Pads

Talking about the difficulty in managing the menstrual perios in detention, Maria told us:

«It is a natural law, you have to protect yourself, it is an issue of adapting…to everything: human relations, custody relations. You adapt to an environment in which you know what you can express, what you can’t express, how you can express it… which vital space you have, you know what I mean?»

Managing our bodies and periods in restricted spaces is a concrete issue weaving health, autonomy, and everyday life organisation. In a context characterised by limited spaces, constant surveillance, and reduced personal freedom, physiological needs acquire a particular meaning, directly affecting the dignity and well-being of detainees by limitig their ability to take care of their body according to personal timing and modes. Simple actions as getting changed, washing or managing period-related pain can cause discomfort and distress: very often pads are not easily or sufficiently available in detention, with the risk of transforming the menstrual cycle into a vulnerability factor. This issue also touches upon the linkage between body and control, because detention regulates timings, movements, and spaces, while the menstrual cycle recalls biological processes that cannot be regulated, as it generates needs that cannot be suspended or postponed. This tension makes it clear that bodies continue to express needs and frailties even within a system founded upon the restriction of freedom. Reflecting on the menstrual period within a detention context, therefore, means asking ourselves about the respect of fundamental rights. The modalities used by the detention system to address bodies and period-related needs becomes a lens through which observing the overall quality of detention as well as the level of attention given to people who are more exposed to everyday forms of vulnerability.

Edited by PID Pronto Intervento Disagio Cooperativa Sociale Onlus. PID provides listening, orientation, training, and hosting services for detainees, former detainees or people living in marginalized and vulnerable conditions. Since 2022, PID organises campaigns aiming at collecting pads for people living in detention and in shelters.