Students made 'tampon cookies' for principal who refused to put free menstrual products in bathroom

Editor's note: This article was originally published on May 20, 2021. It has since been updated.

Girls know just how to get their point across in impressively passive-aggressive ways, more so when they know the adult is in the wrong. When a principal vetoed allowing free sanitary products to be made available in the school bathrooms, a group of seventh graders was not having it. In the spirit of a peaceful protest and to get their point across, they decided to bake some tampon-themed cookies and have them delivered to their principal. This sweet power move was brought to people's attention by a Twitter user, and soon enough people were lauding their efforts.

Ilyse Hogue, NARAL Pro-Choice America President and mom-of-two wrote in her tweet: My friend’s 7th grader goes to a school where the kids organized for free tampons in the bathroom. The male principal said no because they would “abuse the privilege.” The kids decided to stage a cookie protest. Behold the tampon cookies! She also attached an image of the cookies in question. They looked anatomically right and even came with the string. The girls had even included red detailing on the cookies. While they may not exactly look appetizing, they will surely fill you with a sense of pride. The tweet was liked more than 56.2k times and retweeted more than 10k times.

The girls called themselves the Revolutionary Girls Baking Society and social media users were impressed by their bold stance. The cookies were indeed revolutionary. According to Delish, the cookies were probably sugar cookies sandwiched together with red frosting and dipped in white frosting. It was then baked with a "string" coming out to resemble a used tampon. While what the principal said made no sense to anyone, the cookies made a strong statement. One would expect more from an educator to know that menstruation is a normal biological function and sanitary products are a basic right and not a privilege that young menstruators would abuse. 

People had a lot to say about the illogical opinion the principal held. Twitter user Alex wrote, Way to go, students! I wish I could think of a corollary that the Principle could relate to... what the hell does it even mean to “abuse the system?” If some kid pocketed more tampons than they could use right there, it’s bkz they have scarcity. Another user had this to say, Abuse them how? Is there a high street value for them? Are they going to overdose? Use a super when they could have made do with a light? Are pads just a gateway? Next, you know they will be on DivaCups! 

Period poverty is a very real and important issue that is being tackled all over the world. According to Global Citizen, it is the lack of access to sanitary products, menstrual hygiene education, toilets, and even hand washing facilities, and waste management. This lack of resources and facilities discourages young people from discontinuing their education and other activities that would have otherwise enriched their lives. Meeting the hygiene needs of menstruators is held as an important fundamental issue of human rights and dignity.

Nancy Kramer, the woman behind the Free The Tampons movement, in a powerful statement said, "If men got their periods, we would not be having the conversation." The movement believes that by providing free sanitary products, the problem of period poverty can be dealt with and is geared to ensure this happens. Huffington Post reported that according to Kramer's research, it costs about $4.67 per female student or employee to provide free sanitary products annually. "In other words, for less than a fancy cup of coffee, you can supply a woman with supplies for a year," she noted.