I was inspired by severalarticles about the Tampon Tax recently and some of the protests against the categorization of tampons as “luxury items,” so I made this up. It’s funny because it’s true.
Tampons are a “luxury item”
Once I worked as an intern in the state capital. One of the representatives I worked for was this middle-aged guy. And he hated the tampon and napkin machines in the women’s bathrooms. Hated them. He insisted that they weren’t necessary.
I found out why after I’d been working there, oh, about a month. My period started suddenly, as it sometimes does, and I asked to excuse myself to go to the ladies’ room. He wanted to know why. I told him.
He started ranting about how lazy women were. How we wasted time. How we were so careless and unhygenic, and that there was no call for that. He finished by telling me that I certainly was NOT going to the ladies’ room and that I was just going to sit there and work. He finished this off with a decisive nod, as if I’d just be told and there could be no possible argument.
“If I don’t go,” I said in an overly patient tone, “the blood is going to soak through my pants, stain my new skirt that I just bought, and possibly get on this chair I’m sitting in. I need something to soak up the blood. That’s why I need to go to the bathroom.”
His face turned oatmeal-gray; an expression of pure horror spread across his face. He leaned forward and whispered, “Wait, you mean that if you don’t go, you’ll just keep on bleeding? I thought that women could turn it off any time that they wanted!”
I thought, You have got to be kidding.
Several horrified whispers later, I learned that he wasn’t. He actually thought a) that women could shut down the menstrual cycle at will, b) that we essentially picked a week per month to spend more time in the bathroom, i.e. to goof off, and c) that napkins and tampons were sex toys paid for by Health and Human Services. I didn’t know the term then, but he believed that tampons were dildos. Which was why he and a good number of his friends considered them luxuries.
And that’s how, at twenty, I had to give a talk on menstruation to a middle-aged married state representative who was one of my bosses. American politics, ladies and gentlemen.
OH GOOD GRIEF!
YOU WERE WARNED –
I had a TEACHER in SCHOOL tell me the same thing. “I need to go to the nurse, I need a tampon.” “Just sit and stop, we’re taking a test.”
Every single girl in class looked up with the face of “You’re an idiot.”
This is literally the most absurd shit.
I… I’m just… I have seriously never in my life met a man that absolutely god-awfully stupid. That isn’t to say they don’t exist, I just never actually thought they could before now.
He’s more impressed with himself when he calls you beautiful than you are.
I feel this a lot. All the guys I’ve been out with would always go on about how beautiful I was and I always felt like they were just saying it bcs they thought it would make them look more impressive to me and make me want to sleep with them. Tbh, I still think this is it lol.
what i hated even more was dudes telling me how smart i was (bc they knew i cared about that more than about being pretty) when they clearly didn’t believe it and couldn’t give a flying fuck about what i had to say
i swear to god, men raising their voice is the most terrifying thing in the whole world. they dont understand, like its an immediate panic response, game over
I actually had no idea women found this so scary
It doesn’t matter if it’s not directed at me either, like I might just be in ear shot and if I hear a man raise there voice I sintantly want to leave it’s literally one of the top things that give me panic attacks..
my downstairs neighbors fight on a regular basis, and every time he starts yelling i’m a little afraid he’s going to kill her. i have no reason to think this except that he is a man and he is angry
My math teacher has a loud voice and a temper and he scares the living shit out of me almost everyday. He’s made me and other kids cry more than once and he and his teacher buddies make a joke out of terrifying students.
this was women in general? i knew my gf didn’t like it but I was unaware if this affected most women
Yes, it does
Men can raise their voices and speak or shout over women very easily. They often use this to their advantage. If a woman raises her voice she will be painted as the agitator and a harpy regardless of what the situation is.
Men choose Hamlet because every man sees himself as a disinherited monarch. Women choose Alice [in Wonderland] because every woman sees herself as the only reasonable creature among crazy people who think they are disinherited monarchs.
When men say they “love the female body” that ought to be a redflag right there because they’re straight up telling you it’s not about the woman, it’s about her body. they couldn’t give a fuck about YOU. men just want your body.
Celtyradfem 