In elementary school health class in the 1990s, we watched a video about getting your period—heavy on basic biology, but not very helpful. The real practical information, like “this is what a tampon looks like,” and so on, came from Planned Parenthood.

My Girl Scout troop in the bright red state of Nebraska took a trip to Planned Parenthood to learn about the everyday concerns of dealing with a period, with real example of pads, pantyliners, and tampons to pass around so we could have some familiarity with what we would need when our periods started.