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Original poster

GEO: Tackling period poverty, period stigma ...more boundary pushing

56 replies

Candidpeel · 10/09/2019 13:54

The government equality office is tweeting about its Period Poverty Taskforce, whose 'stigma' workstream has just launched twitter.com/GEOgovuk/status/1171372416372740102

I am deeply suspicious of the good faith of the current fashionable focus on "period poverty" because

  1. It always seems to be promoted by organisations like GEO, Girlguiding, Rights Info etc... that are at the forefront of erasing the idea that girls and women exist as a sex.
  1. It tends to go along with the use of "gender neutral" language for this most sexed of activities i.e. 'menstruators', 'everyone who needs period products etc....'
  1. It is a non issue. Sanpro is cheap. No one in the UK is tipped into poverty by the cost of sanpro. No one who can afford to eat etc... can not afford a few quid a month for sanpro. Yes there is poverty, but 'period poverty' is not a specific kind of poverty.
  1. Now this stigma thing.....

yes stigma around menstruation should be removed. Girls should not be ashamed or frightened of menstruation.

But the taboo about talking about menstruation is also linked to privacy.

It is not appropriate for adults to talk to young people about sex and about intimate aspects of their body, and not talking about periods as a general topic of conversation is part of this.

These organisations promoting the idea that people of either 'gender' can menstruate, and that you can't tell what sex anyone is anyway, and that male people should be allowed in girls toilets....... it all breaks down barriers

And now they will be arguing that teachers, youth workers and peer leaders 'of both genders' talk to girls about their periods?? And if those girls feel uncomfortable about it are they just exhibiting the taboo and stigma that GEO wants to break down?? And if girls can be told to get over their old fashioned discomfort about talking about periods with adult men, shouldn't they also get over their old fashioned discomfort about discussing other sensitive sexual topics

..... you see where this is going?

OP posts:
DCIRozHuntley · 10/09/2019 14:27

I'd never really thought about the privacy aspect.

My daughters are still in infant school but things like wiping bottoms after poos etc, tend to be done by me. Daddy will do it, but only if I'm not there, or grandma. I think I'd follow the same pattern for talking about periods - ideally a parent, certainly a close family member, preferably of the same sex ie female.

The talk of teenage girls asking transwomen how to use tampons (which, granted, the stuff I've seen was by a particularly red-flaggy individual) just does not compute. I wouldn't have asked a male teacher or a stranger in the loo for sanpro either. It's so deeply personal.

Of course there shouldn't be stigma ie feelings of shame, period huts etc, and some myths need addressing, but it is actually quite normal and healthy to have boundaries around bodily functions, especially those relating to sex organs.

Grimbles · 10/09/2019 14:24

I do take issue with your comment about period poverty OP. A young girl may not have her own money to buy sanpro and not be in a position where she can ask for it to be bought for her. She may feel the same discomfort and embarrassment discussing periods at home than she would anywhere else.

So it does exist, just not in the way you might think.

Redshoeblueshoe · 10/09/2019 14:22

I had never thought about it like that either.
Pushing back boundaries.

drspouse · 10/09/2019 14:22

I do tend to think that there are young girls, though, who have no control over family income, whose parents have many other priorities on their finances (which may not include food or clothes for the kids) and these girls can't ask for money for pads.

WrathoSWhlttIeKIop · 10/09/2019 14:18

But the taboo about talking about menstruation is also linked to privacy

Thank you Candid, yes of course it is.
I had never thought about it like that.

We don't talk publicly about menstruation for good reason then.
It is to protect our girls.

Before this shitstorm I was blissfully unaware that certain men get their kicks out of this.

My eyes have been opened.

CaptainKirksSpookyghost · 10/09/2019 13:57

you see where this is going?

Everyone can.

Unfortunately how many schools are going to brave enough to say "no" we are not doing this.

Not many.