Go away, guys; go get yourself a beer or something because this’ll likely gross you out.
Ladies, doesn’t it seem a bit odd to you that while it sounds right and sounds like such a nice thing to do and believe me, I’d gladly help supply young African girls with tampons or napkins because they can’t afford them but honestly, do they really miss several days of school every month because of their periods?
My mother’s generation used cloths that they (yuck) had to wash out and reuse much as you would diapers for babies prior to disposables (which are truly causing a huge problem for the environment btw) and they sure didn’t miss school because of a period. My mother missed school–the last three years of high school, as did my father because they had to work to help the family survive financially.
I’m tired of being hit dishonestly in the sympathy spiel.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
Yes. That story hit me as unrealistic. My grandmother managed to attend school just fine without pads or tampons, as did many women all over the world for centuries. There are reusable products that are also more environmentally friendly like the Mooncup (http://www.mooncup.co.uk/), but washable cloths would I’m sure work just fine. I don’t like anyone to suffer, so maybe ibuprofin for cramps. I’ve heard that some remote communities there still practice female circumcision, and I wonder if the reason for missing school is more of a cultural taboo rather than hygienic. Maybe some charity worker heard “unclean” and assumed it was all about hygiene. Donating tampons isn’t going to do anything to help with cultural change.
I’d rather see charity go into condoms and education to help prevent AIDS and to stop female circumcision, or into medicine or food to help those who really need it. Some people I’ve heard of collect old eyeglasses to send to places where they’re needed, including Africa.
I can see where needing eyeglasses could interrupt a child’s education, but not menstruation more than a couple days a month at MOST, if that, which shouldn’t interfere with learning.
I’m glad you brought this us because that commercial hasn’t rung true to me either. My grandmother told me all about the wash and wear thing too and it was the first thing I thought of when I saw that commercial. Yes, I think focusing on stopping genocide, rapes, female circumcision, providing school uniforms — etc. etc. would rank higher on the list of priorities in Africa. Glad you called BS, although I’d really be curious about the genesis of the commercial.
That’s one of the biggest things that bugs me about our world today; they give us no credit for having any intelligence and feel ‘they’ have to tell us what’s important in life instead of our realization that much, much worse is going on than this. It’s like saying that hey, women can understand this, but not relate to more urgent issues that they haven’t experienced.
I’m sorry, but there’s a bigger issue here than just sanitary pads. There’s embarrassment of bleeding through with less desirable sanitary protection, there’s a severe lack of bathrooms/private sanitary facilities in schools, lack of clean water for hygiene, often no disposal facilities, and there’s also, in some areas, a cultural complication regarding menstrual blood. It’s more than simply “finding a cloth” to use — one must also have facilities to change/dispose of cloths, wash up, and avoid the cultural problem of leaving bloodied cloths or pads exposed. Procter and Gamble isn’t stopping at distributing pads — they’re also building bathrooms, providing hygiene education, and helping to resolve disposal issues.
Heh. Guess i’m doomed to be the rebel rouser.
No, that’s fine; you bring up some good points. Although I can well remember living through that same embarrassment of bleeding through and I’ve got a true horror story of trying to dispose of a used pad back in 8th grade.
I think the problem here is the way this is being marketed. What P&G is doing is terrific–I never said I didn’t admire it. I just think that we as American women are being fed a line of bs that’s harder to swallow than the brutal reality which I would more readily respond to for its honest approach.
All I can say, is how would the African girls feel if they knew such personal ‘needs’ were being marketed in this way behind their backs? Would that ad be running if there were televisions in their schools? There’s an old rule, a decency rule, if you can’t say something to someone’s face, don’t say it behind their backs. I’m certain if these young sensitive adults were aware of the ads, the embarrassment to them would far exceed the embarrassment of a small stain on their dress.
I had to make do with homemade pads when I was a teenager. I didn’t miss school because of it. But, at the same time, if the local church was collecting money to get me some, I’d certainly want them to be considerate enough to simply let the neighborhood know that my family could not afford some neccessary hygienic products.
Thank you for writing about this, Susan. I think it is unkind, uncharitable, and absolutely stupid.
Had to come back to wish you a most superb weekend!