Honorable Mention

Eleanor Pimentel, grade 12
Moscow Senior High School, Moscow, ID

Periods are heavily gendered in our culture. For transgender and nonbinary people who are assigned female at birth, taking care of their reproductive health means being misgendered by doctors, bathroom signs, and even product packaging. Gender nonconforming people’s mental and physical health suffers because of this stigma. We Bleed is a tampon brand designed for a gender-inclusive audience. The key issues I identified with current products were gender language, hyper-feminine graphics, and lack of ingredient transparency. We Bleed addresses these issues through gender-inclusive language, androgynous red and white graphics, and ingredient labels. We Bleed offers transgender and nonbinary people gender-affirming period care so everyone can menstruate with dignity. The tampons would be distributed primarily to schools and homeless shelters, where they are most needed, especially empowering low-income teens for whom gender-affirming care is a challenge.