Modesty
v information
As a blogger, I find myself going to talks about
blogging. During the most recent one, the Blog Lady pointed out that we don’t share
news about anything “embarrassing.” She’s right, Facebook may be full of
complaints about the weather and ill children, but no one ever seems to be
excited that their piles have cleared up.
This is probably a Good Thing. There is such a thing as
privacy, not to mention the fact that we’re often not that discriminating when
it comes to Facebook friends (!).
But there is a downside to this modesty. When we keep
things we consider “embarrassing” or “too personal” off our blogs and social
media accounts, we’re robbing people of valuable information too.
I think this is what’s happening with CSP. CSP stands for
cloth sanitary protection, in other words, reusable sanitary pads. Now, some of
my friends know I’ve been using CSP since 2005 but to be honest, it’s not
something that tends to come up in conversation. I think I’ve mentioned it once
on Facebook (only because I found someone who could make me TARDIS pads!) and
never on Twitter.
Because reusable menstrual products aren’t mentioned,
online or offline, women aren’t informed about them. So when it comes to
keeping clean during our periods, all the information we have shown to us is
paid for by the only companies who can afford it, i.e. the large
pharmaceuticals. And they’re making a killing because their products are
disposable, meaning women need to buy a new pack every month. Hence the big
companies have got the money to advertise...and so it goes round and round.
The
period revolution
In fact, there’s a period revolution going on. It’s going
on pretty quietly, on a few websites, a handful of Facebook pages and at the
dining tables of some enterprising women who run up cloth pads on their sewing
machines. If we want to find out about this different approach to menstrual
products, we won’t see an ad in Cosmopolitan or in the commercial breaks on TV.
Women will have to somehow find out CSP exists before they can even start doing
their research. Articles (often excellent) can be found in the online versions
of the broadsheets but they’re often spoiled by narrow-minded comments and
questionable statistics.
Reusable
pads are important
It’s a shame that this revolution is so quiet because what
the CSP revolutionaries are doing is really important. They’re reducing waste, reducing
carbon footprints and reducing the power of the large pharmaceutical companies.
They’re offering products that stop you ruining your knickers but don’t carry a
risk of toxic shock syndrome. They’re saving their fellow-women money – after
all, pads, tampons, Mooncups and CSP are only a necessary outlay for half the
population and anything reusable constitutes a saving. How would you feel if I
told you I haven’t bought any menstrual products (disposable or reusable) for
over five years?!
The
way forward
Cloth sanitary protection and reusable menstrual products
like Mooncups are the way forward for us and our planet. Before women are going to start using them, they’ve
got to get used to the idea and that’s only going to happen if it’s in the
public consciousness.
So everyone, talk about this! Get the idea of reusable
menstrual products into women’s minds and let’s start to normalise it.
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