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Boston looks to stock municipal buildings with menstrual products
By adamg on Thu, 04/06/2023 - 1:22pm
City officials are organizing a pilot for stocking libraries, community centers, schools, shelters and other municipal buildings with menstrual products for women who might otherwise have trouble getting them, City Councilor Gabriela Coletta says.
At a council meeting yesterday, Coletta said City Hall is looking at an initial $125,000 cost to obtains tampons and pads and to then distribute them among city buildings. She added that, longer term, the city is considering something similar for birth-control products, now that the city has "reproductive health deserts" after the recent closures of several Walgreens
"Period poverty is real," and Boston is behind other municipalities in helping women ensure they don't have to decide between the products and other necessities.
She added she is tired of the stigmatization of a normal bodily function that roughly half the population experiences.
"We're talking about periods, everybody!" she told fellow councilors.
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Comments
"Period poverty is real,"
What about food and toilet paper poverty?
Not quite the gotcha you think it is
Yes, food and toilet-paper poverty are real, too, only government and private groups already have programs to deal with them.
You cannot buy toilet paper
You cannot buy toilet paper or period products with SNAP.
Saw a cashier bullying a refugee over this
I stepped up and paid for the woman's needs, and then Karen (actually her name) started bitching about that with every anti-immigrant bullshit poorshame in the book.
I quietly pointed out that I made about $40 an hour more than her and my time was too important for her to waste holding up the line for five minutes bullying the poor confused woman. (not why I did it, but hey ...)
She STFU'd right quick.
Absolutely shameful that basic necessities aren't included because men don't need them.
Did you ask her status?
How did you know she’s a “refugee”.
You put her in her place
for "poorshaming"
I dunno, maybe she might lose her pathetic low wage job that makes $40 an hour less than you for not enforcing federal rules that aren't her fault?
Which is why the city is starting this program?
Maybe she has scores of people coming through every day trying to break SNAP rules?
Maybe there are periodic federal audits for non-compliance?
Next time, just say "learn to code!"
It is possible...
...To enforce the SNAP rules without resourcing all sorts of bigoted tropes.
yes, it's easy for us to fly above these issues
We're not in daily contact with those migrants receiving benefits we don't get, we're not fending off pleas to break the rules, we're not competing for low-wage jobs.
We just have to go to the shit job and grind out a living while being sneered at by "liberal" ladies.
Who's worse, the low-wage cashier who has to enforce a rule and becomes embittered, or the elite meddler who sneers at the cashier's low economic class because she won't break the rule?
Just another way the self satisfied wealthy …
… divide the poor and the near poor is to encourage poor shaming. Then turn around scold the near poor for whatever.
Alert the National Academy of Sciences!
Lee's shit doesn't stink! An absolute wonder of nature!
When was the last time you paid for something for someone who didn't speak any English and was stuck in line trying to cope with that and a fuckton of abuse adding to her trauma?
I've done it several times. This was the one time when a bigoted bitch wouldn't shut the fuck up about it and tried to insult me and even obstruct me from doing so. She had every last fucking shaming coming, including the reprimand her manager was going to hand her later.
Please share any and all stories you have about putting your money where your keyboard runs free, oh you of unscented fecal matter.
BTW I grew up in a level of poverty that you have likely never experienced. Unless you have ever had to snare rabbits or fish for your dinner or collect bottles for their deposits or go hungry as a child, don't lecture me about what that's like Mx. Comfypants.
What do you want? A medal?
I don’t brag about my heroics online or off.
You know zed about my life, what experiences I’ve had other than what I’ve carefully chosen to share. Most sensible people are the same.
I don’t have any control about what you want to invent about me so have at it. Let your imagination and indignation go wild.
You are a vivid character, a self styled internet superhero. You make many good and valid points and your stories are great reading, but I take them with a grain of salt.
I note how sadly ironic it is you called the cashier a Karen when that classist, ageist and sexist put down is specifically targeted for types like you. It’s one of your blind spots.
You’d have done better to tell her to keep her biased opinions to herself or to have pointed out her bias. Instead you pulled rank on her as someone whose time is more important than hers or that of the person using SNAP because you make more money than they do. I think you actually believe that.
No
I want you to drop the preachy purity police act. It isn't just getting old it speaks volumes about your seclusion of the last three years.
I gave you a thumbs up for that post.
Because it’s a masterpiece of irony.
No one could ever accuse you of being a bore, Mom.
Just take the L and move on.
Don't lord over the poors by telling them how much more you make and how valuable your time is.
Solid post, Lee
Swirls is throwing around $65/hr like that’s a big deal. Lol.
Ha! I’ll grant that Squirrelygrrl has a valid reason ….
…. to jump the line at the self checkout.
