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.

I agree with the bra analogy...............however can i just say that the back size does NOT always increase with the cup size Im a 32 HH so smaller back but bigger boobs which is why i buy from Bravissimo.

I have a DD who is 34H. Finally got her properly fitted two weeks ago. She had been operating under the misapprehension that she is a 36DD. Got her an everyday bra for $65. Went home to see what was available online in her size, hoping for a lower price. Slim pickings...

@mathanxiety ah in Ireland you say, where huge health service savings are made by charging for each GP visit? Perhaps that's the trade off we need to make ??

If people had to pay for each visit it wouldn't be the NHS though, would it? Not so unique.

Heavy, painful periods are not life threatening. Inconvenient yes, but not life threatening. I speak as someone who has suffered with them all my adult life.

Well some people on here are describing losing over a pint of blood a month. That is very dangerous and life threatening and is around 1/8th of the total amount of blood in your body. You can't donate blood more than once every 4 months because you are likely to get anaemia. Anaemia can be fatal- it's not just a bit of tiredness as you might think. Those losing more than 4 times what blood donors lose are very likely to get anaemia.

Mathanxiety try www.brastop.com. I think they deliver to Ireland.

If you only find it “inconvenient” then perhaps you’re not one of those in need of serious medical intervention - doesn’t mean that others are not.

I’ve had in excess of 30 emergency hospital admissions since my teens due to severe pelvic pain and blood loss that causes loss of consciousness and even fits in a few instances. Many of those required an ambulance since I had to work and leave the house, and it could strike any time, especially in those years where my periods lasted 3 weeks out of every four. I wonder how much money the NHS could have saved by not taking 10 years to diagnose my endometriosis.

And if you bring in a system where people have to pay for appointments all you’re doing is delaying them seeking care until problems are more severe and more difficult to treat.

The idea that if the government had more money the nhs would be fully funded and work fantastically is a joke. This government are very deliberately starving the nhs of funds, selling off whatever they can get away with, so that when they start chipping away at services like they are now, people don’t kick up so much of a fuss.

This is the thin end of the wedge and I’m not surpised in the least that they’re going after treatments that some women need in order to have functioning lives and careers.

@mathanxiety no it absolutely would not be the NHS. But you describe a system in Ireland where your mother was able to get the treatment she couldn't here. The same place where I believe they charge around €50 a GP visit - a serious revenue. My point is - we can't have it every way!!! There is only a finite amount of money in the pot. So if people want the government to fund the job essential procedures they propose stopping, or sanitary protection the money needs to come from somewhere ???? I don't believe charging to see the GP is the answer but would that be preferable to others ? Or what alternative funding do you suggest ??

Same for me. Menhoragia makes the monthly 5 days bloody expensive!!

Yeah, even if you go on averages, that seems real lot. I wonder where she does her shopping? Somewhere that must be very, very expensive. I am lucky I have easy periods. Moderate flow, hardly any pain, and they last around 2 and a half to 3 days. A packet of 20 tampons usually does me for two periods. However I am aware that many women aren't as lucky and some go for longer than 5 days, poor things. It sort of evens out because I have bad migraines once or twice a month.

I’ve not read responses.

She did say her period had cost her £25.

She has come out and explained she has very heavy periods and gets through a lot of tampons and night pads, plus there’s the cost of pain medication.

She also said she bled through this month while at work and needs to buy fresh pants and tights.

I’m a cup user but back up with a pad. I can fill a cup in an hour on a heavy day. That would be 20 super plus tampons in two days, plus lower flow ones for lighter days.

I’m 47 so my periods are getting shorter. They’re down to five days from an average of seven. However I have PcOS and once had a year-long period.

Honestly mine's really heavy and it does cost me above average, but not £25. I'm guessing she's also including ruined clothes and missed work. Love how she shocked the old fogeys with her "I'm on my period now" statement...

The best thing about this MP is that she broke the taboo.
But all some people on here can focus on is that her experience doesn't match theirs so must be exaggerated.

This thread makes me sad. Sad because of how dismissive some people are towards others' experiences. Branding them 'ridiculous ', talking about cashmere pads and gold plated tampons. Just because it may not be your experience, does not mean it is not somebody else's. The comments about seeing the gp as well - unless you have seen the go about heavy periods yourself, you have no idea how dismissive they can be. I used to have light periods before having dcs. They got heavier, to the point where I was afraid to leave my home because of the flooding. Had to sit on a towel so as not to stain the chairs. The cost of the San pro, extra washing, prescriptions, as well as the amount of clothing that got ruined was ridiculous. I cannot take hormone medication, so many of the drugs available were simply not suitable for me. And I agree, with extreme periods, cheaper San pro often proved to be a false economy. Also, heavier periods are often longer,
at least in my experience - I could bleed for a fortnight at a time. Thankfully, I'm beyond all that now, but the last few years before my periods stopped were horrendous.
If you are fortunate enough not to suffer very heavy/frequent/long-lasting periods, great, but please, please, don't be so dismissive of those who do. It's bad enough, without feeling that other women don't believe you when you try to explain how hard it can be.

I don't believe that the NHS providing free sanpro is the answer, or even realistic. Not charging to see a GP.

I DO believe that believing women when they approach their GPs for help is key though. As is providing proper health care services for them.

Period problems can be serious and aren't simply an "inconvenience" because some of us really can be losing too much blood. That is quite apart from the social embarrassment and loss of confidence to leave the house.

