The Scottish Parliament just voted (unanimously) to make tampons and other period products available for free to those too broke to pay for them. It’s a big victory for the campaign against “period poverty.” Now no one in Scotland will have to miss school or work because they can’t afford sanitary products.
Naturally, the fellows in the Men Going Their Own Way subreddit have reacted to the news with their customary good sense.
“Sanitary products” are free, EXCEPT THEY’RE PAID FOR WITH MEN’S TAX DOLLARS, blared one headline in the subreddit. And the assembled MEN waxed furious about this terrible new financial burden. (The cost of the program is estimated to be roughly £8.7 million a year, or less than £2 for every inhabitant of Scotland.)
“Every time I see the word free I know it means some man or group of men are paying for it,” complained one commenter.
“Guys in Scotland, including bachelors, asexuals and homosexuals, are going to be paying for vaginas that they dont care about, regardless of their financial status,” charged another.
“The only thing free for men, is dying,” still another commenter moaned.
Several MGTOW Redditors fantasized about ways to sabotage the program. Wrote not_a_beleiber:
If I was Scottish, I’d buy a woman’s pant suit, put it on, then demand free hygine products. Increase the cost, the commentary, and hence the regulation on this.
“No need,” replied Miserable-Lemon.
If I was scottish I’d immediately open a drug store that only offers feminine products. You hand them out like candy, charge like 50$ a pop to the government and buy as much stock as you can store it. You’ll make a hundred times your investment on a monthly basis
(In fact, the products aren’t going to be available at stores bur rather distributed by schools and other public facilities.)
The-Rover-666 demonstrated his keen grasp of period products and their use, writing “[s]o their whymin are that smelly they had to give them free…”
Replied Legs2Big:
They’ve always spent so much of their time hiding their true appearance from a young age, they act like their lives depends on it.
What that has to do with sanitary products is anyone’s guess.
Non-w0ke offered this perplexing political program:
Because single moms are pure toxic cancer for children it makes sense to let those independent to go their own way and provide free stuff only to those who are willing to care for children. It includes a stress free home, food, housing, full family and adequate attention.
Cant provide for a kid? Fuck off, buy your own tampons.
What any of this has to do with sanitary products is also anyone’s guess.
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Should we ask Dave to delete the comment or if he can at least remove the link to the blog or something? I didn’t realize that we were dealing with a young person who has their address listed. I wonder if it’s irresponsible to maintain a link to the blog on this site which is obviously going to get a lot more traffic than a 12-year-old’s personal blog.
For those interested in history, this video is about dealing with natural functions and why underwear was not always practical. A discussion of how to handle your period if you lived back then starts at about 3 minutes in.
Oh, man. I missed the Depletionist’s meltdown. Truly a display worthy of the superior sex! That’s what I get for having to sleep more than the average person.
@Viscaria – Probably best to delete the comment, since it has his real name attached. Anybody could pretty easily google and find out his hometown, age, and address.
Unfortunately, the internet is forever, so everything he posts is going to follow him around as he applies to colleges, goes on job interviews, and tries to get dates. To a 12 year old, the future is hazy and abstract, but he’ll discover later on that having angry online screeds attached to your name limits your options in life. I wish schools would teach internet safety.
@Naglfar – I don’t know what to do either. No actual crime is being committed, so law enforcement wouldn’t step in, but it’s the exact same process pedophiles use to groom their young targets. Eric seems to have some older online friends who are feeding him lies and alt-right jargon, leading him step by step into the rabbit hole of grievance politics. Once in, it’s really hard to get out.
Middle school is the perfect age for this, unfortunately. It’s a horrible, shitty time of life when no one understands you and no one seems to care. Doubly so if your home life is rough.
I guess we can hope Eric comes back here to engage?
@Viscaria
I think I know all the pages he’s commented on, and I can make a list in case David goes through removing the link and/or delete comments. It might also be a good idea to ban Eric, this really isn’t a good place for him.
@Buttercup
Idk if there would be a case to call CPS since I don’t know much about how that works. We don’t know the situation at home, and I don’t want to accidentally make anything worse.
@naglfar
He’s not even 14, he’s 12. The kids voice hasn’t even dropped yet and he’s spouting this shit.
@Vicky P
I think it’s in moderation, but I shared a video earlier from Abby Cox about 18th century periods. It’ll be a nice accompaniment to Bernadette’s video when it comes through.
@North Sea Sparkly Dragon
Ooh, nice! Thanks for adding that to the discussion!
Was that another incarnation of the immortal engineer back there?
@Naglfar
Thanks! I’ve been down the World of Warcraft hole with the new expansion, though I have made time to follow this thread. I hadn’t commented until now because you all have been doing such a great job playing with the troll.
Speaking of miggies, they would probably regard me as recruitment material, as my life even before the pandemic bore some resemblance to that of Steve Carrel’s character in The 40 Year Old Virgin. Nearly dateless since college, turning my focus to my hobbies instead.
Except unlike miggies, my hobbies are gaming rather than misogyny, and I would much rather talk about paint schemes for my toy soldiers than why I got rejected in college.
And I actually liked the few women that I have dated.
And I recognize that women are people.
So not really anything like miggie recruitment material, then.
@Allandrel
If you want to play or watch, there’s another troll in another thread right now. Some kid who thinks he’s a man. I’m both amused and worried.
I sincerely hope this dude is on a watch list, because he sounds like he might kill someone.
@Naglfar
My best guess is that fuckboy assumed that people would get the tampons/pads from a shop, which would then get reimbursed by the government. Not completely unreasonable on the face of it—this is how it works for prescription medication—but the spanner in the works is that even if it worked like this, shops wouldn’t be free to charge the government whatever they wanted; the government would set the rate.
These whiners need to fuck off with the another thing my tax dollars pay for. MY TAX DOLLARS ALSO PAY FOR THEM TOO NOT JUST YOURS!