Somerville High Students Call for Free Feminine Hygiene Products in The Girls' Bathrooms

SOMERVILLE, MA – Three seniors at Somerville High School are the driving force behind a new health initiative aimed at increasing the availability of female hygiene products. S.A.F.E.T.Y. – Safely Accommodating Free Equity with Tampons Yearly – is the brainchild of Samantha Fillmore, Vivian Ferraz and Katia Matthews and asks the school to make products such as tampons and pads available in every girls' bathroom.

"Young women (especially in the society that we currently live in) have to learn growing up to 'hide' their periods. This should never be the case," Fillmore wrote in a letter to the school. "I, we, believe that all females, transgender, and gender-fluid students need embrace what we are given, and feel supported and comfortable."

Fillmore, Ferraz and Matthews took up the cause the focus of their research project, creating a campaign video and circulating a petition that received more than 300 signatures.

The next step? Asking the Somerville Public Schools Board Committee to approve funding for free hygiene products in the girls' bathroom for every female, transgender and gender-fluid student. Currently products are only available in the nurse's office.

"With petitions signed up, research, and this video, it is the hope that you see an insight of the trek that many of us venture to obtain a sanitary product when needed," Fillmore wrote. "It is the hope that [it] can provide readily comfort in the bathrooms for our health and lives. Period."

Watch the campaign video below:

Photo Credit: Alex Newman/Patch Staff