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Have you ever had to run while wearing a pad or tampon? It’s uncomfortable, right?
Well, this woman just ran an entire marathon while proudly displaying, for all to see, that she was on her period.
Her name is Kiran Gandhi, and she’s a Harvard Business School graduate and a drummer for acts like M.I.A. She’d also been training for the London Marathon for a year, and wasn’t about to let her period stop her.
Why did she do this? Well, for basically every reason you’ve always thought of but have never been brave enough to do.
She got her period the night before the race, and didn’t want to run 26.2 miles with a tampon in. Haven’t we all felt that way?
She also released a statement which said “I ran with blood dripping down my legs for sisters who don’t have access to tampons and sisters who, despite cramping and pain, hide it away and pretend like it doesn’t exist. I ran to say, it does exist, and we overcome it every day.”
She said it felt like a “f--- you” to the pain of her cramps, to the stigma against periods, and to the lack of available feminine products to women who need them. “On the marathon course,” she said, “sexism can be beaten.”
The reactions were mixed, of course.
One twitter user commented “What a disgusting way to spread awareness! Why couldn’t you raise funds to send tampons or pads to places that lacked access!”
But high profile female celebs, like Caitlin Moran and Karen Danczuk, loved this move. Danczuc commented: “Absolute hats off to you for raising awareness the way you have for such an important issue.”
What do you think? Is this a great way to raise awareness for an important issue or is it just a gross, lazy move? Let us know in the comments!
Photo Copyright © 2015 Kiran Gandhi
