This trans man is the face of a new campaign about periods

“We need to encourage everyone to talk about periods, whether they experience them directly or not,” the 23-year-old said.

The I'M ON campaign.

Source: I'M ON Campaign

A 23-year-old transgender man has become the face of a new campaign designed to challenge stereotypes around periods.

Kenny Jones has teamed up with British period subscription service Pink Parcel to launch the "I'M ON" campaign, modelling t-shirts which include messages like "I'm on the up", "I'm on and I'm strong", and "I'm on it. Period."

A portion of each sale will then go towards , a not-for-profit which helps asylum seekers.
Kenny Jones
Kenny Jones models a t-shirt for the I'M ON campaign. Source: I'M ON Campaign
Kenny said that he had felt stigma around his period, despite having been on hormone blockers from the age of 17.

“During my transition, I did have to deal with experiencing periods each month and many of the negative stereotypes that can come along with it,” he said.

He continued: “Assuming periods are inhibiting to people tends to perpetuate period shame even more, and makes people even more reluctant to talk about them."

“I always found the fact that no-one seemed to openly talk about periods quite difficult, it made me want to hide mine eve more” he added.
Campaign
Kenny modeling an "I'm on the up" t-shirt. Source: I'M ON Campaign
The campaign was inspired by a poll conducted by Pink Parcel which found that one in three British adults still view periods as a taboo subject, with 44 percent avoiding discussions on the subject with family and friends.

“We need to encourage everyone to talk about periods, whether they experience them directly or not,” he said.

“Sparking conversation is the first step to normalising periods within society.”

You can watch Kenny discuss the campaign below:




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Published 16 March 2018 11:07am
By Samuel Leighton-Dore


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