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!

Another autistic woman who isnt autistic enough for the government.

Apparently because i have my mum and partner who are able to help me when i need it, i dont need any extra support.

Fuck knows what i will do when my mum dies or if my partner ever left me.

Yeah, i work full time, but i work in a nursery, so my colleagues all have some understanding of special needs so im very lucky.

Im also very lucky i can now afford sanpro. As previously mentiined on this thread, there was a time i couldnt.

Some people do spout this crap in real life. My boss is one if them. He stands ranting at me about the state of our country, the overly generous benefits encouraging people not to work while pointing out in his country you work or starve, the government won't help you.

He does all this with a straight face while paying me minimum wage or less when he can get away with it and keeping me on a zero hours contract so he doesn't have to pay me when he closes up for three weeks to go back to his country.

He's there now, actually. I got a text off him two weeks ago, an hour before my shift to tell me not to come in because he's in the airport and will be back on August 18th.

Fortunately, I no longer rely on that job as my only source of income like I used to so I manage okay when he leaves me for weeks at a time with no hours.

There is some information in this article about schemes in Manchester trying to combat period poverty if any posters in the area are interested or in a position to help:

www.themeteor.org/2018/07/17/the-hidden-shame-of-period-poverty/

FFS!

Periods are biological, we cannot fucking control them (unless we pump our bodies full of hormones), we get them whether we want to or not, sanitary protection is a basic need just like shelter, food & clothing it is not a luxury item that should only be available to the well off!

I should not have sat 9yo DD down & told her to use a mooncup that she'd have to rinse out in the primary school toilets because at that age absolutely nothing should be shoved inside her body nor should I have had her put on the pill in order to control the horrendous way biology decided to deal with her reproductive system! She's been lucky that she has a mother who gives a shit & ensures she is provided with the things she needs but as evidenced by this thread there are young girls out there who aren't as fortunate & what we need to remember is that this isn't their fucking fault!

It isn't their fault that there isn't enough money to buy the sanpro they need whether that be through a long wait for benefits, working parents struggling to cover the basics on NMW or parents who are pissing every penny up the fucking wall - these young girls should at the very least be able to access appropriate provisions without having their fucking dignity disregarded by ignorant fucknuts who are under the impression that they should be penalised in such a degrading way for the shortcomings of their parents or the government agencies responsible for administering benefits.

In my opinion sanpro should be free for all women the world over or at the very least considered a necessity & not taxed. But as women who have at some point in their lives had to deal with periods in one way or another we should have an understanding of how they can affect young women & girls and not begrudge them the odd spare tampon/towel when they need it!

Cath there's a few women working with red box here. I see poverty and volunteer for help. Are you thick ?

I'm dreading applying for PIP Fatty. You're saying that if DH had to help me, I wouldn't be able to claim anything?

perfectly i dont know, i can onky speak for me.
Basically i got refused because i cope well on a day to day basis. They ignored the fact i only cope so well because of the support from my mum and DP, and that if i didn't have that i wouldn't even remember to shower half the time.

I can't even get a bus pass because i should be able to cope with public transport.
So it costs me £100 a month to get to work, and uses up a lot of mental energy before im even there, meaning im more likely to meltdown or shutdown.

Jeez, I don't get support from anyone, our family coach said I needed DH to remind me to do things, the truth is I remember everything as long as it's in order, all he does is nag me to do things I'm too knackered to do.

left wing socialists
Yup. Broadly speaking, that’s me. I’m sorry, did you mean this as an insult?

The level of people’s thought processes really worries me. It’s more complicated than ‘giving out freebies’ to work-shy peasants, but there is no point trying to explain the nuances and complexities of social inequalities to people who can’t understand the possibility that something outwith your own very limited experience is true. Also, why did you mention your upcoming bankruptcy cathf? Was it to garner sympathy where you’ve shown nothing but hard heartedness to anyone who isn’t you? Why are you being made bankrupt? Do you not know how to budget? Surely leaving your children wanting is tantamount to neglect? Surely you should have foreseen this happening? Should we call social services and have your children removed because you’re now poor, and we all know poor people shouldn’t breed. Arsehole.

Also, periods are a fundamental part of human existence. No periods = no people. They have been a biological necessity for millions of years and the reason for our existence. That some people seem to think that there should be a financial barrier under which you shouldn’t be entitled to help to deal with them is fucking ludicrous.

@ResurrectedGoldfish probably buy to let financial over reaching.

