Where has the ides of Period Poverty come from?

[woollysocksforwinter]

What is period poverty, exactly?

I can't see how it differs from actual poverty.

Speaking as someone who has been too skint to buy tampons at a previous point in my life, I made do with what I could, I had bigger issues at the time than what to stem my menstrual flow with. Wouldn't people concerned that women don't have enough money for sanitary products, be better off fighting the causes of actual poverty?

AIBU to question the link between period poverty and the ultra fucking wok who want to push the term "menstruators"

There was the women's march last week, then this lot, this week calling women menstruators.

Also, it's an issue TW like our old friend Lily, like to align themselves with, isn't it.

Is the idea of Period Poverty being used a front for the larger campaign to erase the word "women" as a description for us adult human females?

Idea not ides!! Damn!

Hmm

Don't know

The thing about "period poverty" is that it is easily addressed through existing mechanisms ie schools can provide snapro. So quite a quick win if there is some money to do it.

I do agree that it seems to be a fashionable cause among those who would like to see women and girls (cunty) erased, rennamed as menstruators, front hole owners, uterus bearers, non prostate havers etc

You can't get people to fight austerity, but making it personal brings it home to people. So you have groups that run food banks because people can relate to going hungry.
The idea began from those. People started to put sanpro in with their food bank donations, and it spread to schools and the Red Box scheme.

If another group has co-opted the idea for their own ends it would not surprise me.

You’re right. It’s actual poverty and the government paying for a fiver’s worth of sanitary protection a month will do very little to address the actual problem that the state is allowing a large number of people to live in desperate poverty without helping them.

www.girlguiding.org.uk/social-action-advocacy-and-campaigns/social-action-and-campaigns/period-poverty/

Agree: it came from people running food banks. It didn't take long before organisers realised that people who didn't have food also didn't have shampoo or shower gel or washing powder... or sanpro.

Lack of sanitary products and toilet facilities has long been known as a major reason girls drop out of school in developing countries. I think people were then shocked by the investigation/study that came out that showed it was also an issue in the UK. As someone upthread said it is actually a really easy problem to solve so it has become a popular choice I think. (Much easier to provide some tampons than to address the systemic causes of poverty)

The reason the TRAs are all over it is that they had a strategy meeting where they decided they all looked bad for never giving a shit about actual cunty women so they decided they should all tweet about it. There is a thread about it somewhere. Plus they get to impose their newspeak on us which they seem to enjoy.

We had a thread about this a while back www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3472616-Period-Poverty-its-taking-the-piss-isnt-it

I agree it's a tokenist move (but of course food banks and schools should have sanpro)

I think it’s really weird. I know I am older now and much more open to new things but there are washable products. Reusable products. It has taken me years to get to this point but if you have no money wouldn’t you just get there quicker?
I noticed on one campaign they did mention mooncups - £20 and it will last years. Initial cost but after that it won’t cost anything.
I can’t tell if it’s outrage that there is any tax on tampons and towels or it’s a campaign that’s got some other basis.
To me it’s weird. If you really want to help people it shouldn’t be with diposbables which you have to buy every month. It should be spreading the word on reusables. I am much happier with my current Sanpro. I have a friend who makes washable sanitary towels. Less waste.
The whole thing is very weird. But that’s my opinion!

I have only ever heard reasonable people discuss it within the context of teenaged girls whose parents don’t supply adequate sanpro but who are otherwise not living in poverty.

@gwlondon reusable sanpro isn’t suitable for a lot of women for various reasons.

Teenagers shouldn't be in period poverty. Why aren't their parents buying sanpro? I buy mine from Lidl - 50p a pack.

Period poverty is a real thing. It's been said that 1 in 10 teenage girls in the uk have difficulty buying sanitary wear.

Of course poverty affects many people, but when you're a family on the breadline, buying sanitary wear is often the last thing on the list.

This adversely affects teenage women and therefore their education as they often miss school because of it.

