It's occurred me to the "real reason" why Republicans are freaking over

[no_hypocrisy]

Tim Walz & Minnesota's providing free tampons to girls in public schools.

For the same reason my father freaked out about me using tampons 55 years ago: rupturing the hymen.

That's right. Parents more concerned about their daughters losing their virginity to a cotton wad than their hygiene.

And fathers (yes, fathers) could never be certain if their daughters are having sex before marriage or whether they're using tampons.

Girls would prefer tampons if offered that option over bulky pads.

Again, it's about control over girls' and women's bodies down to the minutia.

[gay texan]

1. "Fine godly Christian women

Should NEVER get near the husbands property!!!"


You know its coming.....

[Chakaconcarne]

2. I heard it framed as putting them in boys restrooms...

which fits with the fox hysteria.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. That is the most fallacious "argument" as it would be a waste of

purchasing tampons for a demographic that would have ZERO use for them.

[newdayneeded]

7. yes, all 250 bucks worth.

[Ms. Toad]

8. Small, but not zero.

Many trans men menstruate. A few even get pregnant and give birth.

[Zoomie1986]

20. Schools put feminine hygiene products

In boys' bathrooms because trans people need them, and because sometimes cis gender girls need them when their bathroom is shut down and they must use or share the boys bathroom. Women have also been known to use the boys bathroom if their own is too busy while the boys room is empty.

I had to use the gents a couple of times in college when we were having a costume event on campus, and the bathrooms were all full with women having to struggle in and out of elaborate costumes to do their business, which of course created a back, er, log of women needing to go. I'd get one of my guy pals to stand guard while I took care of my urgent business in the completely empty men's room, no harm, no foul. Having some feminine hygiene gear in there would have been welcome..

[a kennedy]

11. Yah, ya know like men playing in women's sports. 🤮 🤮 🤮

I HATE THEM ALL. and again so sorry for yelling. I just want this gawd damn nightmare of these MAGA’s and their leader TO BE GONE!!!!!

[musette_sf]

4. Ah yes, I remember this

I was told that if I used tampons I would “ruin myself”. When I asked what that meant, I got no answer.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

5. That's a really good point about tampons!

Even though MN also provides pads, nobody is calling him Maxipad Tim.

[Amaryllis]

6. Pads are also very messy and unhygenic. And prone to leaking. BIg ick.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Waiting for JD Vance to come out against the sale of tampons

to preserve and to protect the Godly maidenhead for a girl's inevitable husband.

[Ms. Toad]

10. A ruptured hymen is not equal to losing your virginity. n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

17. Tell that to my father. To him, it was synonymous.

And he was a doctor . . . .

[Ms. Toad]

18. Virginity is not a medical matter, so your father must have been sleeping in his gyn classes/rotation.

Virginity is a social question: has the person in question had sex, or not. Historically, virginity was limited to someone who had not ever had penile/vaginal penetration, but as thoughts on sex change, the specific sex acts that constitute losing one's virginity is more flexible.

And not to beat a dead horse - hymens vary from woman to woman - from none to covering much of the vaginal open (even ignoring genital mutilation). IF a woman naturally has a relatively complete hymen, it can be altered by a lot of things other than sex. And, conversely, even a relatively complete hymen may be elastic that having sex doesn't alter it at all.

[no_hypocrisy]

19. Understood. My father was not much for fine distinctions.

And definitely not a gynecologist.

And it was 1969.

[LizBeth]

12. Oh goodness I hear that conversation often enough. Makes me sick. And I hear women

say this too.

[central scrutinizer]

13. Like condoms

Should be available in all school bathrooms

[central scrutinizer]

14. All this shit can be answered by one response

Mind your own fucking business.

[redstatebluegirl]

15. My Dad too.

Forbid my mom from buying me tampons.

[pansypoo53219]

16. started when toxic shock was killing women using super tampons. pads cheaper over time.

[Zoomie1986]

21. Pads are messy and far more uncomfortable

They stick to hairs and skin when the blood dries because you can't go to the bathroom immediately to change it. Like all those times I was sitting there with a pad gluing to my pubic area because I was stuck on a school bus. Unless you could shower immediately, you were then stuck with clots of blood stuck somewhere and scratching you all day.

I hated them, and didn't use them unless I was having super-heavy periods or, later, hemorrhaging from cancer.

[pansypoo53219]

22. old school pads. always w/ wings are awesome. tho glad for no need anymore.