Sanitary products in library

[dogsdinnerlady]

On the back of the loo door in my library this morning is a poster offering free sanitary products for anyone who needs them. Just ask at the desk, it says. Really? Who is going to do that? I see schools are going to provide free pads and tampons for all pupils soon. With libraries closing to save money and schools having to ask parents to pay for books, it seems the budget can accommodate free sanitary products for millions of women.
I am probably in the minority in thinking this is taking the welfare state too far.

You can’t be serious drawing comparisons between phones, and satilli TV, and the lack of sanitary products!!! Ffs !

That's fantastic Trent.

I don't like this at all.

It would be lovely if free sanitary products could be left in baskets in the toilets for women who need it to just help themselves. The whole 'having to ask' is just another barrier to accessing something that they need and can't afford.

Yes, I know we make people who use food banks ask for their vouchers and for their food - but I don't want to live in a world where we can't trust other women to not just merrily scoop up all the sanitary towels and tampons and wander off when they can afford to buy them themselves. I would like to believe in a world where a woman with enough money sees the free sanitary products, thanks 'oh, that's nice' and leaves them alone for the woman who needs them.

claireblueskies I don't think you've completely understood the point of the scheme. This isn't about leaving a basket so that people caught short can help themselves to one. This is about providing enough for someone who can't afford to buy them for their whole period.

Nice insertion of the old "people on benefits choose sky tv over feeding their kids" trope there op. Squeeze in a "don't have kids if you can't afford them" and you'll have yourself a game of bingo

Good grief. I hardly think people are going to go to ask at the library just to scam some free Sanpro. To ask, you’d probably have to really need it.

But I think this is about the deserving poor, did you ever have to tell CAB clients their goat should be rehomed too?

I happy contribute sanitary protection for anyone who needs it. The Red Box initiative is very well used. I work in a school and always have spares as periods are unpredictable when you are a teen. Pads are 66p a pack in Tesco

Always Ultra are providing thousands of sanitary products to schools and other public places free of charge.

Our schools in Scotland work with Hey Girls providing boxes of pads in all toilets- girls can help themselves to as many as they need, no forms, no questions . They also have packs of reusable, bamboo pads ( 8 in a washable bag) and mooncups, which means girls don't ever need to buy more sanpro ever again They're catching on slowly.

Most women who can afford it won't be helping themselves to free sanitary protection - a packet of pads costs less than a pound. If my period starts unexpectedly in town and I know that the Library have free pads, I would go and get one - and then carry on donating packets to the Red Box Project. I am so thankful that I don't have to worry about sanitary protection, but have enough imagination to feel immense empathy for anyone who does.

I posted earlier but I just remember this- a while ago, drying my hands in the toilet of a shopping centre, a teenage girl asked me if I had a pad. I did, so gave her one. Back at dp’s mum’s house later, in the kitchen I remembered this and asked dp to remind me to put a pad in my bag, to replace this one. (I keep pads and tampons in all bags, just in case as I have the coil and can go months without a periods and then it starts). Dp’s niece who is 16 was there and said she would be too embarrassed to ask a stranger in the toilets. I told her not to be, as any female who had any spare would give one, as I did and have done many times in the past.

I honestly never thought another women would say no, if they could help in this situation. Yet a read a post like this and think- yep maybe OP would be the type to say no.

Ever heard of period poverty OP?

Love the suggestion that a TV licence is equivalent to sanitary products. We must live on a different planet OP. I prefer mine.

@SnowyAlpsandPeaks OP wouldn't refuse outright. She'd just ask to see the last six months' worth of your payslips before deciding whether to hand over a pad.

So giving everyone a free education is all good but offering free sanitary products isn’t? Are sanitary products less necessary? I would rather those who could afford things like healthcare or education we’re charged for using state services so that those who can’t afford sanitary products have access to them than having a free for all on some essentials but not others. The welfare state went to far when it ceased being about access for all and became about dependance from all. We need to fix it before it’s too late. Reforming British welfare to its initial founding purpose would be a good start.

I’m in Scotland and my local library has free Sanpro in the ladies toilets. They just sit on the shelf in each cubicle for you to help yourself. That way there is no embarrassment about having to ask at the desk, I can’t think of anything worse.There is also a red box next to the food bank box to collect sanpro.

Our library has a San pro donation box & also collects for the food bank & toys, baby equipment, clothes, nappies etc for Sure start.

The founding principles of the British welfare state are care from cradle to grave and free at the point of delivery - not quite what you suggest @Peckingduck.

claireblueskies. " I don't like this at all. The whole 'having to ask' is just another barrier to accessing something that they need and can't afford.
I don't want to live in a world where we can't trust other women to not just merrily scoop up all the sanitary towels and tampons and wander off when they can afford to buy them themselves. "

But that's the World we live in. So we've got to deliver the service, around that issue. How this is set up, does that.

makingmammaries, you have to be referred to a food bank and then go when it's open. Your period doesn't wait. If you are a young Woman, relying on your Family, you don't get options. Homeless Charities now provide them, but you have to get to one.

Before these projects came along, the provision was patchy and not consistent. Periods aren't a choice, that wasn't good enough.

Women die because they are confined to huts, during their period, in other Countries. Girls miss school. There's Charities and Politicians working on those. Research was done and it was found that this service is needed in the UK, so it's being provided via donations.

There's a thread on Food Banks, some posters see no issue with these.

Exactly how low do you think life for people, but especially Women, should go in the UK? We need people on the bottom rung, to do all the jobs that people do their best to avoid. Our Welfare Benefits are no longer good enough, especially for the MI and disabled. These groups of people are one step away from being destitute. So are the working poor.

Why is a hand out of the gutter always so resented?

GregoryPeckingDuck, the original blueprint of the Welfare State was based on their being, British Industries, providing goods, and employment. Across the whole Country. As well as things like our Merchant Navy.

That was destroyed. We can never go back to enough employment.

If we go through Brexit with the policies in regards to trading etc, it will be the end of the rest of British Businesses. We don't have a back up option of who is going to provide work.

I found myself homeless and in a refuge in my late teens, couldn't even attend college because of the bus fare and had not a spare 5p after rent and a few basic food items. Sanitary products were not something I could afford. If the refuge hadn't had some donated I'd have had to wad toilet roll up and hope it did the trick. This would have been amazing. Shame on you. What do want people in poverty to do? Stay at home for their entire period? Walk around with half a roll of toilet paper between their legs? Free bleed?

Ooh, this is an interesting thread! Illustrating both the extent of the lack of awareness that even some women have when it comes to period poverty...but also the importance of having easy-to-access local community spaces like libraries, available to all members of the public: not just to browse books, revise for exams and write CVs, but also as a central community hub. Thank you OP for your somewhat disturbing post; you’ve given me a great idea for our local library campaign...

Library services, which extend far beyond providing books, are used by poor and homeless people, more than anyone else I’d say. A library is the perfect place to have free sanitary items.

Agree with Pinkbells comment, - 'Are you a man?'
If men had periods,you can bet your life that ALL sanitary products would be free.

Sorry that you went through all that purplegecko 🌺