Mooncups aren't for everyone. And this is a very real issue for women today.

I don't think young girls should be expected to manage periods with things that you have to stick up your cunt, personally.

Mooncups are quite big, telling an 11yo offf you go that's what you've got to use is not right.

Most girls use pads for a while until they start to use tampons + some religions don't allow for anything you stuff up there I don't think.

I read a thread about swimming recently with posters saying they HAVE to wear tampons if they want to be in swim clubs etc this sort of thing is what was meant by inclusion originally, if you have a result where girls are excluded (excluded themselves) because of their biology then it's not "equal". Comes about as "equal" is always measured with male as default.

I really don't understand why mooncups are so often usggested as a solution for young girls.

I also tried mooncups and they were great while I was at home with my own bathroom sink etc I couldn't manage them when I went back to work. I didn't seem to be able to get it out without getting blood all over my hands!

I agree, it's just "poverty poverty". Is it any different that not being able to easily afford other hygiene items like loo roll?

It seems to be a cause celebre amongst TRAs so that they can claim they are doing something positive for "bleeders".

I don't think items like mooncups or reusable sanpro are particularly practical for younger girls to be honest.

Reuable is often a bigger initial outlay which obviously isn't going to work if you are skint

Washable > requires organisation, familial support, washing machine in use in house etc

Reusable as the answer to this ignores a lot of realities I think

If you are using reusable pads do you carry the used ones in your school bag? Not sure how they work not used them

You're right to suggest that the root causes of poverty need to be addressed, but there is a false dichotomy set up here when you say "Wouldn't people concerned that women don't have enough money for sanitary products, be better off fighting the causes of actual poverty?"

Well, yes of course, but periods don't wait until the poverty crisis has been solved, if it ever can be. And period poverty is an implication of this 'actual poverty' you speak of that directly impacts women and girls, and many commenters here have laid these out clearly. There's no need for period poverty to take a back seat. You could literally say that about anything, then (e.g., fuel poverty, food poverty, etc.)

And using items that are not specifically for stemming menstrual flow for that purpose risks infections, damage to the lining of the vagina, etc. I watched a documentary and one woman who left a domestic abuser with her small children had to go around for days in white jeans soaked in her own menstrual fluid because she had to make a choice between using what little money she had for food for her and her children, and sanitary products. She also used cardboard to stem her flow and injured herself. No woman should suffer that indignity. If toilet roll can be subsidised in public toilets for everyone, then sanitary products can be subsidised for women.

However, on the issue of whether TRAs are using it to erase the terms Girl and Woman: You're right and it's exactly what turned me towards GC feminism. My local MSP has been campaigning to end period poverty in my home city and received a plethora of abuse to stop using those terms in favour of "people". I was furious.

My local MSP has been campaigning to end period poverty in my home city and received a plethora of abuse to stop using those terms in favour of "people". I was furious.

I can't believe this is actually happening, it's like a scene from a political farce. Can't believe people really think it's a good idea / can't see the problem with erasing the words women and girls from our language. (Or, worse, appropriating them to mean something entirely different).

I really don't understand why mooncups are so often usggested as a solution for young girls.

Agree, I'm in my 30s, have DC, bought the 30+ mooncup,can't use it. Bought the smaller one, can't use it either. £40 wasted. I can't get the fuckers out. Last time it took me lying on my bathroom floor for 40 minutes and constant warm running water. Imagine trying to do that at 15 years old and in your school's new gender neutral toilets.

As an aside, why can't someone design a tampon which breaks up like toilet paper so they can be flushed.

Why aren't their parents buying sanpro?

Well quite. But it's really not that simple. There can often be other factors involved such as drugs, alcohol or gambling addiction. Those parents are not going to prioritise sanpro when more often than not just feeding their kids is an inconvenience. Obviously not saying everyone in poverty has addiction problems. As someone previously involved in a volunteer school breakfast program I can say it's a factor in some cases sadly.

Because it would start to break down when wet with blood too I imagine.