Free period products in the men's toilet

[Lizardonachair]

My government (not UK) has decided to roll out free period products and they are putting them in the men's toilets as well as the women's. I am absolutely furious. This means that men are welcome in our toilets. I just needed a space to vent where I am not called a bigot, I know there is nothing I can do.

No

I work in a uk government agency and the department we are part of and all its agencies were recently given free tea, coffee, sugar and milk in the kitchens and free period products in the women’s loos due to the cost of living crisis and genera terrible pay rises for the past 10 years. When the period products appeared in the ladies someone rightly pointed out they should be in the disabled toilets too (this was immediately done) and then someone said they should be in the men’s too, so they are. Quite tempted to ask shouldn’t there be sanitary bins in there too but I’m sure someone will take it seriously. (I’m not convinced the person who suggested the products should be in the men’s was serious but here we are).

I suggest that women get their husbands and boyfriends to take some and bring home to their wives, girlfriends and daughters etc .

I wouldn't usually condone stealing but in this instance I would.

Man on a night out down the pub, accesses essential stuff in the men's powder room.
Condoms...check.
Old Spice...check.
Tampax...erm, some mistake surely.

I’m sure the notorious departmental tight ass who jokes about going to the toilet at work to save his home toilet paper will be pocketing some for his wife and teenage daughters! Ironically confirming the need to have them in the men’s if they disappear faster in there than in the ladies’

The daft thing is that people have actually been suggesting (on a FB page I follow) that this is the purpose of them. For dads to take home to their daughters when they are "caught short" surely if they are home it's not that much of an emergency and dad can buy some at the shop? And if the daughter is out she can get some from the women's toilets 😂

Ha yes! And the toilets are in the town centre, so you know that they will be thrown about by lads on their night out as well and they'll be decorating the street!

Boys will be boys.
Just not girls.

They’re saying transmen are welcome in the men’s loos.

Which means transwomen are welcome in the women’s loos…..?

Yes, that is a bad thing for biological realists who don’t want male-bodied people in our single-sex spaces.

What? Why would you think this?

You’re wrong, by the way.

Is it so men can take some home for their female partners if they too are struggling with period poverty?

It is possible but I have a feeling that there is a different agenda here. Many people who I have discussed it with are under the impression (rightly or wrongly) that they are intended for transmen and if you disagree with them using the men's then you are a bigot. So it seems that even if it isn't the intention of the campaign is, it's certainly been perceived that way by a lot of people. A few years ago I would have thought this was a nice thing in regard to supporting those who need free tampons but with all the virtue signaling around trans rights these days it's hard not to be a bit skeptical. I will certainly be contacting them to clarify their stance on it and I do hope that I am proved wrong.

I skipped past your comment as I thought you had misread my post but now I understand where you are coming from! I don't know if they have placed sanitary products bins in the toilets or not. I wonder if they would have them anyway for people with stoma bags and incontinence pads etc?

Why? Because I live in another country where they don't have them! And I've travelled in many countries that don't have them. In any case, it's not really relevant. I was just pointing out that, contrary to what the pp said, putting bins into the men's wouldn't necessarily incur an ongoing cost.

Blood is a bio-hazard. Disposal of such products is always a problem in a public lavatory.

Total side note, but I thought sanitary bins in men's loos was virtue signalling and a waste of resources, until I listened to a section on radio 4 about how men who have had prostrate surgery leading to incontinence really struggle with where to put their used tena pads! It reminded me there is more use for sanitary bins than just period products. Just sharing because I hadn't thought about this before!

Blood as waste is considered a biohazard and needs to be disposed of properly. A used tampon is not the same as a paper towel you’ve dried your hands on. Your use of “deadly” undermines the point you hoped to make, as it’s hyperbole.

We have period products in both toilets in school so that boys can discreetly take them home for parents or siblings. We have them in classrooms too for anyone to take.

True but it doesn't change the fact that many countries don't have them. I work for a large company in Italy and they don't have them. They don't have them in schools here either.

Why can't the women themselves take some from a ladies loo? Women are allowed out alone in this Year of Our Lord 2023

@AliOlis What if the women don't work in the office with the free products?

Op says the government is instigating this, so I assumed they'd be in public loos as well as private buildings?

Lots of bars and restaurants in France, Italy and Belgium.

But it's why we have them in the UK. They do not appear in men's lavatories, only women's.

My daughter is disabled and can't get out much, so often asked me to buy sanitary products - I'm a man.

If I was struggling to afford them, free provisions in toilets would be helpful.

There really is a determination to find bad faith here. How about it just potentially making life easier for people, however small that might be?