To say a period does not cost £25

[jinjkl]

I hear the story on the radio about MP Danielle Rowley standing up in parliament to speak out about period poverty.

Good on her - it shouldn't be a taboo subject and I feel for the homeless women or those in poverty who cannot afford basic luxuries. But I can't agree with her statement that each period costs £25, and that women spend £500 a year on sanitary products.

You can buy a 20 pack of supermarket own brand tampons for £1 and that lasts a whole period. Even if you buy Tampax you won't be spending more than £3. Sanitary towels are about the same.

You can pick up some painkillers for under £1. I know some women have extreme periods which require prescription medication, but this is uncommon and it still wouldn't cost anywhere near £25.

Some would probably argue it's the cost of replacing soiled knickers, but the whole period poverty campaign is centred around sanitary protection, not giving women women to buy new knickers after a period (I wish!)

I want sanitary protection to be free as much as the next person, but I just can't abide by these exaggerations. Any woman knows they don't spend £25 every month on their period, and if you are spending this much there is something seriously wrong.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe absolutely.
I tell you what, some of these "2 day, 7p periods" will be used as proof that every single woman and girl can easily afford effective and comfortable sanpro.

proudestmumm

I am not being goady. I just think that Danielle Rowley has undermined her very valid point by giving a figure that most people (including most women) will see as an exaggeration.

Like when George Osborne said that each household would be £4,300 if we voted to leave the EU. The point he was making was essentially correct but putting a figure on it like that made a lot of people say he was exaggerating/scaremongering and so it had a lot less impact than it should have done.

Probably because I have not read 19 pages of commentary about sanpro, proudestmumm.

Er, how about no?

It's a straightforward question and I was replying to the OP, not you.

It's not like it's some long saga in the relationships topic and you don't have the full picture if you haven't spent three hours reading the whole thread. It's a question about sanpro, ffs.

I understand you have your opinion, and you're entitled to it, but I think you really do need to get a grip.

Tokyo and another of that ilk... the only undermining is being done by you. You don't have the necessary information to make the assessments that are being made yet that's not stopping you. That's quite stupid.

You and the others are starting to sound an awful lot like the posters who love to be goady on benefits threads. To what aim I don't know, your opinions don't matter more than anybody else's. Not nice to read though and, if I were struggling, you'd be making me feel shitty.

So... a slow hand-clap and I really hope that you will not find yourselves struggling at some point, having periods that you cannot easily manage - and not have the ready finances available to make yourself comfortable. I really hope that doesn't happen to you but, if it does, I do hope you'll post a thread about it and not mind too much when posters (like you) show up to give you a slapping and are dismissive of your actual circumstances. How refreshing!

I just know that I would never want to live under a matriarchy if posters here are any indication of the calibre of women. Better the devil you know... and one that doesn't want to judge periods to nth degrees.

The average cost may be less than £25 monthly but it varies greatly. My dm had very heavy periods as she got older while I had fairly light ones.

There is Charity in Kind Direct.which provides toiletries and sanitary products for those on low incomes. A *school in Stoke is even looking at getting a washing machine in.school for families who don't have access to one. Since the Referendum and the drop in value of sterling against the dollar and euro the average annual cost per family is quoted as £900. That's just over £17 a week. So the MP is making a valid point. Add up what you spend on toiletries, toilet rolls and cleaning products and it will shock you.

*BBC News 19th Jun

so are you all proposing based on your own exceptional experience that sanpro should be provided free? paid for by the taxpayer - then I disagree
if there is a genuine need for those who cannot afford sanpro (maybe young girls - although I doubt many have the heavy flow outlined in your anecdotes) yes the basic sanpro should be provided free - paid for by the taxpayer then I agree
nobody on here is being nasty or doubting the anecdotes you cite but most women do not need that much sanitary protection and can well afford the cost per year (minus the chocolates and wine)
the figure quoted is ludicrous - but it was a labour mp trying to make her name..
.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

Oh for god's sake.

