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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:
SuperFlyHigh · 20/05/2015 15:21

I suggest other labelled jars with labels on like:-

  • Butt Plugs
  • Vibrators

or is that too puerile?!

Gottagetmoving · 20/05/2015 15:25

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

Why? Why does it imply their is something wrong with menstruation? I know people who are embarrassed if people talk about sex. They don't think Sex is wrong, it just embarrasses them.
I think often, women get very very defensive about these issues. Why not just accept some people are uncomfortable with things,...could be their upbringing or they don't even know 'why' they are uncomfortable.
How difficult is it to put the tampons in a patterned box instead of a glass jar?

I don't think it is worth arguing over.

OnlyLovers · 20/05/2015 15:33

'How difficult is it to put the tampons in a patterned box instead of a glass jar?'

But Gotta, you could just as easily ask that question the other way round:

'How difficult is it to put the tampons in a glass jar instead of a patterned box?'

I don't really think it's worth arguing over either, but neither do I understand why the onus is on the OP to change an arrangement she's already made.

If it bothers her OH so much, then he could always get a patterned box and transfer them, couldn't he?

BigRedBall · 20/05/2015 15:34

I feel I need to justify my comment:

I'm an introvert. I find these kinds of acts extroverted. I don't want people to know when I'm on my period. It's a very personal thing to me. So yes. I do find it quite attention seeking-ish. Same way I don't want people to know when I have sex.

stitch10yearson · 20/05/2015 15:36

I think tampons or pads on display in the downstairs guests bathroom is a bit ott.
Upstairs in the family bathroom, it would be weird to hide them.

sebsmummy1 · 20/05/2015 15:37

This subject is a little close to my heart, as when I was a teenager my father had a hissy fit about 'tampons in the bathroom'. They were no longer allowed, they had to live in my bedroom (and I also assume my sister's) and to me it was another thing to be ashamed of as post puberty everything had changed in the relationship between me and my father.

So personally I would have the fucking things on display in the Kitchen if I wanted to if I used them. Acting so precious about a little cardboard tube and some cotton wool is ridiculous. But then I also wouldn't give a stuff if there were a glass jar full of packaged condoms either.

As a result of my very weird childhood I refuse to have anything taboo or off-limit, so I will admit my attitude might be more relaxed than most.

SuperFlyHigh · 20/05/2015 15:37

BigRed - you didn't need to justify your comment it was the way it was written as eg 'attention seeking to others who do this'...

if you had wanted to justify it you could have written your statement in your thread reply.

In fact you are still saying 'I do find it quite attention seeking-ish' and are not clarifying if that's for you or for others...

Totality22 · 20/05/2015 15:41

After DC2 was born you couldn't enter a room without something being on 'display' - sanitary towels sat on the shelving unit outside the toilet, pack of breast pads sat on the living room shelves, breast pump on the kitchen table, nursing bras kn the back of chairs.

thankfully house is tidier now but sanitary towels still live on shelves outside thr toilet

WoonerismSpit · 20/05/2015 15:41

I've never even thought of this as a thing. Mine are in the packet on the window sill, DD likes playing with them (it means I can poo in peace) which means there are normally one or two strewn on the floor too Blush

SuperFlyHigh · 20/05/2015 15:41

stitch but surely it would make sense in the guest bathroom to at least have them there for guests to use, and yes, labelled!

In fact from now on I will get a frosted jar and fill with an assortment of tampons (applicator and non) and towels and that's going in my bathroom as a courtesy.

see link as the bathroom people don't seem to make san-pro labels:-

www.thriftyandchic.com/2012/05/bathroom-container-labels-free.html

Floggingmolly · 20/05/2015 15:44

I took the "attention seeking" post as referring to the op starting a thread to announce her out and proud tampon display, rather than the act of having them in plain sight in itself.
Which we all know is no big deal; but I prefer not to dust around anything unnecessarily, so mine go in a cupboard.
Not for privacy reasons or because it's shameful; I just hate clutter.

