Real Men Support Women During Their Periods

Who would’ve expected a photo of a 15-year-old boy holding maxi-pads to go viral? And who would’ve expected a 15-year-old boy to give a crap about girls his age who are menstruating? Not me.

Jose Angel Garcia, a 10th-grader in Miami, has a lot of friends who are girls and he obviously listens to them. One of the things he learned is just how often they find themselves in trouble at school when they get an unexpected period and don’t have a pad or tampon handy to deal with it. Of course, this wasn’t something his male friends would talk about, since they just think periods are gross.

Guess what, boys? We think they’re gross, too, because even if you’re really into celebrating the magic of womanhood and all that, it’s a pretty messy celebration.

Jose decided that he could be of help in two areas: One, he wanted to be there for his female friends who were in need of a quick supply of menstruation products, and two, he wanted the boys to stop being so grossed out by the whole thing. So a few months ago, he posted this on Instagram:

When a friend of his reposted it on Twitter, it went viral.

So is it working?

Sort of.

His guy friends are not really that interested, and some of them are even making fun of him. And while his post hasn’t resulted in other guys posting pictures of themselves with pads or tampons, he’s getting wave after wave of support from the girls, all using his hashtag and talking about how nice it is to feel supported.

We all know women go to great lengths to hide their tampons on their way to the bathroom when they’re at work. It’s even harder on teenage girls who are even more embarrassed about it and less likely to know exactly when their periods are coming. So it’s awfully sweet that Jose wants to help.

Have any of the girls asked him for supplies? Doesn’t seem like it, but the effort is still appreciated.