I have said three times now that I think she is making a valid point. But the reality is that most women do not spend anywhere near £25 per month on their periods. By putting that figure on it she is going to make a lot of people think she is exaggerating and they'll go, "hmm, periods are annoying but they don't cost that much".

She'd have been better off focusing on the practical impact on women who struggle to afford sanpro for whatever reason. Describing the actual consequences of being unable to afford it would have had far more impact and would be more likely to make men think, "fuck, that sounds awful", and women who don't struggle to afford sanpro think, "fuck, imagine how much worse it would be if I couldn't afford tampons/towels/a mooncup".

There is really no need to go off on a massive rant at people like that.

The cost comes from The Huffington Post. Although I don’t think the is the ‘average’ cost; Pads/tampons/panty-liners/menstrual cups - £13

· New underwear (due to spillages) -£8

· Pain relief - £4.50

· Chocolate/sweets/crisps - £8.50

· Other (magazines/toiletries/DVDs etc.) – £7

You only need a small proportion of women to be needing unpaid sick leave (say £80/day) for a day or two per period, to help increase the average cost per period by a few quid.
I probably spent a fiver a month on prescriptions, say a fiver on tampons and liners, and then if you ruin sheets or trousers a couple times a year, that's another few quid per period. Thankfully now I can use a cup but it wouldn't have worked when I was a student and couldn't insert a tampon let alone manage to push a cup out with just vaginal muscles (I still find it faintly terrifying putting something in my fanny that I can't reach with my fingers).

Paid £5 for a mooncup. I’ve had it 6 years and it is THE cleanest and healthiest thing I’ve ever used.

There’s no excuse to be paying £25 a month,

I have never spent even close to £25 on towels or tampons in a single month

Lucky for you. Aren’t you capable of enough critical thinking to understand your experience isn’t anyone else’s?

Perhaps she’s accounting for those of us with such severe bleeding that we take into account and washing the clothes that get filled with blood. Come on ladies club together on this one please instead of saying they are wrong. Truth is we bleed every month sometimes twice a month and they’ve taken the average and we are taxed for the fact we bleed to have children, get paid less as women and are vilified for what we wear as we drive men wild. Unite with your sisters as paying tax for these items is a disgrace never mind paying for them at all.

That definitely seems a bit much for an average figure. Most women it’s probably like £5 a month but I guess some unlucky ones with horrid periods might spend £25.

I am a mooncup user so mine are free 😁 brought it years and years ago and it’s be the best thing I ever got!

She didn’t say women spend £25 per month, she said she had spent £25 that week herself.

Yes, you are being unreasonable. Periods vary hugely from one woman to another, in terms of flow, of pain, of supplies used. I was very fortunate with mine. This lady may not be. Don't judge, you don't know thing one about her circumstances.

I get through at least a box of tampons and a pack of pads per period,
Then there’s the periods that last three to four months, oh and don’t forget the days I can’t move due to fear of flooding even with a maxi tampon and pad in

God id give anything to have proper regular periods that don’t resemble a massacre

Plus surely it doesn’t matter? The fact is there are people who can’t afford protection - in this day and age it shouldn’t be that way ever - no excuses

Moon cups issued at schools, gp surgeries, gum clinics etc would be a grand idea

Chocolate and magazines are part of the cost of having a period? Wtf?

I've read your posts, Tokyo, not outrageous but not edifying either. I'm fed up of reading women posting as you do, about other women and, if you feel entitled to post as you do then expect some robust dissent. Don't post the way you do if you expect people to just ignore and move on.

As a taxpayer I'd be very happy for my taxes to increase to pay for any SP for any woman who needs it. End of. That's my stance. If she decided to ringfence some of that money for a chocolate bar then... more power to her elbow.

I can’t use a mooncup. I have endometriosis (not the reason for not being able to use it) which causes extremely heavy periods and lots of pain for me. I get through the thickest pads in an hour at my heaviest. I leak EVERY night, despite double pads and packing myself up like I’m wearing a sodding nappy!! I have to have prescription painkillers for the pain. I get what most people are saying, that for the average person this is not true. But to say that there is ‘no excuse’ When you don’t know people’s circumstances is wrong.