Stop grinding the ax
It's possible to enforce the rules without being a crusty bigot about it, and if you can't manage it you deserve to get called out.
Your incessant ax-grinding and grudge-bearing is tiresome beyond words. Give it a rest.
Exactly.
I once heard a cashier tell a SNAP card user that she couldn’t use her benefit to buy food from the hot bar, only from salad bar. The cashier then proceeded to give his unsolicited opinion that this was a fair rule that he agreed with.
So I asked the cashier why he thought people with the means to warm up or cook cold food were more deserving of a hot meal than those not able to do so. He had no answer to that.
I believe this outdated regulation is going to change soon by federal law. Makes no sense at all. Poor shaming is vile.
Cashier might have been right
Anyways, Congress decided that it wanted the tax money to go to food products and not to the value-added cost of preparing it.
Maybe it's impossible to make a rule which includes supermarket salad bars and excludes McDonald's and o ya.
Maybe the policy is to encourage people to eat healthier, cook at home and not go to Taco Bell.
Maybe the political consensus on which SNAP depends includes an element of agricultural subsidy and not services subsidy, which is why it's administered by the Dept. of Agriculture and not Social Security or Health and Human Services.
The cost of salad bar fare is the same …
… as hot bar offerings in many supermarkets. In fact, much of salad bar is cooked food, sometimes just left overs from the hot bar.
So you really think Taco Bell, which is not a supermarket, by the way, serves any worse junk food than what’s available in a frozen food section.
You miss the point entirely. And you’re poor shaming as well, Marie Antoinette.
Even so,
my point about the intent of Congress and possible political consensus remains.
Anyways, it's a moot point in this discussion. The rule hasn't been changed, and unfortunately low-paid cashiers are charged with enforcing it and enduring the abuse from that.
I don’t disagree with some of that.
However SNAP paid out cash to be used for fuel
or electricity bills for benefit receivers paying for heat this past winter and home heating is not an agricultural product.
I don’t disagree with some of that.
However SNAP paid out cash to be used for fuel
or electricity bills for benefit receivers paying for heat this past winter and home heating is not an agricultural product.
excluding premade hot food
assumes the recipient has the means to heat their food they buy that is allowed on SNAP. Not everyone has a place to stay or a full kitchen (or means to pay for the electricity or gas to heat). Some landlords don't provide kitchen appliances - hard to buy when you're already on SNAP. The point above is correct - salad bar items are the same price and are allowed. This is just further modifications to public assistance meant to punish people that are unfortunate enough to be eligible for help. That include refugees, who are here after fleeing danger and conflict - so anyone who is mad that they are eligible should imagine what it took for them to be eligible instead of lecturing them (or us).
Gee
I didn't know that "enforcing federal rules" involved screaming at the woman and calling her names just to make her cower in fear.
Care to cite the statute that requires that?
Her manager seemed to think that it wasn't required or acceptable.
Just step in and say
"Do you know who I am?
I make $40 more an hour than you and you're wasting my precious time!"
Check your privilege, girl.
Oh honey
I love it when someone who has never wanted for anything lectures me about privilege.
Way to totally miss the point honey.
Don't you have some trans kids to bully?
Hey, it's not my fault I'm a Brahmin
At least I learned Yankee values and noblesse oblige.
It's the parvenus who always step on people below.
Sounds like you poor shamed the cashier.
She’ll just pass on the shame. Unless your example of how not to treat people opens her eyes.
All your feminist grandstanding becomes just that when you perpetuate mysogynist terms.
Sounds like...
Sounds like she should have known better.
lol what? You really have jumped the shark, my dude.
What misogynist term?
Her actual name was Karen.
This was before that was perjorative.
I remember it because I had a talk with the manager about her behavior.
Nice try little one.
Talking to the manager
is the definition of "Karen"
If I hadn’t seen you use that term …
… in the past I’d believe you just slipped up. Nice try, grandiose one.
Next time, Swirly
Just hit her with your wallet
You can if you qualify for Snap cash.
I don’t know how you qualify for that but I think it has something to do with homelessness. Sometimes it has to do with heating assistance but the cash is only supposed to go towards an electrical or fuel bill.
You can claim up to a certain amount of medical expenses on your application which can increase your benefit. That includes bandages for wound care. Menstrual products might just be still considered toiletries.
As SNAP benefits expand to cover more than nutritional needs, I see possible changes coming for needed coverage like menstrual products and other hygiene needs.
Yes. We have those things.
Yes. We have those things. Food banks and other food charities exist.
So why hasn't a period
So why hasn't a period product charity stepped forward?
Why hasn't a pothole filling charity stepped forward?
Why are we still relying on the government to fix the roads rather than the good graces of private charity?
Perhaps
You should mansplain your theories to the city?
