the legislative front, the “menstrual equity” movement has had bipartisan support. She said even some right-wing media have declared that taxing tampons is sexist and unfair. In Illinois, Republicans voted to end such taxation, and a Republican governor signed the bill into law. In New York, a Republican sponsored the same kind of legislation and it passed in a Republican-led chamber.

“There aren’t too many things that are bipartisan these days,” Ms. Weiss-Wolf said. “Menstruation kind of transcends all the other things about women’s bodies that make us targets for the right, and this one doesn’t.”

Vending Contraception

Another way sexual health and education are often made priorities on campuses is by enhancing access to contraception, such as at the University of California at Davis, which recently brought emergency contraception to a new level by selling it through a vending machine.

ADVERTISEMENT

Parteek Singh just graduated from Davis but not before he worked to bring emergency contraception to a campus building that is open 18 hours a day, and to make the expensive pill more affordable — students pay $30, far less than the $50 they would pay at an off-campus pharmacy.

Mr. Singh said the project had first been rejected by administrators because they found the idea of selling emergency contraception “absurd.” But the idea expanded into a “wellness to go” vending machine, with products such as Advil, condoms, and pregnancy-test kits.

“There shouldn’t be stigma, we’re in 2017,” Mr. Singh said. “Every campus, they upgrade their computer labs or they upgrade their gym after 10 years or so because they want to bring the new technology, they want to keep with the innovation, and this is the same thing. You’re just upgrading accessibility, it’s not very expensive, and it has a direct, tangible impact on students.”

There shouldn’t be stigma, we’re in 2017.

At New College of Florida, a similar resource serves students on the Sarasota campus as a result of a partnership with Planned Parenthood. Adilyne McKinlay, a junior and a co-president of the college’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action, said the program supports reproductive justice and easy access to contraception on the campus.

ADVERTISEMENT

The college even has a room dedicated to sexual health. A student can walk in anytime and obtain free methods of contraception, menstrual products, and educational resources related to sexual assault and healthy relationships.

“It’s been kind of neat to see the really creative activism that has emerged from college campuses all across the country,” Ms. Weiss-Wolf said. “I put this all under this umbrella of this idea that is called ‘menstrual equity.’ That doesn’t mean just free stuff. It’s more a question of participation and civic engagement. The products that are needed to manage menstruation are essential for the ability to be able to participate in society, whether that means to attend class or go to work and be productive on the job.”

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Gender
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Content

Despite Risk of Backlash, Texas Politicians Advance a ‘Bathroom Bill’ Like North Carolina’s
Spellings Says Controversial LGBT Law ‘Sends a Chill’ Through U. of North Carolina

More News

Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
Duke Administrators Accused of Bypassing Shared-Governance Process in Offering Buyouts
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption
WASHINGTON, DISTICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2025/04/14: A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holding a sign with Release Mahmud Khalil written on it, stands in front of the ICE building while joining in a protest. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the ICE building, demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and all those targeted for speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Protesters demand an end to U.S. complicity and solidarity with the resistance in Gaza. (Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
An Anonymous Group’s List of Purported Critics of Israel Helped Steer a U.S. Crackdown on Student Activists

From The Review

John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson
Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin