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/

and discomfort around men whilst menstruating.

@AlexandriasWindmill see above

I'm not pretending about anything - I just think there's been a lot of people posting choice words out of context.

I've posted the full specification for transparency.

Your experience is that facilitating and engaging - mean something other than engaging. But in most cases, they mean exactly that. People facilitate in the room.
So if the job description focuses on the role engaging at three different levels - partners, staff and end users. And the press release was all about how the role would engage with end users. Why do you think your interpretation is correct when it's contrary to the language used, the press release issued and the publicity campaign around his appointment?

I disagree @1blossomtree - the size/scale of the project suggests the postholder will be a jack of all trades, there doesn't appear to be significant infrastructure around the post, the steering group will be just that. So I'd imagine the postholder will be doing all sorts from -packing boxes for delivery through to identifying, developing and delivering community engagement/PICE/PPI

Easy there @AlexandriasWindmill

I'm quoting directly from the job specification. I'm not saying my opinion trumps anyones.

5. Provide support to the project team in identifying, developing and facilitating events and activities that engage our communities and young people, creating opportunities for learning, networking, and accessing free products, (with a particular focus on identifying barriers to access and reducing the stigma around menstruation and period products.

I've said several times I'm incredibly concerned based on the press release which sounds like it's for an entirely different job, and many other aspects of the recruitment.

If a well qualified man was recruited to the job, as set out in the spec, I don't see an issue.

Yet even staged as they are, the girl cannot hide her unease and discomfort. Her body language and face tell you she is uncomfortable and wierded out.
You dont need audio to tell you this was a shit idea, badly conceived and terribly applied.

They really are fighting hard for him aren’t they?
Telling those of us who have worked in similar roles as Jason we know nothing about it and even explaining how photos work while accusing us of not reading the JD or only reading the bits that suit us.
The majority of women (you know, the ones who actually have periods) don’t want a man in this role

Do they have free period products in the mens toilets too? Because clearly men can have periods too. 🙄

Seriously though. What kind of weirdo is he?

I think we can pick apart the job description and speculate about the daily tasks of this man's job for another ten pages it won't make any difference. None of us work strictly to the job description we applied for.

He is a man and that role should have been for female applicants only, but when you have a government putting period products in male facilities for all genders then we know how messed up this is.

Until we get the FOI response it looks like this was a job for a mate, given the short application date and that makes it even more insulting for the dignity of women and girls.

Why don't you care that women don't want this?

Exactly. How's that 'Dignity' part of his role sounding to people who completely disagree with all the women who find it anything but dignified?

And have I mis-remembered, or did he talk about people who menstruate?

Yes. It's clear and obvious. Not sure why certain posters are repeatedly telling us that these words don't mean what they obviously mean.

Apparently period poverty doesn't exist?

twitter.com/mforstater/status/1560167387860795397

Yes, they do. At least, they do in schools.

Thanks, that's an excellent thread from Maya.

Experience in our school was that they launched the 'period pverty' scheme and then had to find ways to dispose of the excess. I think we ended up sending it overseas. Hardly anybody wanted, needed or used the sanpro.

That's a great thread. My work put free sanpro all over the place but the girls only used it in an emergency. Great that it's there if you need it, though. I like when places have a basket of sanpro in the bathroom - that's all that's needed, really. Maybe stock up the sanpro machines and give people a re-usuable token rather than a coin.

I've always found anywhere I've encountered free sanpro that is always cheap and irritating. Grand if you're really stuck and some toilet paper wont do but I think women should have choice over sanpro and what works for them long term. Anyone without the experience of using sanpro would treat it as purely a cost rather than thinking about the experience of using it.

How is a man ever going to understand applicator vs non applicator, the annoyance of those cheap cardboard applicators that are more hassle that they're worth, wings on a pad etc
Unless you've pulled a cheap dry tampon out, you have no business in the conversation

I'm sure it's useful when you're caught short. To suggest its a nationally urgent issue in need of dozens of staff to remedy seems pretty unlikely to me, and unfortunately Maya's points about other reasons for pursuing the whole 'dignity' thing sound plausible.

Not to say its not an issue for anybody, but the '1 in 4' figure certainly made me raise my eyebrows. Wonder what the source of that figure is?

Our school is in an area with a lot of PEF funding for pupils (based on deprivation index) and as I said, there wasn't really a need for it.

Another point from the linked thread in Maya's thread:

Yes, girls miss school because of their periods:

'28 % of girls said they missed school more than once. Mainly because of pain.
2% of those who missed school said it was because they couldn't afford period products.'

And Maya nails it as usual.

Tis alllll about the appropriation and fetishisation and colonisation of femalehood by males for males. Who are having a lovely time. And couldn't really care less about the females involved.

Really, really done with enabling all this now. I'm a biological reality, not a fucking tourist venue for males.

Not rtft but enjoying just ask Jason.
Has he told any women yet to "just hold it in"?

SkygardenTower
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.

Actually it sounds as if it's all up and running and working well without any input from Jason at all.

I agree with Maya as well. Too many people are poor. Poverty means there are all sorts of basics they struggle to pay for - food, fuel, transport, clothes, nappies, tv licence. Why fixate on sanitary protection, which is relatively cheap and isn't going to set you back more a few pounds a month? The idea that you then have to spend money employing people to promote the scheme feels like an added level of bonkers-ness.

I feel like there are some points being missed tbh. All the most recent research points to girls self-excluding especially during their period because they don't have access to single-sex toilets at school.
The Plan International link touches on that issue (and it doesn't try to erase girls - it references girls throughout).
Sanpro may seem relatively cheap to those who can obviously afford it but we're in the middle of a massive cost of living crisis. When many families (especially single parent households and households with additional issues eg caring needs, addiction, disability) are having to choose between food and heating, then even 'cheap' sanpro can sometimes slip a little further down the priority list.
The issues of period poverty; of this man being employed; and of Scotland prioritising the distribution of free sanpro - sit at the nexus of lots of political debates including single sex spaces; period education; genuine poverty (not just period poverty) and the constant steady hum of the Scottish independence debate.
Do TRAs fetishise periods? Yes. Does that mean we shouldn't welcome genuine discussions on how to support girls and women who are being denied single sex toilets, who are self-excluding when they have their periods, who may find their families struggling to afford even cheap sanpro? I don't think so.

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.

Elaine Miller springs to mind.

It's appalling to think of girls getting information or 'adivce' from this twit. I mean, how could he possibly help in any way?

I think the mixed sex toilets don’t help in schools either. Imagine going in and the stuff is there to help yourself. Then a boy comes in. I think a lot of girls would not take the free ones

give kids back their own sex toilets. That’s dignity.