This Fanny Pack-Wearing College Student Is Our New Anti-Period-Shaming Hero

A fanny pack-wielding college student in California has a bold message for menstruating humans dealing with period shame: Not on my watch!

Chance Ward wrote a Facebook note this week detailing a recent gym experience in which a fellow elliptical rider seemed "embarrassed af" after Ward overheard her ask a friend for a tampon. Luckily, Ward was prepared.

"Me being me, I hit ha with the 'girl, u Gucci' before reaching down into my fanny pack and giving her one of the tampons I keep in there," the note reads. "By the look on her face you would have thought I did a magic trick and pulled 36 titty-tasseled bunny rabbits out that damn bag."

Elsewhere in the note, Ward wonders why menstruation is often treated as such a taboo situation when "literally like half the world goes through it." Ward also wonders why men who don't menstruate often don't make a habit of equipping their homes (and/or fanny packs) with a supply of just-in-case tampons, even when they have regular female visitors.

"Ugh anyway to all my menstruating friends, if y'all need it, know I got it," Ward concludes. "I keep some in my fanny pack when I go to the gym, and some in my backpack all the time. Never feel embarrassed for asking for one. Never feel embarrassed for being human."

While Ward isn't the only person who's made a clarion call for men to carry tampons and pads around, the sentiment clearly seems to have struck a nerve, judging by the thousands of likes and shares on the post from menstruating and non-menstruating Facebook users alike. 

"You are a fucking gift to this world," wrote one commenter. "God there needs to be like way more people like you on this dying planet!!" exclaimed another.

So, listen, non-menstruating people: Get yourself a fanny pack, keep some tampons in it and do your part to be an ally. You never know if you'll make a new friend who happens to be riding the crimson wave (or, alternatively, if you'll ever have a nosebleed and need something other than tissue paper). 

April 4, 2016, 12:17 p.m.: Various news reports of this story have referred to Ward using conflicting gender pronouns. We have reached out to Ward to ask what their pronouns are and will update when we hear back. 

h/t Cosmopolitan