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Bloody Yes!

Explore creative and pioneering ways of menstrual education

MA 2022
Keywords
Menstrual education, stigma, women's health, cross-gender empathy, home and school collaboration
Overview

Bloody Yes explores how could use a system enabling parents and schools to work together to build scientific knowledge and attitude about menstruation for kids.

Collaboration

Throughout the project, we conducted interviews and user tests with the teacher Dan Liu and students at Nanyang Sheqi County Experimental Primary School, which helped us standardise the norms of educational materials and improve the details in the menstrual classes.

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Background

Ten million young girls in China still don't know much about menstruation


When we mention the first menstruation experience, we always hear words such as I fear, worried, and embarrassed.


In China, 69% of girls still use sanitary pads carefully to cover up, and 92% of teenagers believe that menstruation is just a sign of puberty, no need to learn about it. However, 66% of young women are still confused about menstruation when they grow up.


As we know, menstruation is the first physiological change in women, and it marks a girl's maturity, but it also comes with some underlying diseases, for example, Abnormal uterine bleeding, Endometriosis, and so on. In this situation, with insufficient knowledge, they ignore their early warning signs; statistics show that 80% of Chinese women have different degrees of menstruation-related diseases.

Key Problem & Insights

Insight:the child's two key access to menstrual knowledge is blocked 


1. School

We found that physiology classes are often taught separately to men and women, making it difficult for boys to empathize with girls. Secondly, the teaching materials are also very limited, the content is more boring and too academic, and it is difficult for students to really understand. Also, attention to women's health is neglected in school infrastructure.

2. Parents

On the one hand, parents did not receive menstruation education when they were children, so they don’t know how to teach our children. On the other hand, when they talk about it, most parents feel embarrassed and think it should be mentioned in the school biology class.

At the same time: we made 2 questionnaires for male and female students, respectively, and we found that

  • Nearly half of girls do not know much about medical knowledge related to menstruation
  • No knowledge about menstrual health management and care
  • Boys can only answer that“ we need to respect girls,” but as for how to do it in fact, they do not know

Design Direction

How might we provide a system enabling parents and schools to work together to educate children about menstruation and to develop a scientific attitude and knowledge about menstruation?

Our solution


What is BLOODY YES!

BLOODY YES! is committed to providing educational services for adolescents on menstrual literacy. We will cultivate students' scientific and positive attitudes toward menstruation through three links: animation, team games, participatory experiments, art creation, etc. And a comprehensive understanding of the basics of menstruation.

How does it work

  • Before the menstrual class, the teacher meets with parents to know their intentions and worries about period education.
  • Firstly, teachers should make parents aware of the importance of menstrual education and then show parents the bloody yes content, including all the material.
  • Later, parents will receive a brochure documenting the most frequently asked questions about menstruation and corresponding answers. To help, they can know how to guide their children and give support the right way.
  • The teacher and the parents both agreed on the content of BLOODY YES!, then teachers can carry out menstrual education by using the lesson plan for students.
  • In the period class including 3 sessions.Session1, Introduction and Ice Breakers. The teacher will play a video explaining what is period, the video makes a connection between nature and the human body, comparing rainfall and menstruation.
  • Session 2 - Menstrual Basics Education. Students will receive a toolkit during the class, and they made a simulated rainfall formation process to understand how menstruation is created creating positive initial impressions of menstruation in children in this intuitive way. And then, the teacher will show 14 cards that have one question about menstruation. Students will learn about these cards in small groups and then have a quiz competition between the groups
  • Session 3 - Menstrual hygiene products introduction. the teacher showed an introductory animation of menstrual hygiene products and let students create art on sanitary pad-shaped paper.
  • Finally, the teacher will give girls a menstrual record manual and ask them to use flower stickers to record their menstruation. The boys will receive a leaflet about the correct understanding and attitude towards menstruation.

IMPLEMENTATION


What is BLOODY YES!

BLOODY YES! is committed to providing educational services for adolescents on menstrual literacy. We will cultivate students' scientific and positive attitudes toward menstruation through three links: animation, team games, participatory experiments, art creation, etc. And a comprehensive understanding of the basics of menstruation.

In our short-term

we apply for initial funding from women's NGOs, produce materials on a small scale, and conduct small-scale tests in schools. After that, we will use the positive test results for government support, officially put the product into the public education system, and gradually expand the scale. In addition to providing materials, we also provide teacher training, which is one of our profit points.

In our mid-term

We hope to increase the public's attention to menstruation through public intervention to eliminate the taboo, stigma and shame of menstruation to a certain extent at the macro-social level. Users can form social fission through this reading answer and collecting game, thereby increasing the attention of menstruation in the public domain and improving the taboo and stigma of menstruation.

Regarding the commercial part, who will provide us with these free sanitary pads for donation? Potential Sponsors, in our opinion, are Well-known Feminine Hygiene Brand, such as always. Cooperating with us will help them increase their brand awareness, value, and user favorability.

SPECIAL
THANKS

We would like to give special thanks to the professors who helped us with our graduation project. Thanks to Nina, our tutor, who assisted us in the whole process of the project. Thanks to Professor Sun Qian and Jonny for their critical constructive comments on our project, which were very helpful.

Team
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