Red Cloud Project 🩸☁️

Ricebox Studio: How did The Pad Project come to be?

Sophie Ascheim: I sort of stumbled into it through different personal inspirations. Perhaps most importantly, as I was growing up, my mom, a cardiologist, [working with] refugees seeking political asylum, looking for signs of torture… inspired me well before I understood the definition of inspiration.

I also attended an all-girls school in New York City that had no patience for misogyny, where the idea that girls should be seen and not heard was a myth we checked at the door. I learned to speak up and to trust my voice, well before I learned that there were those who would expect me to keep quiet.

I eventually moved to Los Angeles and started at a super liberal school. My passion for learning quickly turned into outrage at inequality and societal scars. My English teacher saw this while teaching us Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and pulled me aside to ask me to read up on period poverty. She then asked me if I wanted to get involved with a project she was slowly starting, and from there we built The Pad Project.

RS: How did Period. End of Sentence. come to be?

SA: Period. End of Sentence. came about because we knew that isolated projects would not change the deep-rooted stigma surrounding menstruation that reached every corner of the globe. We didn’t think that anything we did would reach all of those corners, but we thought that it was important to try and educate our own community, while working with the community in Kathikhera. We realised that though we were very privileged in many aspects of our lives, we were also some of the more “woke” kids in our school, and if we had never even heard of period poverty, it was doubtful anyone else had either. But we wanted to help start the conversation.

We created a Kickstarter campaign and raised over $45,000 which was enough to fund our first machine, a year of supplies to produce pads, as well as [a] documentary.

RS: Why did you choose filmmaking as your medium to actively challenge period poverty?

SA: Though none of us were filmmakers ourselves, many of our parents worked in the film industry and had taught us the power of visual media. Realizing that we could be the ones to create impactful storytelling was super empowering. At the end of the day, our goal was to amplify the voices of the women in Kathikhera, and a documentary was the perfect opportunity to do so. Especially considering that much of the stigma surrounding menstruation keeps menstruators from seeing their experience and the experience of others, what better way to shock the system than to show periods on film?

The group that will most often be ignored when tackling period poverty are trans men, or non-binary individuals with uteruses. We have associated periods and menstruation with womanhood, which can be super alienating to the trans community.

RS: What barriers or struggles did you encounter when challenging and documenting period poverty?

SA: The biggest struggle is getting people to listen in the first place. It’s hard to ask people to ignore everything society conditioned them to believe about periods, while simultaneously explaining that there is a whole other form of inequality in our society. Period poverty is inherently related to issues of class, race, and gender-identity, so if your audience is not willing to buy into those, it’s hard to engage them on period poverty.

Another barrier we faced was that of acknowledging privilege head on. It’s hard to deny that The Pad Project was founded by a bunch of white girls who were walking into a world they had had no previous exposure to. We felt super strongly that what we were doing didn’t fit the trope of “white saviorism” but just because we felt that way didn’t mean everyone else would. To combat this, we have had to continuously check our privilege and focus on partnering with organisations and communities, as opposed to speaking over them.

RS: What is the best way to talk about menstruation within the community, especially with children (both boys and girls)?

SA: The easiest way to tackle taboos is to be open to questions. Make sure to support them when and if they decide they want to talk about their own period. Allow their cramps to come up at the dinner table and push back if their dad seems uncomfortable with the conversation. If your child is in pain, or just uncomfortable, they should feel comfortable telling you! Also, include boys in the conversation. Let them giggle a bit, but also emphasize that periods aren’t embarrassing, but perhaps annoying. Answer their questions!

RS: What would you say to other people who want to help eradicate or challenge period poverty?

SA: Talk about your period! Your words have power, and talking is the fastest way to break down barriers. Be unapologetic when others are uncomfortable with menstruation. And please work in your own communities! Contact local shelters and women’s organisations, make sure they have menstrual products stocked! Work with your local school system to make sure that menstrual products are stocked in bathrooms, not just in the nurse’s office. And be sure to work with communities rather than speaking over them, or assuming their needs.

RS: What’s next in your work?

SA: The Pad Project has some really amazing partnerships we are getting ready to announce. We are expanding into new regions and getting to work with amazing activists all over the world. The scope of our work has been a dream of mine since we ever started planning all those years ago, but never in a million years did I think we’d get here so soon and be nowhere close to stopping.

It’s a really amazing feeling, and I couldn’t be prouder of our ever-growing team. For me personally, I’m planning on finishing my time at Yale and soaking up as many experiences as I can. Not quite sure where I’ll be after college, but I do know that The Pad Project will continue to be a part of my life, no matter what.