Happybodybunny12 · 20/05/2015 15:45

Mmmm you don't have kids op do you?

He might not survive the birth. Grin

What a delicate peach.

My dss saw mine in display and they have grown up fairly normal.

My dm always whispered if she needed to mention the p word.

I always vowed I wouldn't bring my dss and dds to see it as a dirty word.

You are hardly leaving used ones on display are you?

Tell him to get over himself.

ThursdayLast · 20/05/2015 15:47

BigRed if the tampons are out all the time, no one will ever know... Grin

But honestly. It doesn't matter if anyone does know.

donemekmelarf · 20/05/2015 15:48

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
That makes sense to keep them in a tin or wicker basket.
I don't understand why anyone would want to keep them in a seethrough jar or seethrough anything. Why is that necessary?
Surely you remember which storage device you keep them in?
Are you so forgetful that you have to have them staring right at you in a seethrough container? Confused

donemekmelarf · 20/05/2015 15:50

out and proud tampon display

Grin Surely there are better things in life to get worked up about.

IamtheDevilsAvocado · 20/05/2015 15:50

SuperflyhighGrin.

When my mum was -yet again- on one her riffs about others' supposed embarassment, I seized a handful of sanitary towels and applicator tampons, marched off into the kitchen and waved them in front of my dad and my OH.. Mum was mortified..
I asked dad if he was embarrassed to see these in the loo... He had no idea what they were (ear warmers? Pretend mice for our non existent cat?!). When i said.. He said ok that's what they look like and went back to his news paper...
He wasn't stuck dumb or had a stroke as a result of being confronted by sanpro... Grin... My mum was a bit surprised -after she finished having the vapours-

QueenofallIsee · 20/05/2015 15:51

Mine live in the cupboard unless I am on my period and then they are within arms reach. DP actually likes to see them as I am so vile in the lead up that once he see's them he breaths a sigh of audible relief. Why would I deprive him of that!

Floggingmolly · 20/05/2015 15:52

There are indeed, donemek Grin But I didn't start the thread.

donemekmelarf · 20/05/2015 15:53

You do realize you're all going to turn into your mothers one day Grin

And your grownup daughters will be coming on mumsnet laughing at your strange outdated views.

maybe we won't have periods in the future

propelusagain · 20/05/2015 15:57

I don't have mine on display. Not that I hide them particulary, it's just that I hate bathroom clutter.
I have a large bathroom cupboard and they stay there with all the other stuff that I don't want to have to look at every day- cotton buds, hair removal cream, fungal toe paint, athlete's foor powder, towels, flannels, pumice stone, hair dye, nail clippers, foot file.

Why would I want to lie in my bath with a candle, bubbles and a glass of wine and look at all that crap.
Tampons are just one of a list of stuff that belongs behind closed doors.

JasperDamerel · 20/05/2015 15:58

I am an introvert with a small bathroom. I use a mooncup, but before I discovered the joys of reusable sanitary protection, I kept my tampons in the open. I think I might get some emergency guest pads for the downstairs loo, especially as DD is reaching an age where some of her older friends might be starting to get their periods in the next year or so.

NoArmaniNoPunani · 20/05/2015 16:00

People don't hide loo roll and that's for something much more gross than a period.

revealall · 20/05/2015 16:00

I have a small wicker thingy with various sizes in.

Always have even as a student. One bloke commented to his mate that "he shouldn't eat the mints" but that is the only reaction I have ever noticed. Isn't it just like loo roll?

Cocolepew · 20/05/2015 16:01

I remember my friend being scandalised by another friend displaying her tampons on the cistern. She was in her 20's and married.
My DDs are kept in a box until they are on their period when they sit out next to the toilet . Attention seeking wee brutes.
Dh hasn't spontaneously combusted yet.

propelusagain · 20/05/2015 16:01

I hide my bulk supplies of loo roll.

I buy multi packs and have only one roll out at a time. A dozen loo rolls is another thing I don't want to look at every time I go into the bathroom.