The Bleeding Truth: Cost of Living and Period Poverty
By Features Editor Chloe Barrett
The cost-of-living crisis that has covered the country like a thick layer of smog is well documented. It swirls around you upon entering a shop, engulfing your senses completely as you negotiate the once-familiar aisles. The toxins must be causing you to hallucinate, as the prices can simply not be this high. Wherever you turn, the wallet within your bag starts shifting restlessly, already aware of how much lighter it will become once you grab the bare essentials off of shelves. You have the desire to escape from this supermarket purgatory immediately. Your impulse to flee has become suddenly overwhelming due to the fear that a fellow shopper has potentially seen you pick items up, and then hastily replace them once you see the brand-new barcoded amount. Even upon returning home, you sidestep over the discarded bills littering the linoleum beneath your feet. In times of vulnerability and hopelessness, retreating into a childlike version of yourself feels like putting on your favourite jumper and burrowing away. After all, if you cannot see the constant amounts draining out of your bank account, or the absence of notes in your wallet, are they even real? You cannot escape from the smog that relentlessly follows you, nowhere in this country is safe. A somewhat dramatic interpretation of our current crisis, but valid nonetheless.
Most people presently living in Ireland are aware and nervous of the terrifying situation that we find ourselves in. Living day to day on unreliable pay checks has quickly become the reality that we are facing, and it is affecting everything. From healthcare to clothing, the cost of everything has risen. However, one area has been slowly increasing in price for years, and a lot of people are hesitant to speak about it. That is, of course, period products.
In general, people who menstruate are greeted each month with a wonderful occurrence that somehow continues to be a surprise despite having a rough idea of when it will happen. During this exciting time, you are guaranteed a week of misery. From unrelenting stomach pains to intense periods of nausea, and maybe even throwing in a bit of fainting for good luck, it is not by any stretch of the imagination an easy week to live through. And those are just some of the more common symptoms, there are lots more, believe me. Many people even find themselves having to take a day or two off work due to the inability to function properly, which is incredibly understandable when a feeling similar to your internal organs trying to kill each other is presently warring within you. Now, do not get me started on many places of work discriminating against women in particular, (did you know that we are less likely to be promoted in the workforce due to certain men proclaiming that we cannot adequately perform in work, and are difficult to deal with, due to menstruation?) Instead, I want to talk about the price of a period.
Reckoning up a simple figure and branding it as the overall cost of menstruating is impossible. They are not a simple one-size-fits-all concept, and to think of them as such is exclusionary. Throughout a lifetime, your period will cost you thousands of euro. The reason why it can vary so greatly is, plainly put, due to the heaviness and length of your flow. One person whose period might last only five days on a medium to light cycle might go through one packet of sanitary pads per cycle. Whereas another could have an exceptionally heavy cycle that lasts for over a week, meaning they could go through multiple packets of pads or tampons, whichever they prefer. Prices also differ in the size and absorbency levels of individual packets, with the most absorbent ones being double the cost. There is also the cost of buying underwear to factor in because let’s face it, accidents happen, and the separate issue of buying different medications and painkillers in the hopes that they will make life a little easier. Those are just the basic essentials that one needs each month, for potentially forty years of their life. Yippee. Additional costs could pop up in a variety of different ways. Oftentimes people prefer biodegradable or washable sanitary products, and for some, they might be the only option due to allergies and sensitivity. Regardless of the reasoning, there is a big price leap for these in comparison to their normal compatriots. Menstrual cups are also quickly rising in the ranks among their fellow products, but they are pricier, and depending on your body, not accessible for everyone.
Thankfully, I am currently in a position where I do not struggle to afford period products. Because of this, I was somewhat unaware of the difficulties that many inevitably face, including both the unhygienic and unsafe alternative methods that are people’s last option. What truly opened my eyes was when I was attending a hospital appointment and had to ask for a sanitary product. Due to the stressful buildup of going into the hospital and whatnot, my period decided to come earlier than anticipated. It wasn’t in the realm of possibility within my mind that I might start my period on that particular day. As I rushed to the bathroom with a sinking feeling in my stomach, the idea began to float around in my head. Upon opening the door to the bathroom, I was greeted with some lovely, bright blue, fluorescent lights. The idea behind the lights is to discourage drug use, which is a whole other topic for another day. In my instance, I could not see whether or not I had started my period, due to the effects of said lights, which are quite disorienting as their purpose is to leech the colour out of everything. I hastily used toilet paper and awkwardly shuffled to a nearby nurse. I assumed a hospital would have some period products stored away somewhere, but when I asked the nurse, she was quite confused. She told me to hold on while she grabbed something for me, which turned out to be a non-stick semi-absorbent pad that she informed me was generally used for people after they give birth. Needless to say, this whole scenario added to the already stressful day that I was living.
Now, maybe it’s just me, but in my mind, a hospital would have been one of the places that I assumed supplied items for menstruation. Of course, this leads to the topic of products being stocked in bathrooms generally. I can probably count on my hand the number of times I have been in a restroom that has had sanitary pads or tampons free to use. Thankfully, here at UCC on the main campus, many of the bathrooms do have them readily accessible. This is certainly not the norm, though. Although it should not be an embarrassing scenario, no one really wants to ask your fellow bathroom stall partner if they happen to have something you could use. Shoutout to those fellow period havers who make that situation a little less awkward, though.
While many are still uncomfortable around the topic of periods, for example, those who decided to make a complaint about a tampon advert being shown on television, (I honestly think I have seen more Viagra adverts in my life) in which discussions were made about tampons in general and the correct way to use them, change is subtly being made. Such as Lidl, in partnership with Homeless Period Ireland, which allows people to redeem a free packet of sanitary pads or tampons a month. This was a massive milestone at its time of announcement and unfortunately, they remain as one of the only companies participating in this scheme almost three years later. Another place that supplies free monthly products is Careplus pharmacy, in which you fill in an online registration form and present an email in any of their stores to avail of said products.
Finally, if you are in the position to do so, there are many drop-off points where you can donate items to those who are in need, and sanitary products are always one of the most wanted. Any donation is greatly appreciated and will certainly help someone out. Do your good deed of the day and donate a pack if you can!
