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!

MrSpock, were you not entitled to benefits or does that include benefits?

Similarly, a person or family's income can fall due to a number of factors that have nothing to do with budgeting, cath.

I don’t drive so that £18 had to cover any days out for us. Me and my son are both autistic, so that added difficulty made things ten times harder because ASD gives you special dietary requirements. My son also had (he’s getting better) four food allergies.

cath that includes benefits. I had to leave my job due to DS1 being hospitalised and my job being unsupportive, and DP was half way through a degree so we got hardly any help.

Frequency, I don't think it is OK and I don't think it is easy, I know it isn't. But I do think referring to not buying sanpro as period poverty is overdramatic and unnecessary.

It’s sorted now, DP graduated and I got a new job, but those months were awful. Luckily I have a fairly rich dad who when times were tough, bought me food, clothes and took us on days out.

I’m lucky. Not everyone has parents who are financially able to do that or who are kind enough to do it.

Similarly, a person or family's income can fall due to a number of factors that have nothing to do with budgeting, cath. hmm

Quite. I think that irony has obviously escaped her.

I'm a business owner myself (as Mumsnet can verify as I discuss under another name) and well aware of the challenges sometimes involved. Again, much sympathy that poster is now poor/in poverty (I can't recall the wording) due to business failure.

Similarly, a person or family's income can fall due to a number of factors that have nothing to do with budgeting,

This. OH hasn't been paid yet for last month. The most bills went out around the first,meaning a 400£ overdraft. The car insurance is due and a tax bill(around 400£ too) needs paying. We are lucky i had some savings and topped everything up to manage until he eventually gets paid,but if that wasn't the case we would have at least £1000 less this month,which doesn't bode well for next month(and he might not get paid on time again). Shit like this can snowball in massive amounts of debt for a long time.

As other posters have reasonably pointed out, a moon cup lasts indefinitely, sometimes when I was caught short I used an old sock or lots of kitchen roll. It wasn't ideal but I'm not scarred by the experience.

A moon cup is coming no where near my inner workings. Wearing a tampon feels like I am being constantly punched,

They are by no means a magic solution for all.

If someone cannot afford a pound or two for sanitary protection, that sounds like poverty to me, @cathf! And it is poverty that is inextricably linked to periods, so period poverty seems a pretty fair term.

What would you call it? Feckless bleeders?

We are a first world economy, but we have people who cannot afford food or other basic essentials - that is fucking shameful, and I don’t care if anyone thinks that is over dramatic.

@rosamundhopelovesdogs123 - if someone is struggling to find a pound for cheap san pro, how on earth do you think they going to find £20+ for a mooncup???

A mooncup is all well & good for grown women who wish to use one but I don't think young girls should have mooncups forced upon them as the holy grail of periods. Besides DD would be emptying one every half hour & still needing to use a towel to catch any leakage.

We're always advocating body autonomy & consent in regards to this yet apparently this can be thrown out of the window when it comes to suggesting demanding that women/young girls should use mooncups.

@rosamundhopelovesdogs123 read the thread - previous posters have explained why mooncups aren't necessarily appropriate, and how 'being caught short' isn't remotely equitable to not being able to afford sanitary protection month on month. It's humiliating, messy and frankly pretty inhumane to expect anyone, let alone a 14 year old girl at school to use an 'old sock'. I'm genuinely curious, can people who are saying there's no issue using toilet paper, rolled up socks, old dishrags etc genuinely not see the inhumanity in that? I've got to the point where I genuinely cannot understand the mindset of people who think that's reasonable. People show you evidence that infections and medical issues can be spread and exacerbated by using inadequate sanitary protection, it's either simply ignored or denied. People who have experience of the social alienation that is intrinsic to poverty and why period poverty in particular highlights this try and use their experience to explain it to you, their experiences are belittled and ignored.
If it has to be explained to you why denying reliable and adequate sanitary protection to a 14 year old girl because she is working class (because lets face it, that's what this is at the root - class snobbery. Call a spade a spade) is cruel, then you should be ashamed of yourself. Deeply deeply ashamed, and you need to examine what has happened to make you so hard-hearted.

Incidentally, the reason I can't use mooncups, or tampons for that matter, is due to trauma. I have panic attacks when I have to have a smear test, and I know that my situation is far from unique. The thought of having to explain that to a teacher or school nurse when I was 14 and even using the words would have crippled me with anxiety in order to justify needing a towel instead is just cruel beyond belief.

I still don't think cathf has realised the irony of her ridiculous posts. A business facing bankruptcy - as in, negating on any & all potential bills it still has outstanding - could fail due to any number of reasons...but a family being in financial crisis is down to ONE reason which is apparently poor budgeting.

Forgive me if I take any & all 'facts' or advice with a pinch of salt cathf. Your attitude is disgusting. How many other businesses will be financially affected by yours declaring itself bankrupt & possibly not paying out what you owe? Which filters down to businesses potentially being unable to pay wages...so families being without the money they have budgeted for?

I believe medieval woman used to use sphagnum moss for sanitary protection, perhaps we should be sending the poor to collect that instead? It is after all free. That’ll show the lazy buggers!

Exactly, Pissedoff. Plus, by the business going bankrupt, the owners usually get to hang onto their personal assets - house, car, some types of funds. A family where someone doesn't get paid their wages can't pay the rent.

That's out of line, Savvysaver

@SavvySaver24 no I was sexually abused which left me with deep psychological scars. It’s taken me 2 decades of therapy to have a functional relationship. Cheers.

It’s also left me with an ability to empathise with others, something that seems to have escaped you.

Yes. With a limited company that's usually correct, Left.

I've just requested info on setting one up near me.

SavvySaver24 just when I thought you couldn’t sink lower.

You get off on being deliberately nasty don’t you?