Top tip: if you haven’t had a period, do not tell women what it is like to have a period, how they should be managing their period or how much it costs to have periods. It will never end well.
A man has committed this foolhardy mistake by suggesting women only need to use seven tampons per period. That’s per cycle, not per day. Can you imagine?
The guy in question suggested the average period is 10-35ml of blood and that if tampons can hold 5ml of blood, this equates to seven tampons per cycle – completely ignoring medical advice around toxic shock syndrome and the fact that many women will have periods that are way heavier, more frequent and last longer.
If that weren’t toe-curling enough, the man said women with an “extra juicy uterine lining” should be permitted to use 10 tampons. How generous.
He went on tell women to buy jumbo packs of tampons on Amazon, saying: “Cut down on your Starbucks venti frapps and stop whining. This isn’t a first world problem.”
Needless to say, his unsolicited advice went down like a lead balloon with women on Twitter. Many found his maths laughable:
A lot of women questioned the end figure:
Some pointed out that even with a light flow, following his advice could actually be dangerous: to avoid toxic shock syndrome, women are told to wear tampons for no longer than eight hours:
One person pointed out the absolute havoc that would be caused if women were really choosing a Starbucks over tampons:
Jokes aside, when one in 10 girls in the UK has been unable to afford sanitary products, tweets like this can increase the shame around periods and period poverty if left unchallenged.
Oh, and please never use the phrase “extra juicy” in relation to menstrual blood. Ever.