Free period products in Scotland

[BlackForestCake]

Bit of good news among the shitshow.

The Scottish Parliament voted unanimously to fund public bodies to make free sanpro available.

Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that it was "an important policy for women and girls", like there was something special about women and girls that meant they in particular need period products. The awful T**F that she is.

If scotland's so hard up, then they should remove toilet paper too then surely? Not hard to carry some with you, be prepared! It's not like you don't know you'll need to wee at some point etc..

Well, quite. I've visited foreign countries where toilet paper and soap certainly weren't standard in public toilets. You had to make sure to carry a pack of tissues and hand sanitiser at all times.

If free toilet paper and soap come as standard, I fail to understand why sanpro doesn't.

It doesn't need to be fancy - basic, unscented towels should be sufficient for most places.

It's predicted to cost about £8.7 million a year. That is nothing. My local council just spent double that on giving every school child an ipad. I think not having to worry about a wadded handful of loo roll coming adrift during PE will have a far greater impact on educational outcomes.

Isn't part of the issue the fact that it (buying this stuff) is an expense that only women have. It's unfair financially. It's an essential item not some type of luxury that women are now being given for free.

Well, quite. I've visited foreign countries where toilet paper and soap certainly weren't standard in public toilets. You had to make sure to carry a pack of tissues and hand sanitiser at all times.

Yep, me too. Or where in the posh places, they had loo roll outside the cubicles, and you had to remember to take some in with you.

Now that I'm thinking about it, the other use for tissues was reserving your table at the food court while you went and bought food.... ugh, that's not something I realised until now.

@1000umbrellas

It's predicted to cost about £8.7 million a year. That is nothing. My local council just spent double that on giving every school child an ipad. I think not having to worry about a wadded handful of loo roll coming adrift during PE will have a far greater impact on educational outcomes.

None of the big Scottish councils have money to give out iPads. My kids school has about 4 tablets paid for by the PTA for 450 kids.

@Gurufloof

But this isn't just about free in school I feel like I'm repeating myself , but The average 12 year old doesn't have a job to pay for sanpro, and also doesn't only ever visit school when they are needed and there are these things called school holiday hth

The average 12 year old has parents to buy them.

For those whose parents neglect to provide them ( and as a basic need it is neglect) then of course it's a different story

I don't think our council have the money for it either. They went down to a 4.5 day school week several years ago to cut costs.

Its odd that trans women are celebrating this on twitter-yet they are also actively trying to dismantle safeguarding for women and girls-here's looking at you Christine Burns.

This as a complete red herring.

Good but unlikely to make a big difference in the longer term. A bit like a plaster to fix a leaking boat. It does allow the Scottish gvt to pat itself on the back though for addressing one of the easiest things to fix of all the issues affecting women. It will be crappy quality own brand stuff of course and millions of women will continue to have to choose between eating and putting the heating on because of austerity policies. Lots will also be trapped in abusive relationships because government won’t fund proper DV support services. But free tampons!

I don’t want to piss on anyone’s fire and I do think this is good but I worry that it’s now a box ticked for ‘helping women’ when it’s barely going to make a dent in many other issues facing women in Scotland and rest of UK.

For those whose parents neglect to provide them ( and as a basic need it is neglect) then of course it's a different story

Yes, if the refusal to provide it to them is not money-related, it’s a sign of a much more serious problem that handing out free sanpro is really not going to address.

Over 50 years ago when I plucked up the courage to tell my mother that I'd started my periods she tore up an old pillow case and gave me a few rags. Imagine going to school terrified that this thing was going to fall out of your pants, in the days before tights which would have provided a bit more security.

I was too young for a Saturday job so had to use my pocket money to buy pads and a belt after an excruciating visit to the chemist shop.

I know times have changed but there will still be girls and women suffering agonies of embarrassment through having no sanpro.

I'm delighted to see this, if you don't need to avail yourself of the free products then don't but have a thought for those who do.

