#Period products

[luminarai]

hey, hi, I was just on the former bird app and came across this info from a brand new study and now I cannot stop screaming internally??? what the actual fuckkkk

theres' an article from the guardian here and here is the actual study:

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[certifiedsexed]

Could you give me any insight on the safety of these feminine hygiene wipes I bought? I’m not sure how to tell if they’re going to give me a yeast infection or something lol

(Note: I cannot see these well enough to describe them for others, sorry about that.)

Now, admittedly, I can't see these super well and I'm not an expert on the subject but I do have some thoughts.

The first red flag here is perfume. Perfume is almost always a genital irritant. (Which may be why it's listed as fragrance instead. Not sure.)

Also, lavender oil usually contains alcohol, which is also a genital irritant. (Both can cause vaginal dryness and mess with your pH, which can cause...you guessed it, yeast infections.)

Some of the other ingredients aren't always irritants but are definitely possible irritants and can cause yeast infections. (Propylene Glycol, Glycerin, etc)

Those were my first thoughts! But then I noticed the "Since 1920s" text and got a really bad feeling. The 1920s and a company propping themselves up for their "feminine hygiene products"? Not a good combination.

So, I looked up Modess. Turns out they're a proud offshoot of Johnson and Johnson and are partially still affiliated with them. Talk about flags redder than the communist flag, wow.

Johnson and Johnson is particularly infamous for their lack of testing and ignoring when their products were literally killing people and that's not even getting into the racism and misogyny. [Seriously. It's horrific.]

Now, beyond that, I looked at the Modess website. They sell loads of "feminine hygiene products", designed to eliminate odor with many questionable ingredients.

With that in mind and the fact that people who use things labeled as "feminine hygiene products" have been shown to have higher rates of all types of infections and even cancer, I wouldn't trust this shit any further than I could walk [which isn't far!]

I could absolutely be wrong but these genuinely seem sketchy as fuck and some of these ingredients definitely seem like a cocktail designed to give people, especially those with sensitive pHs, at least a yeast infection.

Sorry it took awhile to respond and sorry if I rambled a lot but I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. <3

[reasonsforhope]

"Spain’s Catalonia region rolled out a pioneering women’s health initiative [at the beginning of March, 2024] that offers reusable menstruation products for free.

About 2.5 million women, girls, transgender and nonbinary people who menstruate can receive one menstrual cup, one pair of underwear for periods and two packages of cloth pads at local pharmacies in northeast Spain free of charge.

The Catalan government said that the initiative, which is called “My period, my rules,” was meant to “guarantee the right to menstrual equity.” The regional government cited statistics that said 23% of women polled by Catalonia’s public opinion office said they had reused hygiene products designed for a single use for economic reasons.

Tània Verge, Catalonia’s regional minister for equality and feminism, called the program a “global first.”

Scotland’s government passed a law in 2020 to ensure period products are available for free to anyone who needs them. But in comparison with the Catalan program, in Scotland the products are for single use and are distributed through schools, colleges and universities, not pharmacies.

“We are fighting menstrual poverty, which affects one in four women in Catalonia, but is also about gender justice. We are fighting the stereotypes and taboos about menstruation,” Verge told The Associated Press. “And (...) it is about climate justice. We need to reduce the tons of waste generated by single-use menstrual products.”

The distribution of reusable products is also aimed at reducing waste. The regional government said that Catalonia produces about 9,000 tons of waste from single-use menstrual hygiene products.

The reusable products are acquired by the public health care system, which covers the entire population, and distributed by Catalonia’s 3,000-plus private pharmacies. The program cost the regional government 8.5 million euros ($9.2 million).

“I am completely in favor of this initiative,” 29-year-old graphic designer Laura Vilarasa said. “It will give women a product that is absolutely necessary to have for zero cost.”

Spain’s national government passed a law last year granting women with debilitating menstrual pain the right to paid medical leave."

-via AP News, March 5, 2024

[rapeculturerealities]

Catalan pharmacies hand out free reusable period products | Catalonia | The Guardian

The Catalonia region in Spain has begun providing free reusable menstrual cups, period underwear and cloth pads at pharmacies, in one of the first initiatives of its kind in the world.

The programme is part of a drive by the regional government to reduce period poverty after a survey found 44% of women using menstruation products in Catalonia could not afford their first-choice product and 23% said they had to reuse items designed for single use.

[dasiesanddarkness]

okay so google has been entirely unhelpful (i did like five minutes of research) so instead i will ask the public: thoughts on how periods are dealt with in the Grishaverse? i know it's set roughly during the 1600s, but do you think the materialki/corporalki helped with inventing new period products? something beyond just the rags that i assume women in the 1600s were using?

(this also extends to cramp medication/remedies)

[unholyglitch404]

Y'know, there's literally no situation where "feminine products" is a better alternative than just labeling the period section either "menstruation products" or "period products", and I'm tired of pretending this game of dodgeball is even remotely rational.

