Feminists Organized to Resist Create and Empower (FORCE) is a student organization that has existed since the 1990s as an intersectional feminist organization dedicated to building a community that educates, advocates for, and empowers women, femme, trans, and nonbinary students. The FORCE Feminist Pharmacy is a sustainability and equity geared project that seeks to provide women, femme, trans, and nonbinary students with sustainable care products coupled with education on period poverty, taboos surrounding menstruation, and self-care. The Feminist Pharmacy is located at the Women and Gender Resource Center (WGRC) and is free to take for the University of Arizona community.
Through this grant, FORCE will aim to lessen the environmental impact of the pharmacy by providing more sustainable alternatives to traditional menstrual products while offering more educational opportunities and strengthening new partnerships with organizations to open smaller satellite pharmacies.
The educational workshops will be hosted in the Cultural Resource Centers (AASA, APASA, GSC, NASA, DCC) and will focus on educating students about reusable period products (reusable cloth pads and menstrual discs) including how to use them and clean them, as well as addressing cultural taboos around menstruation. Workshops will be facilitated by local reproductive health expert Dora Martinez.
Through the FORCE project, the team of 20 students and staff have provided over 1,000 pads and tampons, 50 reusable cloth pads, 20 cups and discs, and over 30 period underwear and boxers. Each product was purchased from the brand Public Goods that provides various sustainable menstrual care options. The FORCE project created and strengthened meaningful connections with diverse communities by collaborating with various Cultural Resource Centers on campus such as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Resource Center (LGBTQRC), Asian Pacific American Student Affairs (APASA), Guerrero Student Center (GSC), and the Disability Cultural Center (DCC).
They also held 6 collaborative workshops (3 per semester) where they worked with organizations such as ExtraVAGanza and Valid USA. Valid USA serves transgender youth in Tucson by distributing gender-affirming clothing such as binders, packers, and shaping underwear. FORCE was able to compliment Valid’s offerings by bringing gender-affirming menstrual garments, such as period boxers, to trans affinity spaces hosted in the WGRC. This collaboration allows trans masculine students the ability to engage in sustainable period practices as well as learn more about sustainability and period poverty on campus in a space that is gender affirming. The project's outreach efforts allowed the team to reach 109 people and make 61 passive connections through tabling, workshops, and program events.
