Higher Education: UCLA Offers Free Menstrual Products in Men’s Restrooms

UCLA is now offering menstrual products in all of its restrooms on campus — including the men’s room. One student of microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics said: “individuals who do not identify as female can also menstruate and need access to these products in their respective bathrooms.”

The university made the move earlier this month, ahead of a new California law mandating all public schools and colleges provide “free menstrual products” starting in the 2022-2023 school year, according to a report by UCLA’s student newspaper, the Daily Bruin.

The student newspaper goes on to boast that UCLA is stocking the menstrual supplies in more than 50 percent of restrooms — above the amount recommended by the state — as the products can be found in both “men’s, women’s and gender-neutral restrooms.”

Tayloneei Jackson, the Student Wellness commissioner for the Undergraduate Students Association Council, said it “was important to ensure the university would prioritize inclusiveness and supply all bathrooms, including men’s.”

Jackson, a fourth-year human biology and society student, went on to claim that menstruation is not a gendered issue, and the need to provide quality products is essential for all.

Jackson also said that in the future, when students look back at this moment, they will “be able to see the history, the fight, the passion and the determination that went into the project.”

Isabel Light, a fourth-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, added that “individuals who do not identify as female can also menstruate and need access to these products in their respective bathrooms.”

“Those students that menstruate that don’t identify as women — they’re going to have access to period products too because they also need period products,” Light said.

Light is also a co-director of BruiNecessities, which had provided menstrual products on UCLA’s campus in the past.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.