[bookishbrigitta]

Think I've ended up influencing myself with my own fanfic...Corporate Greed rant and Uterus Things under the cut...

I've noticed the adhesive on pads steadily getting shittier in the last 2ish years, and now it's straight-up coming off on my underpants. I thought about some reusable options and how this might be my push to try them but was afraid of the up-front cost and risk of not liking them.

Then I remembered the fic where I basically had Han say "Fuck it, I am empowering my newest space orphan. Let's try ALL the period products!" And you know what, he has a point. Why shouldn't I give it a try?

[floofysmallbob]

ow

fuck my period cramps hurt like hell right now

but I know in my heart that near nothing can hurt as much, both physically and emotionally, as the genocide and destruction going on in this world.

and especially not while having to deal with things like period cramps, lack of menstrual products, pregnancy, and other biological conditions. that is, if you are even healthy enough to have your period. everyone knows that periods are annoying, but for some people, they can be a wonderful sign.

upon bad health conditions, people can lose their periods. and while some people may think this is a good thing, it’s actually a sign that something is wrong.

as well, being pregnant and postpartum during these times is extremely difficult.

so please help out a pregnant woman in G@za, @hildanasr1. This is her first child, and she is living in dire conditions. if you have any compassion, please, donate, share, spread this campaign and others like it. as well, donate resources to those in need of menstrual products! I’ve provided a gfm link, but it’s as easy as searching “donate period products Palestine” to find others!

[thedashproject]

[miiju86]

[tailsandco]

hey i didnt see anyone talking about this until i stumbled upon a video this morning on instagram, and this blog has more of a platform than my others, so im gonna talk about this here. feel free to scroll on if it doesn't apply.

thinx period underwear were found to contain PFAs, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances which are, "human-made chemicals that are found in many consumer and industrial products, do not easily break down and have been linked to adverse health effects." per this NPR article. One of the quotes in this article does go on to have a unnecessarily gendered quote so my trans and nb friends who experience periods, read on with caution.

I do want to say that the lawsuit isn't supposing these PFAs are linked to any known cases of harm or diagnosed issues and Thinx, but their prior marketing made them out to be a safe and environmentally conscious choice. they have since had to retract a lot of prior statements, and other studies have been done on PFAs that are linked to some scary health stuff in people.

as a result of this suit and just generally preferring this type of period product to others (i understand that corporations are leaders in pollution and that i as one person cannot change the world, but i can make better decisions for myself and my personal waste production), here's what i found for my period experiencing friends to continue to use these types of products:

here's an article i used to find multiple brands that do NOT have PFAs and their pros & cons.

im also going to single a couple of these out for my friends on here to weed through. i didnt do a suuuper extensive deepdive, but i checked out a couple of these that are worth listing out i feel.

the period company had the cheapest single pairs i found at $9. i was unable to order from them because they currently dont have my size, but hopefully yall will be more fortunate, since im a pretty popular size. these guys only come in black.

tomboy x is gender neutral and donates to trans people which i love. they're pretty competitively priced and you can get 6 in a couple different colors at $110 before tax and shipping, which was pretty fairly priced. if you have the money to spend a little extra on a great cause or want a gender neutral experience this place is great.

i ultimately ordered from ruby love because they had bundle options (which i really wanted since id love to replace my tampon usage at home altogether and only keep them for emergencies/guests) and they had a 10 pack for $90, which came out to $100 after taxes and shipping. ill warn my nb and trans friends that this site is pretty gendered so tread with caution, but it did have the best bundle price that i cross shopped.

anyway i know this blog is about snakes but i was kind of horrified to find this out this morning and want to make sure that yall are shopping safe and able to make informed decisions on your hygienic products. i love you and you matter. be safe and be well.

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Dalhousie University is supplying many of its washrooms with free menstrual pads and tampons.  The university announced the initiative on Oct. 4. It is intended to improve student access to menstruation products and will provide the supplies in 106 of its washrooms, including men's, women's and gender-neutral washrooms in 56 buildings across its four campuses. The university will install signs below gender symbols on bathrooms to indicate that they have the products. Before, students who needed pads or tampons could access them through the Dalhousie Student Union Building, but the free products weren't available in bathrooms.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[littlesistersti]

How do you battle a terf period product brand?

If you look up the period product brand Garnuu, they campaign for period poverty, green earth, charity for women, and all that typical stuff. However, their main campaign is "girls only club"

Discuss: either we all boycott this terf company or gather up all the trans individuals who have periods to buy their products and advertise it to really drive it in.

Ps. I'm not trans so any trans people out there want to provide their input?

[enbymarty]

Idk if anyone has mentioned this but The Honey Pot Company products are manufactured and packaged in Israel