Out In The Open

Getting your period while homeless

The trials and tribulations of getting your period when you have no home.
For homeless women, limited access to sanitary pads and tampons add a whole other level of difficulty to everyday survival. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Getting caught off guard without your go-to product — tampons, pads, diva cup — is something everyone with a period has experienced.  Maybe your period came early, or maybe you just ran out of "supplies."

For homeless women, this occasional inconvenience is a constant reality. Several homeless women talk about their period taboos and the limited access to sanitary pads.