School’s proposed ‘Menstrual Equity for All Act’ could make tampons available in men’s bathrooms

Students at the University of Arkansas are demanding menstrual equality for all — including men who apparently get a monthly period.

The student government is requesting that menstrual products — such as pads and tampons — be made available to students, and placed even in places such as the men's room.

What are the details?

Upon the student government's prompting, the University of Arkansas' Division of Student affairs plans to implement the disbursement of menstrual products to those who need it in restroom dispensaries across campus.

Such products could also end up being available in the men's restrooms.

According to KSFM-TV, the legislation for the new policy is titled the "Menstrual Equity for All Act," and it is being pushed because the student government "believes in equality for all individuals regardless of their sex or gender identity."

“[T]he United Nations regards access to Menstrual Hygiene Management … to be a human rights issue specifically highlighted within the goals of the Sustainable Development Project," the bill explains.

"[There is] empirical data [that] demonstrates that unexpected need for [menstrual hygiene management] while in public is a situation experienced by eighty-six percent of individuals," the bill adds.

The student government does not cite their sources with regard to the figure of 86 percent, but given that biological females comprise just over half the world's population, and that a large percentage of biological females do not menstruate due to being either too young or too old, there is no way that the figure can be true, or even approximately true.

Additionally, the government insists that the school "has a duty to create equal access to education, and therefore must prioritize near-universal accessibility to Menstrual Hygiene Management at no cost to students forthwith."

If the student government gets its own way, bathrooms will be "outfitted [with menstrual products] by fall 2019."

Anything else?

The University of Arkansas isn't the only higher learning institution to outfit their men's rooms with menstrual products.

Other schools include Washington State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, and Syracuse University.