Really? There are programs
Really? There are programs that are already in place on both the state and federal level.
Did you know that women have to pay taxes on pads and tampons? Do you think that's a fair burden to put on only 1/2 the population and for something that is a medical necessity?
Do you believe that products that stop females from bleeding everywhere should be taxed?
the solution is
Eliminate the state sales tax on feminine hygiene products. That's not the same as handing out boxes of Tampax at city hall.
You realize
only one of those things is something the city has any control over, right?
So then we should remove TP
So then we should remove TP from the bathrooms as well as soap. Right?
See, we don't get to choose whether or not we need health care products...it's part of our biology.
Yes?
That too is real? Any further questions?
You seem nice
I'm guessing you've never been a broke student trying to budget an extra ten bucks a month from your part-time job for products that your male classmates don't need in order to leave the house. I'm guessing you've never had to factor anything into your budget that is gender specific. This is a product that females have to buy monthly for approximately thirty-five years of their lives -- products that are taxed, by the way -- and they have to start buying them when they are barely into their teens. Did you have an extra ten bucks a month when you were 14?
Good point. Let's address
Good point. Let's address that too, since I'm sure that's what you meant.
The real question
Why aren't these already being provided?
Anyone who argues against the city providing these necessities does so in bad faith.
good faith argument
A competitive marketplace for these products already exists in the private retail sector.
Government providing them free of charge for the asking is a program ripe for abuse and not an efficient use of tax dollars.
Nah
Anything that actually addresses a need of the population is a great use of tax dollars. It's the entire point of government.
And yes, menstrual products are a need. They are not optional for people who menstruate. Which is A LOT OF PEOPLE.
I can't tell if that is sarcastic
I suppose you would also say public restrooms shouldn't have toilet paper either. There's a competitive market for that too.
$$$
Competitive marketplace? Pipe down, Money Bags. The decent products that don't leak, spill, stain or fall apart are expensive. The competitive market does not give a flying fibroid about fairness, and you don't either. Maybe take a survey of the women in your life and see how they feel about this concept. You may be surprised.
Thank you for mansplaining
Competitive market?
Why don't we just call this a Uterus Tax, since men never have to find money to pay for these things in that competitive market.
Or in other words "I got mine
Or in other words "I got mine, so fuck you".
Magoo sez
Magoo is on a quest, or, questing, if you will, to have bidets installed in all public restrooms. Magoo.
One problem
I like my bidet at home, but I also have access to ways to dry off after.
Kind of tricky in a public toilet.
Still?
I really wonder what's wrong with the thirteen people who upvoted you and your feces fetish.
And don’t you just wish you could hunt those ….
…. 13 down and spread your bile all over them.
Seriously, you seem extra vicious and nonsensical lately. I know you have medical issues you’ve admitted too, but get a grip! If not for others, for yourself.
You make Magoo seem like good company in comparison.
Oh Lee
I guess the same cannot be said of you, since you're always extra vicious and nonsensical. You pick pointless fights and make unnecessary enemies constantly.
Act your age, boy.
Put down the keyboard
Go somewhere where you encounter actual things happening and find a sense of proportion and a modicum of basic reality.
This will meet a huge need
I volunteer regularly at my local food pantry, and the weeks that we have tampons and pads available to distribute, there is a big demand for them. Interestingly I’ve noticed that about 90% of women will choose pads instead of tampons. Not sure how much is cultural habit or personal preference or pads being a safer choice when size is not selectable. If these institutions plan to stock supplies in a vending-machine sort of format, I hope they do it in a way that can accommodate a larger stock of pads.
feminine hygiene products
Or possibly because using the "wrong" size pad has less drastic circumstances than wearing the "wrong" size tampon.
Speculation
They buy the specific tampon types they like and use the pads as backup?
Some people prefer pads
For a wide variety of reasons, including comfort, ease of use, and it's easier to pace how you use them since you can see whether or not you need to change them and therefore use fewer. Also, some people use both together.
So, is the mayor or the city
So, is the mayor or the city council doing anything to foster a period product charity? What about the Boston religious communities?
This is just a pilot
Coletta said that if it works, the city will need to get into way more details, such as how to procure large amounts of the products.
What do the religious communities have to do with this?
I'm not really sure how that's relevant here.
Huh?
Why is it the job of government to "foster charity" instead of using public money paid by the people to take care of people's needs? Perhaps so we can turn the providing of public services over to religious organizations that will then decide who will receive these services based on their compliance with religious dogma?
Another man-on
More mansplaining Atlas shrugged manoise from someone who will never have to return bottles and scrounge couch change or bleed all over everything.
Not just women
Menstrual products are needed by people of any gender who menstruate.
Please hire an editor who can make sure your site is inclusive of people of all genders.