“Chella Quint is a force of nature.”
– Shami Chakrabarti, Of Women: In the 21st Century
Chella Quint is a writer, researcher, performer, the UK’s leading expert on menstruation education and the founder of #periodpositive.
News from 2018:
Being Human: Origins and Endings
Chella’s work was supported by the British Academy for the 2018 Being Human Festival. Events included participating in a panel in Colchester for the University of Essex, a performance of Adventures in Menstruating followed by a post-show talk, workshop and art exhibition in Liverpool with Liverpool John Moores University and Homeless Period Liverpool, and a launch night in London for the Being Human Festival itself – what an outstanding experience!
The Edinburgh Fringe gets its period!
Mostly, comedians choose to perform a full run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Some prefer doing half a run, or just stick to the first, second or third week. But not Chella, the comedian and founder of the #periodpositive project. Ask Chella how long her run is and she’ll tell you, “I’m taking my show up for a period.” How long is a period? “Well, mine is about 5 days long on average.” After a slew of excellent reviews in 2016 for her full run of Adventures In Menstruating, Chella is bringing back the popular show from 7th – 11th August to once again raise awareness of period poverty and offer poignant, funny and practical solutions to the issue. This updated show will also highlight the incredible strides that have been made in the growing movement to end period poverty, and the serious importance of challenging taboos.
Says Chella: “Well, even little changes, like, my old flyer used to ask, ‘What is that blue stuff, and why isn’t it red?’ and now companies have started to use red liquid in their ads, so I’ve had to change that bit. I even worked with Girlguiding UK on a period poverty badge and now it’s available. Plus, campaigners are now joining in from loads of angles – there’s an increased focus on education, how to support refugees, women in prison, and barriers to diagnosing illness, so change is happening. I used to feel like a bit of a lone voice banging on about the effects of period shame, but since the topic broke in the national media and more campaigners have joined in, I feel like I’ve got a whole period positive posse out there, and that’s something to celebrate.”
Reflecting these changes, Chella has teamed up to deliver her show with other campaigns that have joined the fight to end period poverty – including WaterAid and The Bloody Big Brunch – and will be collecting donations of reusable and disposable menstrual products for local food banks and using humour to break taboos and look at further long-term solutions throughout the week:
Says Chella: “The week starts heavy and ends light, and the events are for people of all genders, whether they get periods or not.”
News from 2017:
Sheffield will be the first #periodpositive city in the UK! Chella’s #periodpositive Schools Charter pilot has had the go-ahead from Learn Sheffield and other local partners! Find out more at periodpositive.com/news.
Chella was back at the Women in Comedy Festival and performed her five-star, sell-out show, Adventures in Menstruating!
Last May, Chella and #periodpositive launched the Brands Off! campaign. We need your signatures to make an impact. Please sign and share to support this cause which is backed up by research with UK parents, kids and teachers.
Unmissably large petition link because this campaign needs your support!
Brands Off! Keep companies out of menstruation education.
- Sign and share the petition
- Help us to get #periodpositive and #brandsoff trending on social media
- Visit www.periodpositive.com and follow @periodpositive on Twitter to find out more and pledge to support taboo-breaking period education
For over a century, menstruation education has been controlled by corporations selling disposable menstrual products using shame and secrecy, upholding taboos and taking power away from teachers, pupils and families. This has to stop.
With Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) about to become statutory in the National Curriculum, now is the time to ensure that ‘the period talk from the tampon lady’ and other poor replacements for high quality teaching and learning are gone for good, with government policy and a real commitment from schools and companies to back it up.
It’s about bloody time!
Chella’s comedy show, Adventures in Menstruating sold out at WOW Festival on 11 March 2017! Thank you to all who attended and apologies to those who were turned away! She will let you know when the show is back in London.
This show also sold out at the Sheffield Off the Shelf Festival and the Manchester Women in Comedy Festival, had a sell-out (well… full up – it was the Free Fringe) five star run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (and had a couple of other lovely reviews and mentions), and Chella hopes to tour it later this year and early next year.
Chella provided the expert voice in a BBC Radio 4 doc about menstrual taboos, A Bleeding Shame, presented by Woman’s Hour’s Jane Garvey and first airing Friday 24 June at 11 am. Revisit the link for updates on further airings.
