Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to have sanitary products on display?

265 replies

Howvery · 29/01/2019 19:26

And by on display I don’t mean on a golden stand under a spotlight but on a shelf in my bathroom.
We have had friends and there DC (dd 8 and ds 6) to stay this weekend.
I have a box of tampons and packet of sanitary towels on a shelf in the bathroom. I went in and noticed they weren’t there, after hunting found them in the cupboard under the sink with the cleaning products, I put them back on the shelf. Just assumed it was DH who has form for throwing things in the nearest cupboard when ‘tidying’. Went back to the loo later that day and noticed again they had been put in the cupboard.
I went back in the lounge and said to DH, can you stop putting my stuff away in the cleaning cupboard. That’s when friend pipes up ‘oh I moved them I don’t think it is appropriate for them to be out especially where the DC can see them’. I was quite perplexed by this, but carried on the rest of the weekend, sanitary products hidden away as to not scar the children.

AIBU to think this is a totally bizarre way of thinking??? Firstly it’s my bathroom, can have things out if I want and find it rude that someone would put them away but secondly to think it is inappropate for children to see them, especially as she has a DD who is 8!
It’s a silly thing but the more I think about it the more flabbergasted I am!!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
ManicUnicorn · 29/01/2019 20:31

My DM is like this. I always had to keep my sanitary towels hidden in my bedroom, preferably in a drawer in case my DF or DB saw them. This wasnt even that long ago either.

WhatIsTheMeaningOfThis · 29/01/2019 20:32

We have a wicker basket in the bathroom with a selection in. My son has always known that his female friends can just help himself.

I was mildly amused but also really pleased when I saw that his girlfriend had recently added her own to the collection.

They're completely normal.

LadyandGent · 29/01/2019 20:35

I've worked in offices where the ladies also had sanpro in the bathrooms, but it was a ladies bathroom and no kids.

Howvery · 29/01/2019 20:35

Haha glad to know everyone is in agreement about this.

Also loving the different sanpro artworks, going to have to get creative for the next visit. And definitely have a dildo feature too. Maybe some condoms in a bowl instead of pot pouri. Serve sherry in a moon cup. Ideas are endless.

OP posts:
HoustonBess · 29/01/2019 20:36

Meh, I'd feel sorry for her being so repressed rather than annoyed. I think a couple of generations ago everyone would have been like that.

My first boyfriend (in the 90s) used to make me keep all sanpro, used and unused, in my bag to dispose of outside the house so there would be no risk his 13 yr old brother would find it in the bin. Confused

Babdoc · 29/01/2019 20:37

My DD gave her boyfriend a sanitary pad from her handbag when he got a nosebleed on the bus. Neither of them was in the least embarrassed. He used to sing “Jam rags and handbags” in the sanpro aisle at the supermarket. Although now DD has a mooncup, he doesn’t get the opportunity!
I thought all the young generation were comfortable with such products - I’m amazed that your friend still has such a dated taboo, OP!

Onynx · 29/01/2019 20:37

Mine are usually on a shelf in the bathroom- for a few years they were out of sight as I discovered my son playing with the 'mice' in the bathroom😊 He had unwrapped the whole box and had them all out with their 'tails' pulled out behind them 😆😆

perfectstorm · 29/01/2019 20:38

That's seriously weird, from a woman especially.

It's just sanpro. It's not a Rampant Rabbit.

Loyaultemelie · 29/01/2019 20:39

I bought my 8 year old Dd1 her own colourful collection of reusable pads and showed her my (unused at the time!) mooncup so she knows it could happen soon and is nothing to fear. My wee lidded pot for said cup also lives on the bathroom windowsill along with a half used box of tampons I haven't been able to use since I had Dd1 but have formed an odd emotional attachment to. Your friend would hate me!

NoAngel1 · 29/01/2019 20:39

I think it’s a bit weird for her to move them. Personally, mine aren’t on display, they’re just in the cabinet in the bathroom though, so not exactly hidden away. It’s perfectly fine to keep them wherever you wish.

Jezzifishie · 29/01/2019 20:40

Mine are in open topped wicker baskets, so are probably quite noticeable. I don't think it's an issue! DD (4) has seen tampons and knows that they're something I use to look after myself, the same way she cleans her teeth and brushes her hair. Obviously I'll tell her more as she gets older.

Raven88 · 29/01/2019 20:40

I have mine out, my pads are usually on the window sill or next to the toilet. I would never hide them away. I like to have them close by. I've never thought of hiding them away. I wouldn't anyway, periods are normal.

YeahSorryBoutThat · 29/01/2019 20:42

"Inappropriate" for the dc to see? Batshit.

MorningsEleven · 29/01/2019 20:44

Massively fucked up. That kind of bullshit shite is why girls and women feel embarrassed about bleeding.

CalmDownPacino · 29/01/2019 20:45

I'm intrigued by the "attract germs" comment.

BingisaweeArse · 29/01/2019 20:45

What a wally!! I have wee boys and they know what periods are. Seen my menstrual cup and everything. Guess my boys are going to need therapy.

I think periods should be treat like breathing, eating and going to the toilet, they are pretty unfucking avoidable and just as natural as any other body function. The sooner the general taboo of them is dealt with the better for everyone.

