To not accept that there is 'period poverty' in the UK.....?

[rosetree7]

Fully expecting to be told I am BU, but I genuinely do not get this 'period poverty' malarkey.

Some reports say periods cost £42-45 a month (£500 a year.) Never in my life have I - or anyone else I know - spent £42-45 a MONTH on their period. Not even a tenth of that actually.

Some of the things they (supposedly) spend money on are tampons and STs (obviously...) You can get a pack of sanitary towels for less than a pound. Less than 50p in some shops!

And also mooncups.

Although mooncups cost £16 to £22, most mooncups will last 10 years, so you'd only buy 3 or 4 in your lifetime!!! And they also spend on pain relief - but paracetamol and ibuprofen are 16 to 26p a packet from Wilkos. And plenty of other shops sell them for a similar price!

Oh and apparently, they have to keep spending money on new underwear every month. What a load of shit.. I have bought 18 pairs of underpants in 5 years, (at a cost of around £25 for the entire 5 years!) 5 pairs of them are dark coloured - and I wear them for my periods. Never in my life have I bought new underpants for every new period.

So what is this all about? And how on earth are they coming up with such a ludicrous figure as £42-45 a month?! I mean, some girls are apparently using toilet roll as they 'can't afford' sanitary towels? In most cases, toilet roll is more expensive than sanitary towels FGS!

What about food bank users? What imaginary money should they put aside?

The NHS give out free condones but not sanpro.

Shows the misogyny in the system.

Condoms. Bloody autocorrect

@rosetree7 - do you really think that there are no families in the U.K. who are poorer than you were when you were growing up? No mother’s who have to decide between sanitary protection for themselves, and food for their children?

There are people who have to go to food banks, because they are so desperate - they don’t have any spare cash - or do you think this is all a myth? People who cannot afford the bus fare to get to the supermarkets that have budget own brands, and have to rely on more expensive brands in the only shop they can get to - another myth?

Yes, it may well be possible to spend less than the big sums mentioned, on sanitary protection and other associated costs, but sometimes even these smaller amounts are out of people’s reach.

If you are in temporary accommodation/B&B, it may be very difficult to launder clothes and sheets - and expensive, if you have to go to the laundrette.

Honestly, can you not comprehend that YOUR experience is not universal? It shows breathtaking arrogance to assume that you know so much better than everyone else, because your experience has to be the absolute yardstick by which everyone’s lives are to be measured.

I have never been poor or neglected - but I use my intelligence and my imagination to see that the world is so much more than just my experience of it - and this helps meempathise with people who have had a much less comfortable life than me.

Empathy - you might like to try it - it is much better for the character than arrogant ignorance.

@Shapelyglass you could get a prescription season ticket that will cost about £10 a month, no need to pay for 3 prescriptions at full cost
www.gov.uk/get-a-ppc

I really hope if you do ask the question at a food bank they tell you what they really think of you.

But you won't because keyboard warriors don't have the cojones.

I can’t help but think that a great deal of period poverty is down to parental neglect rather than actual poverty, because surely any parents living in poverty would be claiming child benefit and tax credits as a minimum so surely a few pounds for sanitary products should be put aside before any other “luxuries” no matter how small, are purchased.

And here we have a prime example of the more covert/polite form of 'bashing the poor.' Start out by sounding reasonable then move to saying something ill-informed and hope no-one notices. Fascinating example of a classic style of microaggression.

Have you not been following? What fucking luxuries? You mean electric light, running water, food? Which of those luxuries should poorer people not have in your 'expert' opinion?

The price does seem exaggerated but that does not mean period poverty does not exist.

Saying ANYONE can afford sanitary products is ignorant . You know who definitely can't afford it? Kids!!! Kids who don't have jobs,or an allowance or a penny to their name. Don't forget periods can start as early as 8 now!

We have girls at my work place whose parents ring in begging for them to have an extra meal because they have nothing to feed them. Girls with shoes so threadbare you can see their feet. Girls that never have breakfast. Girls that wear their mother's ill fitted shoes. I could go on..

And then add in all the homeless women and girls,families that need food banks to survive, women and children in refuges that ran with just the clothes on their backs,women and girls who for various reason have no or very limited access to money.

It might not be as expensive as some claim, but for many women and girls it's still too expensive.

The NHS give out free condoms but not sanpro

It also gives free contraception to women in many forms it's fine to save the costs subsequent children that would result, Tampons are an item that's needed just like babies need nappies etc.

Try sitting in a classroom aged 13 or 14, wondering if the wad of toilet paper you’ve got in your knickers is going to leak or not, are you going to leave a blood stain on the chair. Three pair of knickers on to keep the toilet roll in place.

