Radio DJ Liz Kershaw on #periodpoverty - "FFS"

[bbcessex]

Liz Kershaw on Twitter

twitter.com/lizkershawdj/status/1219321284405944320?s=21

I am genuinely outraged. "My Grandmother boiled rags".... ergo, how can any women/girls be in 'period poverty now".

For fucks sake. The fact that there really are educated women In privileged positions spouting this crap is almost as fucking sad as the situation itself.

I don't want to sit and listen whilst women in the public eye do more harm than good.

@puppyclub you use fluffy socks as sanitary protection? Why? They're not made to absorb blood and doesn't it make you feel like you have a nappy on? How do you secure it?

Why not buy washable bamboo pads if you're concerned about environmental issues?

Utterly depressing.

Comounded by the men on Twitter mansplaining how women can all period better.

I remember the year that Freddie Mercury died that Liz Kershaw was very vocal in trying to stop people making Bohemian Rhapsody/Those were the Days of our Lives the Christmas number 1 because 'Christmas is for the kiddies' and Freddie Mercury died of AIDS.

Stupid AND unpleasant. A really unfortunate combination.

I do think sometimes people can plead poverty whilst making non cost effective food choices and smoking.

Poverty is often connected to things like lack of knowledge/support about health, food prep and shopping etc. It's not a case of 'pleading' it, ffs.

@haworthia I might get myself some of those.

@dollydaydreamss they don't make me feel like I've got a nappy on, and I wear my tighter granny pants to secure them.
I actually started doing this because I never keep track of my cycle so often got caught out and found it worked fine, so just carried on using them.
I've always provided 'proper' sanitary protection for my daughters though (I have 4) but even then it wasn't expensive.

Kershaw is a total arse and so is her domestic abuser brother. I turn off the radio when she comes on.

"I remember the year that Freddie Mercury died that Liz Kershaw was very vocal in trying to stop people making Bohemian Rhapsody/Those were the Days of our Lives the Christmas number 1 because 'Christmas is for the kiddies' and Freddie Mercury died of AIDS."

She was a nasty bigot then
Like dodgy wine, age hasn't improved her

1991

The problem is that whilst there's extreme poverty due to benefit sanctions and uc poorly designed coverage, there's also others including too many parents who prioritise the wrong thing. At my DD's school there were parents begging for food bank vouchers, extra support etc and whilst some were genuine, others openly admitted to smoking, heavy drinking

I cannot believe some of the replies on that twitter thread, I’m laughing because they’re just utterly unbelievable.

Lots of “Wilkos do 10 pads for 25p!”

I’ve actually used them, they are extremely uncomfortable, don’t mask the smell of blood whatsoever, don’t absorb much blood, and they used to give me rashes. Sometimes even thrush. Sorry for the TMI but it really irritates me how the amount of men on the thread especially are mentioning the cheap pads like it’s the answer to all our problems.

I mean honestly

I don't understand how in a civilized society somebody speaks about boiling rags as an example to follow

Sanpro maybe cheap, but speaking about very young teens, it can be absolutely mortifying to ask for them/buy them.

We should start a 'my grandmother...' list. I shall start:

My grandmother pierced her own ears when she was 16 with a darning needle and block of ice because her step mum said that 'nice girls' didn't have pierced ears.

My grandmother had a stepmother because her mum died after a botched abortion.

My grandmother used to get locked in the coal cellar by her stepmother.

My grandmother used to wallop my mum with 'whatever was in her hand'.

My grandmother would put butter on a burn.

Any other wise words of wisdom or good practices to share from the good old days?

My mother used rags. She would not wish that on anyone.

Cheap sanpro is available but only if you have access to it.

If your nearest Aldi with 39p pads is a £6.70 bus ride away then you're going to be stuck paying £3 for a pack of 10 basic Always pads at the corner shop or the local Co-op. 10 pads isn't going to be enough for a whole period for many women. If you only have £3 then you're only going to be able to have them for part of your period. If you don't have £3 then you're going without.

Sanpro is really cheap as chips though

It is provided you don't have heavy periods. At my worst there was one brand/type of tampon that actually meant I could go an hour between changing. Not available anywhere but larger Boots/Tesco - neither of which are anywhere near here.

Ironically now my periods are more managed, I'm finding them in stock in Savers etc. Usual price without discount was £2.19 for 14. That would have lasted me one/two days. I could easily spend £7 on nothing but san pro a month and that's without the cost of getting to buy them (obviously I stocked up regularly - I was in the privileged position of having disposable income to do so!)

It really is a race to the bottom on that thread, lots of comments like “I bet they have phones/televisions!”

It’s the classic “people on benefits aren’t allowed anything nice!”

Got a phone and struggling to buy pads? It’s your own fault for buying a phone
^
I don’t actually think that by the way, it just sums up the ridiculous views on the thread on Twitter

Some parents wont buy them it's not all about money I've text people before saying your daughters ran out of Sanpro I've given her enough for today hinting that they should buy some only for the same kid to raid my stash the next day as mum couldnt be arsed I mean it's cheap and I can afford it but fuck me seriously? Provide for your child

I don’t want to buy my DD’s cheap nasty uncomfortable cardboard style pads. It’s bad enough having a period as it is. I feel sorry for the girls who have to wear 37p pads as they are so poor. I have to wear tena pants as I have a lot of gynae problems. It’s expensive

We should start a 'my grandmother...' list

My grandmother could not read and none of the adults in her life were bothered as "it's not important for girls anyway".

My grandmother was an evacuee who was abused by the family she was staying with. No one cared because she was just supposed to be grateful they let her stay there in the first place.

My grandmother used to ring my dad in sick to school so that they wouldn't know my grandfather had beaten him black and blue. She would lie to doctors. He broke his arm "falling down the stairs" and cracked his ribs "jumping off the shed roof".

My grandmother lost a child to stillbirth because movements weren't monitored back then, another to measles because no vaccines, and another was run over.

So glad times have moved on.

I saw that tweet yesterday, and was disgusted.

It astounds me that so many people can have so little understanding that other people may have a very different experience from them.

I had a horrendous time with periods as a young teen. We were extremely poor, and I regularly (like every month) had insufficient sanpro. I had heavy periods, and we genuinely couldn’t afford enough tampons. I regularly leaked (due to infrequent changes), had to use loo roll stuffed in my knickers to try to absorb leakage. I had 2 pairs of pants, and we had no easy way to wash/dry at home (no washing machine, and no heating for drying) so leaking meant humiliation at school at eg PE changing time as I couldn’t adequately wash out the stains.

It was horrible, and asking my (lovely, hard working, already giving up everything she could) mum if we had enough money for more sanpro was excruciating - because of the guilt I knew she would feel if the answer was ‘no’, so often I didn’t ask, and carried on trying to make do.

And all this wasn’t so long ago, really, in the scheme of things.

I am now lucky enough to be able to afford anything I need, and anything my dds need. They will thankfully not suffer the way I did. But that doesn’t mean I don’t remember, and don’t imagine that there are plenty of other girls and women currently in the situation I was in. Dd2 and I regularly donate to our local hygiene bank - not just sanpro, but deodorant, soap, shampoo etc (all things I was also short of growing up), and so hopefully she will stay aware that there are many people not as well of as she is.

I dunno. You could argue that we should be thinking about reusable stuff at this point in time anyway as one use plastic / cotton is a bit of a dare I say it, privilege, from an environmental point of view, regardless of wealth / poverty levels.