For those whose parents neglect to provide them ( and as a basic need it is neglect) then of course it's a different story

How do you identify these kids. Send them to the office bleeding to fill out a questionnaire?

There have been plenty of free supplies in Scottish toilets for a while now, in libraries, swimming pools etc. Having them in lots of places, takes away some of the stress and need to "stock up," making it more likely people will only take what they need. Almost everyone who can still buys their own in the supermarket etc. rather than clean out the library supplies. It is clear that this is aimed at people who have no access or to help if you are caught short, it isn't like every woman of menstruating age is getting them through the post.

The comparison with toilet roll is a good one, as people still buy their own for home. It would be seen as really cheap to steal it from the pub (although I have known plenty of students do this). Hopefully it will stop san pro being seen as something shameful and secret as well, just having it so present as part of going to the toilet anywhere.

Absolutely Threeoleary I guess some people are incapable of putting themselves in someone else's shoes, if they haven't lived it, they don't see the problem. Being poor is shit and degrading for children and adults. No dinner money because parents wouldn't apply for free meals - they thought that was humiliating for them! So to school to lie all the time, "I've forgotten it" the standard excuse for no dinner money, no ingredients for cookery, no material for crafts, no money for trips, no regular supply of sanitary products. My life is million miles from this now & nobody would know that this is what I grew up with, not even my DC, but it never leaves you. Every step towards eradicating poverty is a step in the right direction.

And this is why left feminists have been banging on for decades about why all kinds of inequality need to be addressed, not just sex inequality.

(This is not the same as saying “feminism is about equality for everyone”)

@Flatpackback I've never told anyone about my experience either, not even my family. You're right - the memory of humiliation never totally leaves.

To be perfectly honest the 'pocket money' I referred to consisted of any spare coins I managed to glean through the month.

There were certainly a few comments that implied cos girls got pads boys should get something

Mm, but what, exactly? What male-only effluvia needs managing?

Free wank-socks for boys, perhaps?

In general any policy to reduce period poverty is a good thing.

The sting in this tail for the SNP and independence supporters is that these types of policies (baby boxes, free eye tests, tuition fees, bus travel etc etc) are only affordable by being part of the union. After all, 75% of the time Scotland receives more than it puts in, and that money comes from London and the South East. Not that it is controversial to note this, it is the economic foundation of the UK that London and the South East are the only net contributors to our economy, and the surplus is redistributed everywhere else.

So independence supporters get the warm fuzzies of seeing how much nicer they are than the English who make people pay for pads and tampons, but if they achieve their goal of independence they'll have to fill the 10 - 15% hole in their annual budget that comes from being part of the UK.

At that point, the last thing on the Scottish government's list will be free tampons, as they'll be trying to find billons down the back of the couch to fund the basics like the education and health systems.

Razors were mentioned. Other than that no other suggestions. I guess nothing is what have when you are so busy weighing up who gets what you dont stop to think why

Although aren't men technically getting the free tampons 🤔....

Razors wouldn't work, since shaving is optional yet encouraged for both sexes. More heavily encouraged for women than for men, in fact - beards are in fashion but leg and armpit hair really aren't!

Well we can't let logic get in the way of things being "equal"

I do think this may be a more targeted intervention than scrapping vat on sanitary products in a way. As PP have said, most women and girls will prefer to bring/use their own products, but making them freely available takes away all the stigma of having to go to a food bank or the school nurse or making do with something less secure/hygienic. Far better than knocking 10p off something you can’t afford. We take it for granted that there’s no charge for birth control on the nhs (whether you can afford it or not) because there is a clear benefit for society.

The only way I can see this one being remotely "equal" is, well, wank-socks. For use at night in case of unconscious emissions. Coupled with a public campaign to encourage males to both use them and wash them themselves.

Might be an improvement for anyone who does laundry for a teenage boy, but not really the best use of public funds.

Well the boys could just be told "no" won't go down well but someone's gotta do it...