welcome to the
Cycles of Change Project
This page exists because there weren’t many really helpful or realistic images of menstruation online.
The Cycles of Change Project was created as a way to bring more publicly accessible imagery of menstruation & situations surrounding periods to the world.
The artist behind these images has given their permission for you to use them as you work in your community to support our mission to end period stigma.
Meet the visionaries behind the Cycles of Change Project
Heather Litster
Heather Doughty
April Allen
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Founder & Menstrual Educator
Heather is a Holistic Health Practitioner specializing in womb centred-reproductive health and strongly believes in empowering folks to make informed decisions about themselves as a form of bodily autonomy, encouraging folks to do exactly what feels right and aligned for them! I also have two fur babies that I love and adore.
Day-to-day, she support clients in making practical changes to restore and maintain balance through reflexology, reiki, cyclical literacy.
Learn more about Heather here. -
Lead Photographer
Heather is a professional photographer located in the beauty of Peterborough County, Ontario Canada Heather currently shoots a combination of film and digital.
Her creative art is exhibited both internationally and regionally and is housed in many private collections.
Learn more about Heather Doughty here. -
Social Media Manager
April is a graduate of the Digital Media Marketing Postgraduate Program at George Brown College. She spent her undergraduate education studying Business Administration and Media Studies and discovered her love for digital marketing along the way. Particular interests include copywriting, content marketing, and social media marketing. April is an upbeat, creative, and driven individual who enjoys working with others and is always up for a challenge.
In 2020, April turned her love of embroidery and all things crafting into a small online retail business called April Embroiders - now The Artful Apricot. Over the past three years she have made over 100 sales across Canada and the U.S. A one-woman operation, she makes embroidery hoops and other art while also facilitating all sales and marketing efforts from website design to social media promotions.
Other passions include anything outdoors, embroidery, hockey, and her Lab, Winston!
keep scrolling for a sampling of the gallery.
Have you done the “pants check”? How you approach someone with period blood on their pants greatly impacts how comfortable they are in their skin.
Here’s a little story from an online forum:
”You may or may not get a positive response back. But in that moment you can say something along the lines of “I just noticed something on your pants and I just wanted to let you know.” Based on the reaction you receive, you can then decide how much more information they are open to hearing from a stranger.
But that way it's not overtly obvious like “THERES BLOOD ON YOU!”
~ Free Image Use Notice ~
Our images are free to use! However, to ensure our artists are fairly compensated and to fund further image development and outreach, we kindly ask for donations to support the project. If you are facing any economic barrier, please note that in your form - you can still gain access to the gallery.
Please click below for access to download the complete gallery. Your support, in any form, is greatly appreciated.
Now, imagine you’re at work.. you unexpectedly got your period. You’re in the bathroom and only have a few pads left for the day to hopefully contain your large clots & gushing blood until day end.
“Research shows that, by the age of 17, 51% of girls will have quit playing sports, a much higher rate than boys. Puberty, and consequently, the start of one’s period, is a time when a girl’s participation in sports falls off dramatically.” - Sami Sharfin (Go Aunt Flow)
It’s Shark Week…
Nobody wants their period while on vacation, let alone unexpectedly…
And no.. despite the common myth, sharks are not attracted to you and your period blood any more than they would someone who’s not on their period.
See more of this series.
What in the fresh cis-gendered male hell is this?
Menstruators are lucky to have a way to dispose of period products in the stall they are using, whether or not it’s clean or accessible is a totally different story.
Free Bleeding…
An often controversial topic, free-bleeding, is when folks do not use any menstrual products to contain their period blood. Some folks do this while in the tub or shower, but many will still wear a tampon or cup while washing.
Do you know what your friends and family prefer to do?
See more of this series.
Bathroom Besties…
How many times have you opened a period product silently cringing as the rip echoes through the silent bathroom? Did you forget that there is an incredibly high chance that the person in the stall next to you is doing the same?
“Birth Control will fix that”
A common story from many menstruators with period problems… their doctor prescribes birth control to mask painful, heavy, or irregular periods.
power-up your educational tools
Download the Gallery
That’s all! For now…
Thank you for supporting this project by visiting the website, sharing it as a tool & resource with your community, and for sharing your period story with your community.
A few special thank you’s are in order:
thank you to our models for their vulnerability & bravery to capture such powerful shots.
thank you to Heather Doughty for spear-heading the visual portion of the project as our photographer
thank you to any folks who offered their homes or offices as a studio for the project to take place
thank you, thank you, thank you
This wouldn’t be possible without each and every one of you.
What’s Next?
The Cycles of Change Project aims to continue to develop visual resources of normal menstrual situations. We hope to continue to build our resource directory so that you can grow on your menstrual health journey feeling empowered.
We strive to eventually add in an audio story component to the project, where folks will share their stories and audio files will be available to hear and feel the stories of our community.
Want to support the project?
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly! We can't wait to hear from you!