FEMALE WORKERS AT SHOP IN JAPAN ASKED TO WEAR BADGES IF ON THEIR PERIOD TO COMBAT STIGMA 1 Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

Nov 1 2019

Location: 

Osaka, Japan

Female staff members at a new shop in Osaka, Japan are being encouraged to wear badges to indicate when they’re on their period to tackle the stigma surrounding menstruation in the country.

Women working at the Michi Kake store, which sells an array of female sexual and menstrual health products, do not have to take part in the scheme, but those that do will pin one of the “period badges” next to their regular name tags.

According to WWD Japan, the badges feature a cartoon character named Seiri-chan that is known as a symbol for the menstrual cycle in Japan.

The store itself is divided into four categories to provide products that correspond to different stages of the menstrual cycle as identified by period prediction app Luna Luna, which co-launched the store.

There is the blue period section, where products will be stocked for women who are currently on their period, the glittering period (after your period), the turbulence period (when you are feeling irritable) and the gloomy period (right before your period).

Store manager Takahiro Imazu told WWD: “In Japan, there is a tendency for women’s sexuality and periods to be subjects ‘not to be mentioned.’

“Not all customers will react positively to [this shop], but the fem tech boom is growing, and the values of young people are changing with it.

“I might be going a little far in saying this, but I am excited for it to become a shop for solutions for women’s sensitive needs, and to be an asset to the marketplace.”

Petter, Olivia. "FEMALE WORKERS AT SHOP IN JAPAN ASKED TO WEAR BADGES IF ON THEIR PERIOD TO COMBAT STIGMA." The Independent, 25 November 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/period-badges-japan-femal.... Accessed 11 March 2020.

External sources: 

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/period-badges-japan-female-worker…
Posted by Kexin Sun on Mar 11 2020

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Activates (people)Energizes and organizes people into action. Can include emotion work
Amplifies (issue or campaign)Brings public and political attention to an issue or campaign.  Can include prefigurative action, making the invisible visible.

Timeframe For change

This project seems to be part of a campaign with a clear short-term goal. Short-term goals tend to be things like: create or repeal a law; get a President impeached; make the city administration repair a sidewalk. A campaign with a short-term goal needs a clear theory of change, complete with targets that can be cajoled or pressured into effecting the goal.
To promote its own products as a female product shop as well as to combat the stigma on period.
This project seems to be part of a campaign with a clear long-term goal. Long-term goals tend to be things like: end racism; end homophobia; make the sun stand still in the sky. A campaign with a long-term goal also needs to have some kind of theory of change.
To create a society where people could freely talk about their period and won't be judged as dirty when they are having period or not.