Yes, it is normal for women to have periods, but there is plenty that can go wrong that can mean those periods become abnormal,problematic and yes, threatening.

All men have prostate glands, or testicles. Normal for them. Nobody ever suggests that they should be dismissed and not referred for investigation and treatment when things go wrong in those departments. Of course they should be treated.

Women also deserve to be treated properly for their specifically female health problems.

I meant nor is charging to see a GP. Bloody auto-correct!!

I think the message got a little confused here.

The survey is really strange because it includes things like DVDs and magazines, but not things like lost earnings. I understand the focus is on VAT, but I don't think women are going to get a tax break on magazines and DVDs during their period. I think while some women feel that the survey resonates with them. I honestly don't think the average UK woman really spends 40 pounds a month on periods. Some do, yes, but I don't think most do. So, I think this is one issue.

Tampons and towels are taxed at 5%, but my understanding is that as long as the UK is part of the EU this VAT cannot be removed. So, I guess we at last found a good point about Brexit.

The MP who gave the speech, Danielle Rowley, is an MP, so hardly scrimping and scraping by. She was taking about period poverty, but giving her own experiences as an example. I think this sent a bit of a confusing message. She isn't poor, so why is she talking about how much she spends on her periods in relation to how some women are so poor they cannot afford san pro?

Period poverty is a very real issue. Many women in the UK are living on a very limited income. Many young women and girls don't have access to adequate san pro. This is the real issue. Not DVDs and magazines. A survey by a children's charity found that 1 in 10 teenagers has at some point not had the money to buy san pro. So, what are their options? How can we tackle this issue?

I think this thread really shows the characters of the women contributing to it.

Ignorant, rude, dismissive and in some cases just plain nasty.

I think some of the people on this thread are ignorant because they are only interested in what they have to say. They obviously can't be bothered to read other posters comments.

Do they even understand what flooding is?

I have to plan my life around my periods because I need to be near toilets. Long car journeys and public transport are difficult. Even watching a film in a cinema can be stressful.

Channel 4 fact checked the 500 pounds a year and another charity which provides san pro to asylum centers and food banks placed the cost at around 11 pounds month.

www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/period-poverty-is-real-but-the-average-woman-isnt-spending-500-a-year-on-menstruation

www.bloodygoodperiod.com/#intro

Here's another good article on the topic of period poverty.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/19/british-girls-period-poverty-menstruation-sanitary-products

"I started a national campaign calling on the government to provide free menstrual products to children in receipt of free school meals. As these are the children from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds, they are most likely to be faced with this monthly burden. I believe this could mark a decisive end to period poverty in the UK."

It's a very important topic. The idea that girls in the UK are missing school because they can't afford san pro is really shocking and really sad.

As a side note on the topic of women’s health problems and gynocology referrals etc - discussion in bbc breakfast news this morning exploring the UKs low cancer survival rates, it was put simply that people are being diagnosed too late.
If you’ve ever visited the gp desperate for a referral or even further tests when your terrible periods also include numerous red flags for various female cancers but keep getting turned away this is no surprise.
I’ve been fortunate that despite other difficult health issues cancer (touch wood) wasn’t the issue. I can clearly see why women aren’t diagnosed early for many cancers though - they can’t even get through the door.
Period poverty is a very important issue but it’s womens overall access to effective treatments that is the problem.

There isn't a 'finite' amount of money in the pot.

The amount of money available depends entirely on political leadership and general consensus among the electorate. Priorities determine what money is available.

At the time my mother had her hysterectomy my dad was in a 65-70% tax bracket. He might have been in the same bracket in the UK too, back in the days before Ronald Reagan announced his 'trickle down' theory and Margaret Thatcher & Co decided that would go down really well with their core voters, justifying the decimation of public services with the statement that 'there is no such thing as society'.

As an example of priorities, in the 1970s Ireland was spending money on education and infrastructure, including its health system. Education was absorbing massive amounts of money at all levels, including a fleet of new third level technical colleges, formerly Regional Technical Colleges, now Institutes of Technology.

I believe the UK has seen a 40 point reduction in the top tax rate since the 1970s. Even with such a reduction, tax avoidance by those in a position to take advantage of loopholes large and small means millions in revenue is lost. It's no coincidence that the NHS is on its knees. The wonder is that is has managed to limp on for so long.

voxeu.org/article/taxing-1-why-top-tax-rate-could-be-over-80

Shiny, I doubt that many of these people do actually know what flooding is.

I too have to try and plan life around my increasingly unpredictable (but far too regular now) periods. During my period I have to meticulously plan around being close to toilets, and need not just changes of sanpro with me, but changes of underwear and trousers.

We all know that there isn’t a bottomless pit of money and that services need to be rationed accordingly - the point is that is shouldn’t always be women that suffer the brunt of these cuts.
Periods, along with general reproductive health, can cause crippling problems. Just reading this thread shows how badly some women are being let down
Women make up half the U.K. population but we are increasingly sidelined - women have been shown to be worse affected by austerity.

I absolutely agree that is shouldn't be women who bear the brunt of rationing of healthcare services.

I disagree that the money to provide an adequate service for everyone can't be found.

What really strikes me is that if I cannot access the necessary treatment from a position of privilege, what hope do women struggling against poverty have in getting themselves heard?