Too poor to buy sanitary towels

end of the road

Permabear wrote: »

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all caused by lack of education, caused by lack of supports to help people who are uneducated get into education, which all comes back to government priorities and policy. government priority and policy will always come into the issues to a great or less extent somewhere along the line. there will be some who simply can't be helped no matter what, absolutely, but there are many who can and need to be.

timthumbni

nosilver wrote: »

at £11 per 20 cigs even that is not affordable. But some people just love quoting unverified sterotype images from a media that has an agenda.

£73 benefits - sorry, but hard to see money for cigs or alcohol in that no matter how you look at it.

Always will be a few, but vast majority just struggle to buy the basics.

btw - less than 17% of adults smoke in UK.

Well I assume a lot less than 17% of those on benefits are really having an issue affording sanitary pads. My point was more that if the parent is getting benefits and not managing them properly then problems will occur with the kids normally the worst losers.

And where are you getting the figure of 73 quid benefits btw? Does this include all of the various benefit add ons, credits etc or this just a made up figure??

Permabear

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trixychic

Can I just point out that not all the poverty stricken ppl live in council estates??? Houses on benefits can be hard to get in this country. Or what of those ppl who used to be middle class and bought a house but are now at risk of losing their homes to the bank. If it came down to st'a or the monthly mortgage and good I can imagine what would be sacrificed.

Permabear

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trixychic

Permabear wrote: »

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In no way anywhere have I ever said that this is the government's problem.

Its just that some ppl have a somewhat closed view as to the "poverty stricken" people in our country and they all seem to be living in council houses affording fags, booze and the top model games/clothes etc.

Imo these people are not the impoverished. Some ppl choose to live like that and that's another story altogether. I just know having come from a very poor background that that is not the only poverty stricken places there are.

nosilver

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I used to work in Wythenshawe, Europe's largest social housing project. Every day I'd get the bus to work and every day I'd overhear the schoolchildren talking. They all had the latest consoles, new Nikes and were regularly going to football matches. The place couldn't possibly have been more run down but somehow those all important Nikes and games got purchased anyway.

Plenty of people in these areas work and earn a wage, but there are plenty that struggle. And agian like may you only notice those who have stuff - those who don't are not noticed.

timthumbni wrote: »

Well I assume a lot less than 17% of those on benefits are really having an issue affording sanitary pads. My point was more that if the parent is getting benefits and not managing them properly then problems will occur with the kids normally the worst losers.

And where are you getting the figure of 73 quid benefits btw? Does this include all of the various benefit add ons, credits etc or this just a made up figure??

Very few would have issues with basics, but there would be a few.

£73 is the standard jobseekers allowance, (use a site call google and check it for yourself) yes there are add-ons, but not many are in form of extra cash.

Permabear

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Yes, there are people so poor that they can't afford some basics. There would be more who don't prioritize their childrens needs over their own, and no, that's not the governments fault. The problem is, saying people should be better at budgeting and prioritizing hygiene products isn't much good if they just don't, and kids are caught in the cracks between what parents should be doing, and what they actually do. Kids as young as 9 menstruate, they can't all earn money to look after their health needs. Even teenagers in desperately impoverished areas won't have the opportunity to earn £10 an hour babysitting - very poor people can't hire babysitters.

It's also unhelpful to say cutting up bits of towel should be okay because that's what was done 50 years ago. 50 years ago lots of homes in Ireland and the UK didn't have indoor plumbing and we don't think it's reasonable or hygenic to go back that situation in 2017. Kids can't change bloody rags in school, transport them home, sanitize them properly and dry them for re-use - especially if they're 10 years old.

I know some schools keep products in the office, but the norm appears to be that this is for the occasional timing issue or accident, they're not there to provide a regular monthly supply. Kids need something to rely on, something safe, dignified and hygenic. I would consider that a basic human right.

Growing up is hard enough without stealing more of it by denying kids clean and hygenic ways of dealing with a basic bodily function. It's enough that younger and younger little girls have to deal with pain, blood, embarrassment and sometimes stigma when ideally they should be running around outside carefree for their few last precious years of childhood.

Permabear

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percy212

No they ****ing can't.

If men didn't have bowel movements, toilet paper wouldn't be freely available in all public bathrooms. Since toilet paper is free, sanitary towels etc should also be free. It's sad that in this day and age, periods are still a "hidden" process. It's worse that sanitary products are a profit centre for business. Can you imagine the shame felt by a teenager unable to go to school for lack of sanitary products? They should be available for free in all schools. They could be handed out monthly to all girls. Everybody gets them regardless of need.

endacl wrote: »

Can razor blades be free too?

Permabear

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trixychic

Permabear wrote: »

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Completely agree!!!

timthumbni

nosilver wrote: »

Very few would have issues with basics, but there would be a few.

£73 is the standard jobseekers allowance, (use a site call google and check it for yourself) yes there are add-ons, but not many are in form of extra cash.