Thanks for your well-thought out response Goldfish. It's funny that you think I am an arsehole because I think the same about you after reading your post, although I would not have said so as I don't believe in name-calling just because someone dusagrees with me.
Why did I mention my upcoming bankruptcy? Because several posters had assumed I knew nothing of poverty, had a cushty job or was a conforti SAHM. Did I expect sympathy? No, I've been on MN long enough to know you only get sympathy if you are a 'nice' person ie agrees with MN groupthink. Those who deviate deserve all they get.
Why am I being made bankrupt? Do I not know how to budget? Unfortunately nothing so simple. My business has gone bust sadly, but you can revel in this if you want.
Pathetic

Why am I being made bankrupt? Do I not know how to budget? Unfortunately nothing so simple. My business has gone bust sadly

So ypu are aware that things arent always simple? So surely you can get your head around the fact that for some people it isnt as simple as budgeting a couple of quid a month for sanpro?
Or does that not fit with your idea of deserving and undeserving poor?

HRH nah the accountant will make sure she gets lots in the expenditure section at the bankruptcy court. Amazing what you can put down as essentials, a lot more than carers allowance.

Did I expect sympathy? Well, you have my sympathy whether you want it or not. I have sympathy for anyone who finds themselves in a situation that causes them pain or suffering. I was trying to get you to understand that events happen outwith people’s control and situations are rarely as simple as, “you’re poor, it must be your own fault”, and that living in poverty doesn’t mean you are somehow morally deficient. I thought treating you the way you are treating others might bring the point home to you, but sadly not.

@whiskeysourpuss pumping your body full of hormones is no guarantee that the period or withdrawal bleed will stop or get better. And that's ignoring the other side effects you may suffer regardless.

Anyway who is really going to put a 11 year old let alone a younger child on the pill because her periods are screwed up?

I also thought asking you questions about your personal circumstances without any understanding of how this has affected you and your family, and with only the most rudimentary grasp of your personal circumstances is nosey and rude. I thought that might bring it home to you how questioning someone’s morality and their ability to love and support their children is none of my business and rude in the extreme, but again, apparently not.

This thread has highlighted the extremes of period poverty, will be donating Sanpro as well and look for local red box.

Can't believe the cruelty of posters focusing on issues as budgeting, neglect when these girls and women should be helped.

Can't believe the cruelty of posters focusing on issues as budgeting, neglect when these girls and women should be helped. Buy by helping someone with their budget you may find they do have enough for branded sanpro. After all the state provides them with an income or top-up's, in the for of benefits/tax credits, that should cover the costs of essential outgoings.

Interestingly I was talking to my DD about what her and her friends do if they start a period whilst at school, She said they just borrow off friends or go to the school office who provide then free of charge. It's really a non issue and no one is embarrassed. It's just like borrowing a pen or rubber these days.

After all the state provides them with an income or top-up's, in the for of benefits/tax credits, that should cover the costs of essential outgoings

Should being the key word there. It SHOULD but it bloody doesn’t.

Christ on a bike, just repeating the same thing again and again doesn’t make it valid. Jeez. Just because it’s a non issue for your DD, doesn’t mean it’s a non issue for everyone!!! Benefits do not cover living costs anymore (if they ever did). How many times do people have to give you evidence, statistically and anecdotally, before you accept this??? Most people on benefits are also working, and still live below the poverty line. Most of those who aren’t are either actively looking, or unable to due to disability/illness. Can you not see how unfair this is??? You might want to ask yourself why you’re so unwilling to help, and why you seem to get so righteously angry with other people, children in some cases, who need compassion and assistance 😡😡😡 Is it just so you can continue to feel morally superior, having been privileged enough to never have experienced what these people have??

Ok, if we forget people being paid benefits for a while what about the hundreds of families on zero hours contracts, how do they budget?

Me, for example. If my job was only income except top-up benefits, how do I budget for working 16 hours a week for eight weeks, 28 hours for one week and then nothing for almost a month?

I only get one hours notice that I have no hours.

This is common for people on zero hours contracts. Tell me how you would budget that? Your top up benefits stay the same, as does the rent you pay but your income drops by £170+ per week.

Would someone struggling to pay for sanpro because they were given zero hours deserve help? Or should they too be investigated for neglect?

My business has gone bust sadly

Maybe you should have budgeted better....

@ResurrectedGoldfish I remember watching a program where they had Edwina Currie live with someone on benefits. Edwina couldn't understand how the woman she lived with couldn't afford things. It took for Edwina to be shown that benefit payment cycles didn't match bill payment cycles and sometimes benefits didn't get paid on time, so it threw the woman's careful budget out before she understood there was a problem.

Unfortunately posters like Neshoma have to see things first hand before they get into their thick skulls that issues are more complex than simply people's poor budgeting skills or parents neglecting their children.