The international charity WaterAid has launched a series of spoof adverts imagining what the word would be like if men had periods.

The ads are part of WaterAid’s campaign for Menstrual Hygiene Day, on May 28th, to raise awareness of the 1.25 billion women who do not have access to a toilet during their period.

Periods. There it is, right there on the screen!

How does it make you feel? Awkward? Embarrassed? Like you’d want to run from the room screaming if someone started talking about their monthly bleed?

Now imagine how you’d be feeling if men had periods instead of women.

We think it would be pretty different. Maybe periods would make you think of virility and manliness – or of those manpon adverts you’d seen on TV, that would look a bit like this:

 
Barbara Frost, WaterAid’s Chief Executive Officer, told the Daily Mirror:

“Every day 800 million women have their period, and yet most of us consider it an embarrassing and taboo subject.

“There are even elaborate euphemisms to avoid saying the word ‘period’. So we have had a bit of fun trying to imagine whether attitudes would be different if men had periods. Menstruation is an important women’s issue. One in three women around the world do not have access to a toilet during their periods and having to find a safe place after dark is both undignified and risky. Millions more suffer discrimination because of beliefs that they are ‘contaminated’ or ‘impure’. Stigma about menstruation means women do not seek the help and information they need, while the lack of hygiene facilities in schools is a major reason for young girls dropping out of education when they reach puberty”

WaterAid highlights the difficulties facing so many women when having their period, such as sixteen-year-old Kajal from India, who has no toilet at home and has to relieve herself out in the open:

“How can you like it when there are lots of men around when you go to the toilet?” she says. “During my period it’s difficult as I have to change my pad – I use any cloth and throw it away after in a bag.”

Or, Lydia, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl from Uganda:

“Some toilets don’t have doors, so people can see in or enter at any time,” she explains. “They don’t have water to flush or to wash with. So we don’t go to school when we have our periods.”

Gloria Steinem once wrote that if men had periods they would “brag about how long and how much.”  As part of the research for their campaign, Water Aid asked 2,000 women what they thought would happen if men had periods:

50% believe ‘Manpax’ would launch a sports range tampon
34% believe footballers would endorse chocolate flavoured energy drinks
23% believe white sportswear would be banned
19% believe religious ceremonies would be held to celebrate a boy’s first period
28% believe boys would show off at school about their menstrual cycle
17% believe men would update their Facebook status to tell friends about their period
20% believe there would be period emoticons
17% believe #imonmyperiod would trend on Twitter

With Menstrual Hygiene Day, 28 May, WaterAid are asking: what would life be like #IfMenHadPeriods—and what it means for the millions of girls and women around the world living without the clean, safe water and toilets they need to manage their menstrual health?

For more information about the campaign please check here.