NOW CLOSED MN Survey-time: lots of prizes to be won

[AnnMumsnet]

We have a couple of surveys live at the moment either for MNHQ or for clients - we'd love you to complete which ever ones you qualify for. Please keep an eye on winners' corner on talk for the prize draw winning MN nicknames.

NOW CLOSED A survey open to all UK parents: add your opinion and your details at the end and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £150 M&S voucher.


NOW CLOSED: And a survey about events you may attend with your family - open to all UK MNers - there's a £250 voucher to be won for this one!

NOW CLOSED: Secondly a survey all about undertaking paid work and children. This survey is for all UK MNers who have at least one child and were working before they had children. It doesn't matter whether you are currently in paid work or not, we still want to hear from you. Add your details at the end and you could win a £200 Love2Shop voucher.

NOW CLOSED: And last but not least - a survey about sanitary protection - open to all UK women - and you could win a £50 Amazon voucher for sharing your views.

Thanks so much and best of luck with the prize draws!


MNHQ

[SundaySimmons]

Thank you.

[Faverolles]

Done. I think I've done the second on twice now, and probably given slightly different answers. Feel free to delete one if you need to!

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

Well never have I felt so annoyed about a MN survey!

Auntie Daisy? Why are they perpetuating the myth that menstruation is somehow shameful and should be hidden? Who is embarrassed to buy tampons in 2014?

I find it incredible that an apparently charitable enterprise aiming to help women in other countries have access to sanitary protection think it is a great marketing ploy to encourage UK women to feel they need to get their tampons delivered in "discreet" packaging and suggests they could be embarrassed buying them in a shop. What is that saying apart from that periods are shameful? Is it still the 1950s?

[TeaandHobnobs]

AnnMumsnet on the survey about working and having children, there are questions about your salary and whether it has decreased, then asking whether you are full or part time.
I'm assuming if you went back part time after ML (having previously worked full time), the survey wouldn't count that as a decrease in salary? Even though it is a decrease in income.
It's not clear, so I thought I'd ask...

[AnnMumsnet]

AnneEyhtMeyer - point noted and will be passed on!

TeaandHobnobs - again point noted - thanks.

[Mignonette]

Improving access to sanitary protection in developing countries is something that interests me greatly so thanks for the chance to get more involved!

[Mignonette]

Er Anne sadly I get embarrassed and I know full well this is daft so you needn't tell me that.

[Bloodyteenagers]

Done.
Omg, though what a rip off at daisy. So to save my non-existent 'embarrassment' of buying them in the store they want to charge me double. Sod that, have they never heard of home delivery from supermarkets, chemists, etc. Ok yes I know they are donating to charity, but would rather save a small fortune and give privately.

[Ballsballsballs]

It's the Graze box of menstruation. FFS.

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

Well Mignonette I suggest you order them from Amazon or Boots or a supermarket where they won't rip you off, then donate separately to the cause.

If you know it is daft to be embarrassed then you should want the stigma to be removed so that others don't go through what you do, rather than encouraging people to think that menstruation is shameful and protection should be delivered in "discreet packaging".

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I think Auntie Daisy's business model is ridiculous. I buy my sanpro as part of the big weekly shop, so the delivery charge/petrol cost is spread over the entire shop, and is negligible for each individual item. Why would I pay lots extra to have it delivered to my door?

[HazeltheMcWitch]

Hi MN, in the working one, Q7, could there be the option to select multiple answers? Ie my working patterns have changed in more than 1 way.

[AngelieMumsnet]

Hi everyone, in response to your feedback, Auntie Daisy have said:

"Auntie Daisy by no means think that a period is something to be embarrassed about – we believe the complete opposite in fact! Girls in some countries miss school every month because of their periods, which is just not right, and that’s why Auntie Daisy was created in the first place. We’re proud to support Camfed – to help make sure that periods don’t get in the way of girls education.

This survey is simply to find out about women’s attitudes towards their periods – no assumptions have been made about anything.

Auntie Daisy packaging is discreet because, whilst a period is nothing to be embarrassed about, women might not perhaps want their postman/woman knowing the ins and outs of their monthly cycle!

The service is not designed because we think periods are something to hide. More, it is designed for convenience – to give women who might have been caught out by their period in the past, one less thing to think about each month."

[HazeltheMcWitch]

Gosh that Auntie Daisy thing is odd. Camfed is a charity that looks really interesting, and (on reading their website), resonates with me really strongly. Yet Auntie Daisy seems really misguided, for the reasons above And it makes me feel really really sorry for the charity, as I think they have been very poorly advised.

