Free sanitary items for young girls, rant...

In every social media situation whereby a debate of opinion arises there is always a troll, there is always a sad individual who has nothing better to do with their life than purposely going out of their way to behave like a moron and aggravate everyone in order to gain their own twisted kick.

Last night a debate arose on a local site around the topic of free menstruation sanitation products for woman or girls in particular.

This excuse for a member of the male race in no better words voiced the opinion that these items should be given out for free because then people would expect everything for free, he also went on to say that woman had survived without these items in the past so why can they not find an alternative now, when the opinion of free condoms came up which is a choice unlike a period for a girl, he went on to say that condoms prevent diseases and this is why they are handed out for free.

Now whilst I agree that that is the supposed reasoning behind giving condoms out for free and that yes they do indeed prevent STD’s, Sex unlike a period is still a choice, it is not a need or something that cannot be helped it is a choice.

However a monthly period is not and for most impoverished families the reality is that if one is given the choice between bread and milk for their family or sanitary items you will always find that food wins, and this means that many MANY young girls and woman are unfortunately forced to not attend school for the time over which their periods take place which in some ladies case can be up to 10 days.

Add that all up and that is a lot of time missed from school that can so easily be avoided.

Bringing up the point of what woman used before these items were available, woman did use items such as sheep’s wool, grass and cloth however these items were not very sanitary and still left a smell which at a time whereby general sanitation was in itself terrible was not too much of an issue, it would be a very real and embarrassing issue today and again one that can be so easily avoided.

Now I agree that not everything should be freely given, I do not believe that tertiary education should be free, I do believe it is a privilege that should be earned either through attaining a bursary with hard earned marks or by financial means however I do believe very strongly that basic primary education should be free and easily attainable for all children, if basic education were free more children would be able attend and at least attain a basic level of education which many children cannot afford to attain, I also believe that things such as sanitary items and basic medical care should be available for free as well to everyone as these are a need and/ or things that are not a choice but a given.

I am very lucky in that I no longer have to deal with a monthly period after having a hysterectomy 3 years ago, but I can tell you that financially sanitary items are ridiculously priced and just not feasible for so many people, there are sanitary items such as diva cups and cloth pads that can be reused however this is not always plausible when one does not have access to clean free water or sanitation in general.

At the end of the day it is not the fault of the child and they should not have to miss out on an education for something that can so easily be helped, our government and our people need to come together and fight for the rights of these young woman and our future young woman.