Menstrual Pain Experience Kit from Kanazawa University | Held 'Experience Menstrual Pain as a Family! Workshop'
In January 2025, in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, I collaborated with Nami Oda, who was a fourth-year student at Kanazawa University at the time and with whom I have long discussed the future of sex education and engaged in sex education activities, to hold a menstrual pain experience workshop as part of the Kanazawa City Regional Challenge Project.
For several years now, Nami Oda and I have been working together through trial and error to ensure that everyone can access proper sex education.
Therefore, when this menstrual pain experience kit was completed, he contacted me first, and we planned and realized an opportunity to experience menstrual pain during sex education classes and events.
From Kanazawa University! Menstrual Pain Experience Kit
A professor at Kanazawa University and Nami Oda planned and developed a device to simulate menstrual pain. I had been hearing about this menstrual pain experience kit from Nami Oda since the planning stage and was looking forward to the finished product, so I was very excited when I heard it was completed.
The completed menstrual pain experience kit has also been featured in the Chunichi Shimbun.
https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/973360?rct=k_ishikawa
The device uses EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) to send electrical signals to the muscles, reproducing the pain felt when the uterus contracts.
The device is compact, measuring 5 cm by 5 cm and 2.5 cm in height. The pain level can be adjusted from 1 to 98 on the screen, and it is used by attaching two pads connected to the device directly to the lower abdomen and lower back.
This menstrual pain experience kit can adjust the pain up to level 80 (or is it 100 now?). It is said that men are left writhing in agony even at levels 1 to 9...!!
Menstrual Pain Experience Workshop
More than half of the workshop participants were families (participants consisting of a father, mother, and 2-3 preschool children).
When asked why they participated, the mothers were suffering from menstrual pain, and there was a desire for:
・Mothers to have their fathers understand menstrual pain
・Children to learn about menstruation and that there is a period every month when mothers have stomach pain
Therefore, the workshop was not just about experiencing menstrual pain, but was conducted in these 3 steps to deepen understanding of menstruation and provide an opportunity to share insights.
STEP 1: Let's learn about menstruation!
STEP 2: Menstrual pain experience
STEP 3: Let's write down our insights!
STEP 1: Let's learn about menstruation!
We learned about menstruation using a paper-theater story that was easy for preschool children to understand. The paper-theater was participatory rather than just something to listen to, so the children who participated were able to learn about it in a fun way.
STEP 2: Menstrual pain experience
The long-awaited menstrual pain experience.
▼ One family:
The mother experienced it first, setting it to the pain level she feels every month, and then the father experienced that pain.
And the moment the pads were attached... the father couldn't bear the pain and removed the pads.
Having actually experienced the pain the mother feels every month, the father said, "I will take the initiative to do the housework during the menstrual period."
And although the children did not experience the menstrual pain,seeing their father writhing in pain, they learned that their mother had been feeling incredible pain every month.I think they were able to discover their mother's pain from their father's expression, saying, "Mom, that's poor thing."
▼ Another family,
The father tried experiencing menstrual pain first to see how much he could endure. He managed to hold out until about level 36 and looked a bit smug, haha.
After that, when we increased the pain to the level the mother feels every month, it was actually level 48. The father's smug look from earlier was nowhere to be seen...Realizing she had been feeling such intense pain deepened his understanding of his partner significantly. The mother herself also realized anew that she had been enduring quite severe pain, and she gave herself a little pat on the back.
▼ Another couple,
Since menstrual pain changes significantly throughout the one-week period,they set pain levels for day 1, day 2, day 3, etc., and while experiencing the pain of each day,simulated the pain of the entire week.
They mentioned that even when their partner said, 'I'm in too much pain to move today,' they couldn't understand the pain, but in the future, if they could say something like, 'Today is pain level 40,' they would know they can't move, which would be helpful.Visualizing and quantifying pain and pain levels promoted a better understanding of the pain.
STEP 3: Write down your realizations!
We wrote down our realizations and discoveries from the menstrual pain experience on sticky notes and posted them on the wall.
Even with the same experience, realizations and discoveries differ. That is precisely why I believe that combining the physical experience with writing down and outputting your thoughts is important for promoting mutual understanding.
We carried out the 3 steps in about 2 to 3 hours.
(Since the number of menstrual pain experience devices is limited, the time varies depending on the number of participants.)
The menstrual pain experience is an effective way to deepen understanding of menstruation!
It's not that being able to endure the high pain levels of this menstrual pain experience pad is something amazing.
Through the menstrual pain experience,it is important to understand that there are individual differences, a gradation of pain during the menstrual period, and to experience menstrual pain to deepen understanding of the other person.
There are large individual differences even among women. While a lack of understanding from men is a problem, it is often saddest when you cannot get understanding of the pain from other women.
The menstrual pain experience pad can be used not only for men to understand women, but also for women to learn about themselves and the women around them.
You can experience it in various situations, such as with family, partners, at the workplace, or at school.
We plan to continue holding menstrual pain experience workshops across Japan in collaboration with Mr. Odami.
Also, we are very grateful to have received requests to use the menstrual pain experience workshop for corporate training.
If you have any requests or questions regarding the menstrual pain experience workshop, such as for corporate training or school classes, please feel free to contact us here.
Contact: Aki
(Due to privacy concerns, there are few photos from the workshop that can be made public, so I could not include them here.)