Menstruation Without Taboo - Menstrual education project in schools and vulnerable communities

The project “Menstruation Without Taboo” is an initiative that seeks to promote Menstrual Dignity through education and guidance for girls, women, and menstruating people, offering Menstrual Education workshops in schools and communities facing social and economic vulnerability, as well as training in this field for professionals working in education, health, and social assistance.

The project began in 2023 at the Federal Institute of Southeast Minas Gerais, Barbacena campus, where we held regular workshops with six first-year high school technical classes, reaching around 180 students and providing 50 hours of content. In the following year, we worked with two municipal schools in the city of Barbacena and one municipal school in Juiz de Fora, focusing on 8th and 9th grade middle school classes, reaching around 190 students and providing 40 hours of content. In that same year, we also produced the booklet “A Voz do Sangue” (“The Voice of Blood”) - a menstrual education guide, which serves as support material for the workshops.

In 2025, the project continued in the city of Juiz de Fora, working with Instituto Semente, a community center for children, teenagers, and older adults in the Dom Bosco neighborhood, and expanded even further through a postdoctoral research project funded by CNPq (Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), entitled: “Menstrual Education in schools: impacts and challenges in promoting menstrual dignity.” This research brought menstrual education workshops to Escola Estadual Barão Geraldo de Rezende, in Campinas, São Paulo, and to Centro Escolar Benito Juárez, in Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, Mexico. To support the workshops held in Mexico, we produced a Spanish version of the “A Voz do Sangue” booklet.

In order to continue expanding our work, this year we also held a training course for menstrual educators to work in the project, with professionals from the cities of Barbacena, Juiz de Fora, Cataguases, Ouro Preto, Campinas, São Paulo, Mossoró, and Boa Vista, who then carried out workshops in schools and other social assistance institutions in these locations as part of the training requirement. Over three years, the project has reached 740 people and provided 201 hours of content.

“Menstruation Without Taboo” is an initiative by Professor Dr. Janaina Morais, an anthropologist and menstrual educator, in partnership with the NGO Vertente Solidária, with support from individual collaborators, NetRosas, CESE (Ecumenical Service Coordination), Libbs Farmacêutica, and Cimec.