Dundee man leads fight against period poverty

[PrimAndProperPearlClutcher]

“It’s about making people aware of the availability of period products for anyone of any gender, whenever they need it.

... '“I was chosen as the best person for the job and for me, it’s irrespective of gender.

“Having a guy can’t be a bad thing – it grabs the headlines, but that’s not the reason I was put into post!” Jason continues.

“For me it’s about driving the discussion from a young age so boys and girls are included and there’s no hiding it away because that keeps it as a taboo topic.

“I want to be seen as a positive male role model.”'

www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/3593497/dundee-man-leading-period-poverty-fight-how-to-get-free-products/

I realise there's context here, in terms of the state of affairs in Scotland. But - I've been trying to have a problem with this but I just don't. They are launching a major scheme for women. They will have looked to see if the role merits exemption. Its mostly marketing so, no. Open to all applicants. As far as anyone knows he was the best candidate. If he's allowed to apply then he's allowed to be successful. I wish him well.

Because he was the 'best man for the job'. No siree, not a single female with actual life experience of periods was at all suitable.

He'll be mansplaining to everyone about periods, but will have to ask his female colleagues a lot of questions in order to do his job.

Hey Susie, I have a library in Aberdeen who need to cut the budget on supply of sanitary products. We can just supply tampons right, and cut back on pads? All women use tampons, right?

There's another long thread running on this outside the Feminism board so I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote there. This was about my 2nd or third comment - earlier on, I'd commented on the job description.

"I just went to look on Twitter for more info. First thing I saw was the news article in the Courier. Remember the bit in the job description that says the candidate should have a proven track history of engaging and empowering "in particular young people who menstruate."

This is his experience: "Jason comes to the role with varied background and experience. As well as a former role as an account manager with Imperial Tobacco, Jason then trained as a personal trainer setting up his own fitness business. Most recently, he’s worked as a student wellbeing officer with Dundee and Angus College."

I fail to see how any of that relates directly to menstruating women, young girls just starting out with their periods. A personal trainer, working in accounts at a tobacco firm, and a stint in student welfare at a college. Literally nothing there at all that's specific to female health, and certainly not menstruation. Absolutely nothing to qualify him for this role as an expert in menstruation.

And turning to the question of whether it's purely an administrative role - it's very clearly not. Photo here of Jason and another beardy man delivering information about periods to a mother and her daughter. This is not a distant project manager role. This is hands on delivery of information to service users. From a man who used to work in accounts at a tobacco firm."

I cannot see anything at all that suggests he's the best person for the job. There's clearly a hands-on element, with a man delivering education about periods to young girls. Who clearly will feel very comfortable about that prospect.....not. Also, his background has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with women, periods or menstruation. He's supremely unqualified. And the job description suggests this is not a distant pen-pusher role, but one where he's expected to actively engage with the communities, and in particular "young people who menstruate" - presumably that means females.

As a final cherry on the top, he's also going to be helping to educate us about our menopause. The man with zero lived experience, and zero medical qualification, and zero professional knowledge. But hey, he worked in accounts in a tobacco firm and that has to count for something, right?

I'm so pissed off.

One thing that could be seen as positive, is the openness. I was brought up to hide periods, that no one, especially no men, should ever know. We didn't leave a box of tampons in the bathroom, and you'd choose a female checkout assistant when shopping.

I'm now torn between admiring the openness and feeling like privacy is being removed. Maybe this is a women's issue and men shouldn't be part of it.

On holiday in Scotland and there were period products available in the public loos, both sanitary towels and tampons. Plus posters saying to take what you need (there was plenty) and how to get more later. On the website you can also get a supply of reusable pads and menstrual cups so most options covered.

As said upthread, this isn’t a job that requires single sex exception and is mostly marketing. There is no reason a man can’t do the role.

Hey teenage daughter will I direct you towards a man to discuss periods with whike knowing menstruation can be a fetish for men while others get off on forced intimacy or making women uncomfortable? That will be a no then. Will I expect men in your life to happily buy your sanitary wear and to listen to you about your experience of periods - yes but then all line have achieved this and it wasn’t radical back 35 years ago.

