Every month, 1.8 billion people menstruate. Elite athletes are no exception, with their period inevitably intersecting with major competitions. And it’s not just happening to those at the top — people with periods at every age and every level are playing through cramps, discomfort, and the fear of leaking, when they’re not skipping competitions altogether to deal with symptoms. So why don’t we talk about it?
Knix, an intimate and apparel brand best known for its period underwear, wants that to change, and the brand is partnering with the one and only Megan Rapinoe in a campaign to make it happen. In a video announcing the Sport Your Period campaign, the former USWNT star — known for her outspoken advocacy for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights as well as racial justice — appears in a press conference and getting on a team bus, surrounded by reporters.
“So many times, I’ve sat up here and talked about my wins, the big competition I was going to, the game-changing goals that I’ve scored, and never, ever mentioning that I was on my period,” Rapinoe admits.
If you’re wondering why she would, well, Knix and Rapinoe have the answer. According to the brand, 1 in 2 teens will skip sports or stop playing all together because of their period. “All these kids ashamed of something as human and natural as their period,” Rapinoe says in the ad.
To fight that damaging stigma, Knix is empowering athletes to speak out. As part of the Sport Your Period campaign, the brand is pledging to pay up to $2000 (Canadian dollars) each to eligible athletes competing at national or international competitions if they talk about their period and the sport they play.
“The facts are simple,” Joanna Griffiths, founder and president of Knix, said in a statement shared with SheKnows. “Women often get paid less to participate in sports, and compete while managing their periods. So why not pay them to talk about it?” She added, “It’s staggering to see the impact that periods have in sports and yet unless we see a visceral image of a marathon runner bleeding through her shorts, or an entire industry rebelling against wearing white it’s not something that is spoken about.”
Like so many areas of women’s health, there is a dire need for more research on how periods affect athletic performance. A 2021 review noted that athletes on their period “consistently… identify their performance to be relatively worse during the early follicular and late luteal phases” of their menstrual cycle. (The early follicular phase is the time when you’re on your period; the late luteal phase is just before it starts.) Yet the same review found that objective physical tests didn’t have the same consistency of results. The conclusion? “There is a need for further research,” the authors wrote. More solid information could not only improve athletes’ performance, but also hopefully help to address stigma.
Athletes speaking out about their periods can also help, hence the Knix campaign and Rapinoe’s part in it. “Even at the highest level, there is still stigma,” she said of sports and periods, per Knix’s press release. “From cycle syncing, the fear of leaking through your uniform, to the reality of showing up for the biggest game of your career while managing period cramps, there is a lot we can talk about to help normalize periods in sports.”
With high-profile competitions like the Olympics on the horizon, hopefully this summer will see the beginning of the end of this outdated taboo.
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