Charlie97 · 29/01/2019 20:46

A friend used to keep hers hidden under her underwear in bedroom drawer.... I kid you not! So every time she needed to change she couldn't use downstairs loo, had to go upstairs to get one and change! Hmm

letsleepingbabieslie · 29/01/2019 20:49

Next time she visits, hide the tampons but in their place leave out flavoured, ribbed condoms, lube, butt plugs and some nipple clamps. (Plus strap on dildo if you don't have that laying around the bathroom already).

smurfy2015 · 29/01/2019 20:50

You are totally reasonable. its nothing to hide

2 different examples

2 days after I started going out with my partner he invited me to his, should add he lives with his parents, as we were so new I was reluctant to meet, no problem, they had a mobile home which was very comfortable so we went to it and settled in for a lovely meal he cooked in its kitchen, were snuggled up on the sofa watching tv when I started getting pain around left ovary area,

I tried to ignore it but got worse and worse, by around 2am I was lying on the ground in the bathroom throwing up and thinking the evening we had planned had gone very wrong, he was worried about me and I remember he lay down beside me and asked gently could this be my period coming or was it something else? He even thought he gave me food poisoning or something

He offered to go into the main house and get me pads if I needed. He explained he didn't know if this was a period as he hadn't seen a female in this much pain but he knew they hurt a lot. By 3.30am I was literally unable to move with the pain, no bleeding and still throwing up. I gave him a lot of kudos for understanding and I was trying to brave it out.

He went into the main house at 3.30am and woke his mother up (we hadn't met at this stage) and they got me into the main house where I passed out briefly with the pain on the sofa. While I was on the sofa his mum rang out of hours GP who gave an appt for 45 mins later, they bundled me into the car, called at my house and they packed me a bag just in case on the way thru town and into out of hours.

He came with me into to see the Dr who suspected an ovarian cyst and so I was sent to the main hospital and to gynae, where when I was waiting to see the dr the cyst burst, he was terrified that he had hurt me in some way.

I really appreciated that as a male he knew where the towels or tampons were (he was the only male child) and was prepared to raid the stash if I needed, no embarrassment and when knew needed more help than he could give at that time sought it out when I wasnt in a good frame of mind.

It's unreasonable that your friend was hiding your sanitary stuff, horrified that it was that her little girls might literally see it,

I went to a holiday camp for a week when I was 11, first time away from home, I knew nobody and we were grouped by age and I was in a group with 15 boys and I was shy, that week I found my voice.

On my 3rd morning, I woke up with some blood in my knickers, I was mega upset as I had no idea what was happening, I didn't know that periods existed, my mum had never explained anything and when I was born (apparently the hospital phoned and told her she had a baby) yeah right, (lets not mention pre-eclampsia and both of us nearly dying) it took a young student working to explain to me in broken English that it meant I wasnt having a baby. Big shock as wasnt ready for one at 11 anyhow.

Long story short, if things had been more open and honest and not hidden away, I would have known roughly what was happening and what I needed to do (use a pad for starters) and would have been more like my OH (11 years on) who tried to understand that this could be period pain or something else and when needed got help and introduced me to his mum at 3.30am as he can't drive due to a medical condition and I definitely wasnt fit to drive and we live in the middle of nowhere.

Willow2017 · 29/01/2019 20:51

Most people would put in a cupboard just because they are not that attractive to look at.

Neither are loo rolls, tooth brushes or shampoo bottles, loo cleaner etc but we see them all the time.
Tampax and towels are in boxes or packets. Its not like they were all unwrapped and made into a display!

OutPinked · 29/01/2019 20:51

YANBU. I grew up with a box of tampax permanently in the bathroom and my friends mums always had them out too. Periods were normalised from an early age and I’m grateful for that. Your friend is ridiculous.

KeptTheBeachesShipwreckFree · 29/01/2019 20:52

What does she do when the tampon/sanitary towel ads come on TV? Does she leap in front of the screen, shielding her precious dc from the horrors of a piece of cotton absorbing some blue liquid?

Yanbu btw. Mine are on the windowsill in the downstairs loo along with the toilet paper, mainly because the room isn't big enough for a cupboard (postwar semi - a tiny room that only just fits the toilet and most mnetters would be horrified because you have to walk to the kitchen to wash your hands!) but also because I'm not ashamed of the fact that I have periods. My 6&8 y old dc know sort of what they are because when they asked I told them (my eldest used to call them my nappies which was very embarrassing when they loudly questioned, at the top of their voice in a public loo, if I needed to changey nappy!)

Siameasy · 29/01/2019 20:53

Yanbu!
My pre-schooler knew about mummy’s blood quite some time ago and talks about mummy’s pads etc. Tampons were a popular toy at one point
Older people (50+) can be embarrassed IMO

KeptTheBeachesShipwreckFree · 29/01/2019 20:54

Get the tampons out at her house and arrange them in a jenga-style tower on the side.

LilyRose16 · 29/01/2019 20:54

I was brought up like this. I had to hide my pads/tampons in my bedroom and shove them in my pocket when I needed to bring them into the bathroom. Apparently it wasnt appropriate to have these things near my dad or brother. Crazy now that I look back. Thankfully my brother and I now look back and laugh at all the batshit things from our childhood!

Swipe left for the next trending thread