So you freely admit that only a few would have issues with purchasing the basics. So again this would lead to suggest that the few who do struggle may have other issues at play. (That extra money may not help)

Re the 70 odd quid figure Well, there are cash add ons if you have children anyway and the other issue that people seem to forget is that the housing is being all or mostly paid for as well.

I know plenty of working class families (and I use that term as they are actually working)that struggle with weekly basics as after they pay their own housing etc. it leaves little for much else.

No one is saying that life on benefits is an easy ride. However for many that work all day life can also be very hard. A lot is down to taking personal responsibility for your circumstances. I suspect that a lot of these bad luck stories could be prevented with a more sensible attitude.

me_right_one

me_right_one wrote: »

God, as a fella totally ignorant of these things, I never knew periods involved any sort of pain. It never occurred to me that they might be.... sore

If I don't take strong pain medication in time, I've fainted. I've passed out in work from the pain because a meeting overran and I didn't get to my meds.

Several times a year, I have menstrual migraines so severe that I've been blind in one eye for days at a time.

Ovulation pain in the middle of the cycle often needs strong codeine based painkillers too, so it's not just a monthly event.

There are other symptoms other than pain, I wont go into details, and of course the practical aspects of managing hygiene and the restrictions that it all puts on certain activities. I have hobbies that I just won't risk doing at certain times in the cycle. And that's before we get to the utter exhaustion I get for four or five days just before and during the first couple of days.

I've had every investigation under the sun, but there's no obvious cause.

Not everyone is that unlucky, it's rare. But it does happen. I'm lucky now because I'm childless and my job doesn't involve manual labour and I can go home and take a nap and sleep it off, but if I worked a physical job and had kids to care for, that wouldn't even be an option and it would be much, much worse.

I cope fine though, it just means I have to be very vigilant and very organised.

reallyrose

Young women on their period deserve to have some dignity. Do you remember school? Kids are vicious! It is bad enough to be the 'poor kid' without being the 'poor kid using a towel on her period'. That sort of bullying would last the rest of school and never be forgotten.

There are a lot of causes as to WHY these young women can't afford sanitary products. It's not their fault that they were born into a family with money problems of whatever kind.
Poverty isn't an easy problem. It isn't A = B.

The result is horrible though - surely we can agree that? Just because their parents possibly spent the money on cigarettes (because once someone on boards met a poor person who was smoking), doesn't mean that young women should miss school because they need to stay home and bleed!

Permabear

Permabear wrote: »

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I wouldn't be adverse to a voucher system for certain products and services, but I'd be reluctant to make the entire system cashless.

snowflaker

timthumbni wrote: »

A lot is down to taking personal responsibility for your circumstances. I suspect that a lot of these bad luck stories could be prevented with a more sensible attitude.

What is this opinion based on? Sounds like a DM/DE reader's comment!

jimgoose

Permabear wrote: »

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I am the Government. Of, by and for the people, remember? And I say that if children have to stay at home from school because their basic sanitary requirements can't be met in the tip of Western Europe in 2017, then it is my fuckin' problem. It's all our problem.

snowflaker

When I stayed in Oslo tampons were freely available in the bathroom of where I was staying

timthumbni

snowflaker wrote: »

What is this opinion based on? Sounds like a DM/DE reader's comment!

As opposed to this entire thread topic being based on a few posts on a uk based internet board. Forgive me for not being totally scientific in my responses. And I doubt some people allegedly not being after to buy their daughter a sanitary pad is the daily mails fault, or the "tories" for that matter.

There are dispensers with free pads in each cubicle in the womens loos in SFO and a few other US airports I've been in. They wouldn't be premium products, but they'd see you out of a bind. I was amazed the first time I came across that, but it's a very civilized service to offer.

Permabear

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timthumbni

snowflaker wrote: »

When I stayed in Oslo tampons were freely available in the bathroom where I was staying

You were staying in a bathroom??????

snowflaker

timthumbni wrote: »

As opposed to this entire thread topic being based on a few posts on a uk based internet board. Forgive me for not being totally scientific in my responses. And I doubt some people allegedly not being after to buy their daughter a sanitary pad is the daily mails fault, or the "tories" for that matter.

Well if the tories are in Government they have to accept some responsibility surely?


The DM is just a reactionist rag

hungry hypno toad

reallyrose wrote: »

(because once someone on boards met a poor person who was smoking)

Making light of people's concerns with tripe like this is adding nothing to the discussion.

snowflaker

timthumbni wrote: »

You were staying in a bathroom??????

Yes. :rolleyes:

ancapailldorcha

snowflaker wrote: »

Well if the tories are in Government they have to accept some responsibility surely?

What about the people who continually vote them in?

snowflaker wrote: »

The DM is just a reactionist rag

And yet people can't seem to buy enough copies of it.

hungry hypno toad

snowflaker wrote: »

Well if the tories are in Government they have to accept some responsibility surely?


The DM is just a reactionist rag

Why, because some parents choose to mis spend their welfare cash on smokes and drink?

snowflaker

I wonder would some people object to toilet paper being freely provided if it wasn't already?