Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to have my tampons on display?

447 replies

ElleGrace · 20/05/2015 13:45

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.

OP posts:
WalterMittyish · 20/05/2015 14:34

Grin Giles

When I was in hospital after having DD1 my dad rang and asked if I needed anything bringing in. 'Maternity pads', I said.

I sensed him burst into flames as he hurriedly passed the phone to my mother Grin

BurningBright · 20/05/2015 14:35

Get another jar to stand alongside the tampon jar and fill it with every variety of condom you can find.

Then label the jars:

'Yes, I menstruate' and 'Yes, we have sex'.

Grin
WellTidy · 20/05/2015 14:36

All the time I was growing up, my mum woudl never ever have left tampons or towels on display. They were in a wicker basket on top of the bathrrom cabinet. Not reachable from the loo. I have no idea why.

Of course, the loo roll (equally necessary) was always reachable from the loo!

But its taken me 20 odd years of living away from home to even consider that I don't leave mine out now either. Which is ridiculous. Our loo isn't even in our bathroom (where there is a cabinet etc). So I always take a tampon from the cabinet in the bathroom and then walk into the loo room with it. Ridiculous.

So why can't I change?

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/05/2015 14:37
Grin

burning

I bet you exhibitionists even hang bras on the washing line don't you

ThursdayLast · 20/05/2015 14:37

Mine are just one of those bags you get Xmas sets of toiletries in. There are no shelves or cupboards as the toilet is seperate to the bathroom.

I honestly cannot understand why anyone, male or female,would think it at all noteworthy to see tampons in a woman's home Confused

ouryve · 20/05/2015 14:39

No more unneccesary than having the loo roll visible.

I just put the box on the windowsill, though.

abigamarone · 20/05/2015 14:39

On the rare occasion I need them they'll be out on display along with varying sizes of towels etc. Otherwise they're hidden away with everything else - I even put the shampoo/shower gel bottles away when I do a proper tidy up which doesn't happen often

OnlyLovers · 20/05/2015 14:39

I'll consider myself told, BigRed.

BreconBeBuggered · 20/05/2015 14:43

I think it depends on how you run your bathroom. MIL's is way too full of knicky-knacky breakable shiny bits and bobs to permit storage of anything so mundane as shower gel or shampoo, never mind untidy-looking bits of sanitary protection. Mine, on the other hand, is full of overspill from other rooms and the spare toilet rolls live shamelessly in a box of Lego. So nobody would notice the pack of tampons on the shelf next to the toilet, as it doesn't strike the same jarring note in my bathroom that it would in MIL's. It hasn't ever occurred to me that male visitors might be appalled to see the confirmation that I am indeed a woman, and the only candidate in the household for ownership of such ghastly items.

hobNong · 20/05/2015 14:46

When I'm on my period I usually keep a box out on the side. I don't see the big deal.

Mitzimaybe · 20/05/2015 14:47

KneeQuestion
Why should you be ashamed of using tampons? Because hiding them away would be down to being, or being made to feel ashamed of the fact that you menstruate. Surely we have moved on from 'Eves shame' and all that woman hating crapola?

^This

pottingsoil · 20/05/2015 14:48

I used to have mine in a box on the side until I got stepchildren. Now I hide them. I don't even understand why myself.

NerrSnerr · 20/05/2015 14:49

Yes, my sanitary towels are on display to seek attention. That's the reason.

hobNong · 20/05/2015 14:52

I find it a tad bit attention seeking-ish.

Hmm
momb · 20/05/2015 14:58

How about a compromise: you keep everything in ceramic, glazed jars so they can't be seen, but have them labelled for convenience like the ones in the kitchen that say COFFEE, TEA, SUGAR:
CONDOMS
TAMPONS
COTTON BUDS
BIKINI WAXING STRIPS
etc etc
Smile

MrsMoggy · 20/05/2015 15:03

I use pads but I keep them in my underwear drawer. Just take one out and take to bathroom when needed. Prefer to be subtle about it myself but wouldn't be bothered seeing them in someone else's bathroom

Whathaveilost · 20/05/2015 15:07

I find it a tad bit attention seeking-ish.
Eh?

Arsenic · 20/05/2015 15:08

Yes momb, great idea! These can be personalised;

www.cornishware.co.uk/storage-jar-84cl#red

SnotQueen · 20/05/2015 15:08

I have a clear toiletry bag with a smorgasbord of sanpro in it. It sits on the back of the toilet when I need it. It only goes away because we have no space in bathroom.

DH calls it the Sanpro Suitcase.

FreudiansSlipper · 20/05/2015 15:08

i keep mine in a basket that has toiletries in that is by the toilet.

if i leave them out on display the cat tips the box over and plays with them i can not use them then he does his best to get through the packaging

i once found a collection of lil-lets (unopened) in ds nappy he was too young to explain how they got there. a few days later i followed him into the bathroom he got the box out bent forward and them slipped a few in the back of his nappy Smile i have since tried to explain periods when he asked what tampons are for but he finds the subject boring

scribblegirl · 20/05/2015 15:09

Oooh lord, I'm not usually an extremist on stuff on MN but I would actually be properly having a go at my OH if he turned around and said that.

We also have a bathroom with shitty storage options (i.e. there is no closed storage at all). There is a metal shower caddy thing for wet stuff, everything else goes on the bathroom window sill. So alongside DH's special moisturizer for his eczema and our radio, are small boxes of lilets non-applicator. If he'd asked me to hide them away I'd have asked him to hide his razor blades. IMO that's a much fairer comparison...

Condoms would live in the bedroom but for the fact we don't need them. I do however leave my pill packet lying around wherever and would laugh in the face of any guest who was offended by the tacit understanding that DH and I do it...

Seriously, he wants you to hide away the proof that you're female? What fucking planet is he on?

Gottagetmoving · 20/05/2015 15:11

I don't see anything wrong with having the tampons on display but rightly or wrongly, some people do. If my DP was bothered I would compromise and put them in a box that was not see through, so they were there handy for me but not bothering him or any other 'sensitive' guests.
I don't know why anyone would battle about this or imply people are 'wrong' for how they feel.
Its not about being ashamed you menstruate it's about considering the feelings of others.

WalterMittyish · 20/05/2015 15:16

But surely if the feelings of others are that seeing someone's tampons in their own bathroom is a cause for embarrassment, then the underlying implication is that there's something 'wrong' with menstruation, isn't it? Otherwise why would they be embarrassed to be confronted with evidence of menstruation?

Sazzle41 · 20/05/2015 15:17

I'm a neat freak so when I noticed I had a pretty tin that matched bathroom towels they went in that on the shelves by the loo. Before that they were in washbag on the same shelves. In a jar makes me think of sweet shop! LOL. Each to their own but on the cistern is a bit... erm what my DM would think aesthetically 'not naice' but she was terrible snob/the place had to look like show home 24/7.

SuperFlyHigh · 20/05/2015 15:18

I don't use tampons (apart from swimming pool etc) and these are stashed firmly away in the holiday drawer in their box.

I also don't need to change sanitary ware in the bathroom as it's separate from the toilet. I just keep pads in my knicker drawer.

BUT if I were to use tampons on a regular basis I'd keep in a jar frosted or otherwise in the bathroom - never thought of aiding my guests but then occasionally people coming over will just ask me if they need sanpro.

attention seeking ha ha ha! well can't remember the poster who wrote that gem but how is keeping your tampons or sanitary protection on view attention seeking?