to have my tampons on display?

[ElleGrace]

Hi there,
This is actually my first post on here (despite me being an avid mumsnetter for the past 5+ years!) so bare with!
Basically, OH and I have recently moved in to a new place together and are having a ridiculous rather silly debate over whether or not it is socially acceptable to have (unused) tampons on display in the bathroom.
To my way of thinking, anyone who enters our home will be perfectly aware that I, a woman, have a menstrual cycle and therefore use some form of feminine product in my bathroom. The only hidden storage we have in the bathroom is on the opposite side of the room to the toilet, which is an inconvenience to get to. Therefore, I have a glass jar of tampons on the shelf right next to the toilet, alongside many other glass jars filled with cotton buds, cotton pads, candles etc. IMO, there is no difference in seeing a tampon in the bathroom than seeing something like a cotton bud.
On the other hand, my OH argues that although people are aware I use tampons, they don't really need to see proof of it. He compared it to having a jar of condoms in the bathroom.
I understand this is a really ridiculous argument, but it really got me thinking as to whether I should really have to hide my feminine products in my own home, or as to whether I'm simply being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn.
I'd love to hear your opinions on this trivial matter, and I'd also like to know whether your products are hidden from view too.

I actually think it is sociable and hospitable to your female callers to have them on display, then they can take one if they are caught short.

However, I would call it 'availalable for use'. I put some in an Alabaster jar - amongst other Alabaster jars for cotton buds, cotton wipes etc. Certainly reachable (and noticeable) from the loo - because that is when a lady guest will look around in a bit of a panic. And that's where I use them from also.

I don't think any of my close female friends would rummage in the utility unit under the wash basin to look for tampons - that feels more like an invasion of privacy. But that is where I keep my next box of 40 to refill the jar.

I keep pads out in a basket on top of the wicker draws I put towels in. DP has never said anything from day one, neither has any guest we have had over.

The only time it's been a issue is when of the "lads" came out of the bathroom with a unused pad stuck over their eye and announced to the party that they were a pirate

Ooh Daylille got there before me!

I find it a tad bit attention seeking-ish

Seriously?!

Man, that's not at the foothills of what I'd do if I was being "attention seeking-ish"!

jeez - its your bathroom and something you use in the bathroom!

I wouldn't. Not that there's anything wrong with it per se; but just for the same reason I don't have my washing up liquid, etc. on display in the kitchen.
I put toilet rolls in the cupboard too; we all know they're used, but there's no need to make a festival of it...

I view tampons the same way as I do toilet paper. They're there to do a job. So when I need them I need them somewhere handy.
Loo roll and tampons sit on the back of the sink in our house. Right next to my jar I collect my wee in for when I POAS!
What does he thinks going to happen? That any guest will start randomly menstruating due to unsupervised tampon observation? Fuck sake.

Oh blimey - my washing up liquid is on display as are my toilet rolls...

... do your guess seriously have to rootle around in cupboards to find the toilet roll?!

I find it a tad bit attention seeking-ish

'tad bit' is not correct usage. It's just 'a tad' or 'a bit' attention seeking-ish
[pedant]

I have no bathroom cupboards or storage and the size and shape of the bathroom leave no room for any. Everything goes on the windowsill. I had no idea this made me 'attention-seeky' or a slob

I was brought up in a home where you never mentioned periods (even though there were four of us girls ) so my instinct is to keep mine in a cupboard out the way.

The cupboard is just a short distance away from bog, but you do have to get up from the seated loo position to reach it. However, I am in the habit of getting one out before I sit down. [organised]

I sometimes work in an office of men and women who share one loo - and the MD keeps hers in a box on top of the cistern. I am being so unreasonable but I think that's slightly

I have a convenient shelf where the soil pipe is boxed in. It's about the same with as a large box of Tampax or a packet of pads. So that's where they are. I could fit them in a cupboard if I bothered to reorganise everything, but the cupboard is the other side of the bathroom, not within reach of the loo, and things work the way they are, so I can't see the point. No one's run out screaming in horror.

I grew up seeing my mother's boxes of tampons next to the loo, too, and that was 4 decades ago.

I love the crocheted tampons Kewcumber

OP could make a series of crocheted hats for the jars, with the relavent thing crocheted on the top, ie tampon, cotton wool pad, cotton bud, soap etc.

That way, no one would have to look at the real thing and be embarrassed

However, I am very intrigued by the interpretation of un-cupboarded toilet roll as festival-esque

Oh fuck off .

Attention seeking?. Yes, because women always want attention for being clever enough to bleed every month for decades.

She thought I was being insensitive to 'others' embarassment'... Seriously...?? That I should hide something that was completely natural in case of some theoretical upset of VISITORS in OUR home!

100% agree with this. I gave DH this face the other day when he moved a box of tampons out of the bathroom. We had a workman in the house (I wasn't in btw) and he thought I might be embarrassed if the workman saw them!

I simply don't have the room to have everything tidied away in case any man gets a case of the vapours over it. Don't care even if it's an elderly person. They can deal with it as far as I'm concerned.

Time of the month, BigRedBall ?

No, i allow the loo roll currently in use full occupation rights. But the spares don't have to make a display, it just looks untidy. A bit like having a tower of baked bean tins on the kitchen counter, rather than putting them in a cupboard. Unnecessary.

When I was a young teenager I found periods really difficult. I couldn't get past what I considered my now useless leaky body. This was made worse by a mother who also carried on like having a period was a curse to be shouldered like a dirty secret. It didn't help that I was anorexic and it felt like my whole body was against me.

I can't tell you what a fucking eye opening relief it was to go to a friends house and see a pack of tampons sat there (unopened) on the kitchen worktop. With her Dad in the same room and brothers, no less! It was such a small thing but I felt like I'd been gifted a glimpse into a non-anxious persons reality of living with a female body.

Anyway before I keep going on about meeee, I think YANBU. Carrying on like the leaky female body is a shameful and to-be-hidden inconvenience is toxic. I would tell your dh that having a nice glass jar of cock rings on display is the equivalent of having condoms out on display, not tampons.

Hmmm, I use a mooncup so not much to leave about anyway, but when I did use tampons I would never leave them on show in the bathroom.

The only person I don't feel I want to share when I'm having my period with is my 16 year old son. Don't get me wrong, he knows I menstruate and we've talked about the cycle, but it just make me feel uncomfortable and I don't feel the need for either him or me to get over it.

I am a product of how I was raised and while I am way more open than my own mother was, it's still something I keep fairly private.

attention seeking-ish?
What rot.

Won't somebody think of the male check out assistants. they even have to touch the boxes

Having them within easy reach sounds eminently sensible to me. My sanitary towels are in a basket on the shelf next to the loo - it hadn't occurred to me to hide them away! Maybe I am a failure as a hostess.

If your dh is really adamant about this, maybe you could get a ceramic jar instead of the glass one - or even spray paint the inside of the glass jar.

I leave mine out on a shelf by the toilet when I need them. My DP hasn't ever connected and I certainly wouldn't move them if he was bothered by them.
I don't really understand why anyone could feel bothered by them. Women shouldn't be made to feel ashamed of using them.

To all the posters who leave them out in case a visitor should get caught short - what lovely thoughtful hosts you are! I'd never thought of that before.