On the basis that these roles haven't existed would there be any women who can easily demonstrate "a proven track history of engaging and empowering "in particular young people who menstruate."?

It absolutely amazes me that this man had the gall to apply for a job for which he is supremely unqualified - let alone that they gave it to him! What's that saying - "Give me the confidence of a mediocre white male?"

There must be hundreds of women with experience of working with women and girls on health issues: nurses, midwives, teachers, public health officials, youth workers. I struggle to believe that they couldn't find a woman who was more qualified for the job than this man.

Well, at least adult women will have experience of being one ‘young person who menstruates’.

I share your views on being torn on a couple of points here @picklemewalnuts.

Although I absolutely don't think he should have been appointed - it's like appointing a man as Minister for Women - there is some value in being more open with our boys.

However, reading through his statement it's like a torrent of info about boys. I don't feel as if it centres women and girls at all. This was part of what he's said:

“I was chosen as the best person for the job and for me, it’s irrespective of gender. Having a guy can’t be a bad thing – it grabs the headlines, but that’s not the reason I was put into post!” Jason continues.

“For me it’s about driving the discussion from a young age so boys and girls are included and there’s no hiding it away because that keeps it as a taboo topic. I want to be seen as a positive male role model. I believe I can make progress by proving this isn’t just a female topic, encouraging conversations across all genders and educating and engaging new audiences.”

I mean, that's great. But I'd like to see women and girls put front and centre because they are the primary service users, and the ones in need of support, help and advice. Bearing in mind this remit also covers the menopause. Absolutely I want to hear about women, not about how he's a positive male role model and with his first statement, there's a strong emphasis on men and boys. All of it just doesn't sit well, it's like we're being nudged out of our own lane. Again.

Oh come on. The job has a long skill set, that alone doesn't make someone qualified. I have the experience of going to school and attending hospital. That doesn't make me a suitable teacher or doctor.

Experience in girl guiding, women's sport, women's custody, teaching in a girls secondary?

Also, many girls and women from ethnic minorities are not going to talk to him about periods.

@PowerPack "On the basis that these roles haven't existed would there be any women who can easily demonstrate "a proven track history of engaging and empowering "in particular young people who menstruate."?"

In answer to your question, yes. There will be many women who have worked in sexual health, in student support services advice roles, in women's health in general, who will have worked around the topic, who have relevant experience for the role.

This man is already centering himself in social media about the role. There should be no need for pictures of him in the social media about this job; the role isn't about him. Or is it?

Good luck to him. Men can definitely advocate for women's health.
Last year an 11 year old male pupil of mine delivered a brilliant spontaneous speech about period poverty following a lesson on menstruation. It was a searing indictment of the current state of affairs for women and girls requiring access to sanitary products. Touchingly, he stated that it was wrong that his parents had to economise on sanpro in order to buy enough for several female family members, saying he felt his mum, sisters and SIL all deserved "sanitary pads made of silk and gold and as soft as clouds" and to be able to change them as often as they needed, without worrying about running out or relying on loo roll. "They should be able to pack their whole bag full of pads and change every hour if they want to." He said that by the time he was a father of a daughter, the country would luckily be run by people like him who would want the same for all the women in their lives.
Such a star.

As I understand it a large part of his job is to gain publicity and raise the profile. Doing pretty well so far.

I'm surprised a man was the best person for the job, but as we don't know who the other applicants were, how can we possibly know?

@SpidersAreShitheads after more thought, I'm pissed off that a job women have done unpaid for generations has now been made, paid, and given to a bloke.

Every woman would have a qualification for this job that he doesn't have. And as a pp says, it suggests that there are no women in Scotland who have the requisite skill set. What a sexist statement that is, in itself.

Or no suitable women applied?

Do we know what that salary is?

I would say so, yes.