Also - as well as what has been said already, most people surely use a mix of pads/tampons. And there is no non-app tampon option. Also, the charity page on the AD site does not mention why sanitary protection is SO important wrt education...

[SummersDumbAsPie]

One less thing to think about each month? Yes, us silly airhead women couldn't possibly remember that we bleed regularly. And we couldn't possibly stock up in advance. Nope, we need "auntie daisy" (how twee) to deliver them to our door and help us silly bimbos to remember. Will they come and pop them in our knickers/vadges for us too?

[Bloodyteenagers]

It gets worse then from their response.
So not only should we be embarrassed about something natural. And yes, regardless of how they want to phrase it, this is what they believe. But we are also a bunch of airheads who cannot possibly think for ourselves and ensure we have sanitary protection every month.

Wonder how they will insult us next.

Although do I have a smaller than average letterbox. There is no way would I get a pack of always through the slot.

[catsofa]

"The Graze box of menstruation" LMFAO :D!

I'm not that interested because I just worked out that my mooncup has now cost me something like 34p a month, and it is more eco friendly, less leaky, easier to use, more comfortable, I can swim or do anything with it in, it's easier to dispose of the blood, and I don't need to remember to buy it each month. Or, in fact, each year.

It is hard to beat a mooncup. (No I do not work for them!)

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

Agree with Hazel - I feel sorry for the charity, they have been really badly advised linking themselves with this.

Auntie Daisy (yes, this is twee) can argue they aren't suggesting people should be embarrassed, but that was the focus of their survey and is the focus of their website.

From their website they show that they think that women are embarrassed that they menstruate, are too dim to remember their period is due, and are foolish enough to pay extortionate prices for an inadequate amount of sanitary protection to be delivered in a discreet package.

I also question how much they actually donate to charity. It is easy to say 100% of profits to make it sound like a grand gesture, but what does it mean in reality? I couldn't find anywhere on their FAQs where it stated how much per pack was donated. I suspect it isn't very much after they deduct for the product, packaging, postage, premises and salaries.

The name is twee, the premise is questionable.

[Mignonette]

I never said anything about not wanting to remove the stigma and being embarrassed doesn't mean that I react to it by ordering them from Amazon.

I have done nothing to 'encourage' stigma other than fill in the survey. Wind your neck in love.

And some of us would rather 'be ripped off' as you so unpleasantly put it by contributing to a charity helping women who have more things to worry about than the man on the Waitrose check out till

[Mignonette]

And the fact is that especially during menopause when you think you have finished bleeding, you DO sometimes get caught out. Many of us run out of tampons and it has nothing whatsoever to do with being an airhead.

My life when i was menstruating was frenetically busy with children and a very demanding career and this is no different to any other form of on line shopping. It is one less thing to worry about each month and it is not a suggestion at all that we are too dim to remember.

If your mate came round with a bottle of wine saying she'd bought it because you are busy and it is one less thing to worry about/ remember to get would she get the big feminista tirade too?

[poorbuthappy]

I'm still struggling with the brands you'd like to see at a family fun day out.

I almost put:

Thorntons
Smirnoff
Moet

but thought better of it.

Oh and yes, Auntie Daisey or whatever, awful awful awful.

[SummersDumbAsPie]

Slight difference between a friend bringing round a surprise bottle of wine for you because you were too busy to buy one and a company assuming you can't keep track of regular bodily functions because you are too busy.

I don't really get this "one less thing to worry about" stuff though. They just get added to the shopping list with everything else. It seems very dated. Like a milkman for your fanjo.

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

Obviously you are putting your own spin on my posts, Mignonette, so for clarity I will just say this - I didn't say you were encouraging a stigma, I was expecting you to not want others to feel it was a stigma. As for the ripping off aspect, I did not say donating to charity was ripping you off, I just suggested buying them in a similar way without the inflated prices without knowledge of just how much was going to be donated, and instead donating yourself directly.

There is no need to be unpleasant - clearly you have issues with this topic. That isn't a reason to be rude when people disagree with you and offer alternatives.

This isn't a "feminista tirade" whatever that is it is just not wanting people to be treated like fools in the name of "charity" when the actual benefit to the charity is probably negligible.

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

Oh, and I don't buy tampons every month. I buy a load, and then a while later buy a load more. I therefore never run out.

[Bloodyteenagers]

Mignonette.
By buying the products from a supermarket, amazon, chemist whatever, the charity would benefit more.
For the cost of £3.85 chances are 50p ok being generous £1 will go to the charity.
Avoid the website, donate yourself to the charity, the charity gain a lot more. It is also very odd they don't say how much. For all we know from the money they are charging you, 5p could go to the charity.
We don't know because they don't say and I would be very interested in MN trying to find this out.