Counting out coppers to get you to 79p for a pack of the cheapest towels in the chemist (still remember this).

When your a student missing lectures because you have no sanpro or having a tampon in all day as it’s the last one you have.

If your living on Supernoodles and 49p pizzas just about a box of tamping is a far reach.

Yes boxsets but they wouldn't be so fucking expensive if men needed them.

When was in deep shit financially, I had an 'emergency fiver' hidden in the food cupboard. It was supposed to be for unexpected expenses like taxi's to A and E or school trip money.

I would get paid from my job on Friday and get my CTC/WTC/CB on Tuesdays. Most Thursdays, I would have to spend the emergency on bread, milk, cheap cereal and a loo roll to see us through to Friday because we'd run out of food.

Luckily, only I had periods at the time and I used loo roll if I needed to.

There was no couple of pounds left to put aside. Food came first.

FOR ANYONE WANTING TO HELP/DONATE

The red box project

collects donations of san pro

takes the box into schools

anyone wanting to donate please see local facebook groups

Surely OP you're not so stupid that you can't understand that other peoples' experiences may be different to your own?

For posters talking about their heavy periods and their ability to manage with 70p tampons: I envy you. My mirena coil had to be removed recently as it was falling out due to heavy bleeding.

There is no way a cheap tampon would last more than a few minutes.

I have heavy periods. I actually leaked on one of the desk chairs at work. The cheapo pads do fuck all to contain the flow.

The figure seems high but I can see how some women cant afford to have their periods for many reasons.

I think sanitary protection should be freely available to girls and women, and stocked in schools and workplaces, and then we would have much less of this problem. I’d still buy the type I want, and lots of people would, but life would be so much easier for those forgetful amongst us, and those who just need them, and have to do without otherwise.
There should be some way of allocating them without people stealing them to sell, somehow.
And although mooncups are a great idea, in real life how easy are they to use ? At home its fine, private bathroom toilet, basin to wash up, but in public, at work ? Not practical at all I find.

Also for example where i live there's only a Nisa and a chemist(independent) . The chemists offers more choice but they're bloody expensive(nothing under 3£), Nisa is a tad cheaper but it has very little choice. To get to the magic cheap 70p a pack supermarkets or Boots or wherever you need to get a bus that's at least £2.50.

This is a trigger for me and takes me right back to the anxiety and shame. My two eldest have their period now and they have a constant supply of what they need, new black pants, towels of every kind and tampons. They are so lucky they never need to scrape pennies together for a pack of towels.

Nobody has still explained how, for the portion of girls whose issue is due to chaotic parenting (NOT affordability/poverty), the products would reach them from a food bank.

Their parents ain't gonna go, and as far as i know they can't go themselves.
Then what???

I suppose the same question goes for all children in that situation and all they need from a foodbank really.

Can they go themselves?

£8.60 on prescription medicine to make the vomit inducing cramps more manageable.

Regular severe anaemia and iron tablets and of constantly due to heavy long term bleeding. £8.60 prescription.

2-3 weeks of heavy heavy bleeding.

15+ sanitary towels a day. The xl post partum winged ones and even then, you leak out.

Oh and then some sort of aloe Vera soothing gel as you get incredibly sore from sanitary towels for some reason.

Yh you're lucky you don't have horrific pcos.

Just because you can cope with Poundland lillets and a couple of ibruprofen, doesn't mean that other people don't have to spend money to cope with horrific periods.

I often scour pound land or savers for cheap branded san Pro. Been using always classic, lately, which is slightly old school and bulky but really comfortable and great, even when I'm shedding clots. Kotex are good, too, but not widely available.

Supermarket own are a mixed bag, though. Last lot I tried - morrisons - left me really sore. They weren't even scented but just really plasticky.

I would think social services would be involved with a family so chaotic there was no food in the house and the parent made no effort to get any.

But let's be honest, those kinds of homes are rare. For the most part the issue is poverty not neglect.

Linky to The Red Box Project

Good call holyguaca!

Also, anyone thinking about donating to food banks Tena Lady pads are an absolute lifesaver for women who flood heavily, especially during the night but are really expensive.

I'm pretty lucky as far as my periods go but once I had one that was for some reason extremely heavy... so heavy that I was changing a tampon every TWENTY MINUTES for about a day otherwise the blood was running down my leg. I had to phone my mum and ask her to get me tampons and bring them to my flat because I had run out and the shop was too far away for me to get to without making a mess of myself! Anyone who has periods like that regularly could easily spend a fortune every month.

Wow
You’re so out of touch OP.

People where I live are absolutely desperate at the moment. Many families I see can’t feed their kids this summer. Tampons are a luxury item for some.

It’s awful to see the inequality in this country writ so clear in this thread