There may not have been a dedicated period champion or a working group set up solely for menstruation before but there's been plenty of medical professionals working in the field. I'm in my 40s and when I was at school I can remember we had a visit from some females who explained about periods, pads and tampons and gave us some free samples from a variety of companies. I want to say they were community nurses, or something similar, but certainly had some kind of medical background. Whatever they were, they took questions from us and were very comfortable sharing experiences of having periods etc. I would say any female professional with this kind of back ground would be ideally placed to show a "proven track history of engaging and empowering in particular young people who menstruate."

Alternatively, I know there are workers within the local YOS teams who deliver training on various subjects including sexual health. They would have experience of delivering projects AND working directly with teens, talking about periods, condoms and sexual health. Because lets's face it, for a young teen contemplating periods, those subjects are very closely entwined.

Lots of nurses and qualified medical professionals have experience in project management now too because of the direction the NHS has taken.

So yes, the role may be new in its exclusivity, but there are many female professionals with much greater knowledge and experience than a bloke who used to work in accounts for a cigarette firm.

We had a period PSHEE lesson at my school, some female some male presenters, they group I was with weren’t fazed at all by a male presenter. We do need to normalise men talking about these issues. Yes the affect women, but it isn’t just on women to solve. Periods shouldn’t be hidden away and something shameful, they should be out and open and being discussed.

Breaking stereotypes, to allow women to do anything they want, also works the other way, having men do these roles without ridicule is opening the topic up.

It's the ultimate mansplain.

Just like any man who wants to be in women's single sex spaces is the type of man who shouldn't be in there, any man who wants to talk to young women about periods is not the kind of man who should be given the job.

Fucking hell. Just no. No, men do not understand periods. No, men should not be talking to girls about something they don't understand when there are plenty of women who do understand and have the right kind of skills for the job.

£33 to £36k. Two year fixed contract.

The thing about this is, even if you accept that he's capable of doing a good job - which I absolutely do not - the optics STINK. Women have a history of being spoken over, and for not being given a voice about our own issues. There is absolutely not a chance in hell that there was not a single woman capable of delivering this project. As I said above, imagine putting a man in for Women's Minister etc. Even IF the person was fully competent, it reeks of speaking over people.

He doesn't even have a background in medicine or women's health, let alone understanding the intricacies in societal issues. Are young females from ethnic minorities going to engage with him? Of course not. And I'd suggest that a fair number of girls in general won't want to engage with a young, good-looking bloke about periods - it will be way too embarrassing.

I wasn't impressed but I assumed he had a phenomenal CV - but he doesn't. He talks a bit about mental health, but that's because he has experience of that when he worked as a student support worker. There's nothing at all in his career that makes him an outstanding candidate to speak about periods. And certainly not the menopause. For a man to be appointed here, he would truly have to be an exceptional candidate. And he's not. Tobacco accounts worker, fitness trainer, set up his own business and then worked in student support at a college. Nothing centring women and nothing about menopause or menstruation. Nothing about delivering training to young teens on sex ed etc. Nothing of real relevance.

I think a large part of the thinking is probably sending a message to men - look, here's a man who's not embarrassed talking about periods. That's good in one way but it's a shame as people have said that the paid role goes to a man and it's also very weird to have a man telling women about something he will never experience. Surely a better approach would be to employ a man and a woman so there's more of a conversation going on and showing a man listening to a woman and learning from her(!)

So it's hardly a plumb job? A short term contract on a pretty low salary for the skills and experience requested and something that needs someone with the confidence to get out there. I don't know what the job market's like in Scotland, but I wouldn't expect many applicants for that post here.

I am also trying to have a problem with this.
I get it that some girls and women will feel uncomfortable talking to a man about periods. But I think there should be less of a stigma/embarrassment about periods and men and women should be able to discuss them openly. (I am also from a background where we did not talk about periods if the menz were in the room, products were kept hidden, and you chose a female checkout assistant when shopping for them.)
Also, I was comparing it to midwives. Do I think only women who've given birth can or should do that job? No. It feels wrong to me to think or say that.

I do though agree with pps that there must be plenty of women with experience of working with women's health issues, and so am sceptical about the idea that he was more qualified for the job than anyone else.