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What do you call sanitary towels?

(143 Posts)
Mollygo Sat 15-Jul-23 14:57:06

Shopping with my teenage DGD I said her mum had asked me to get some sanitary towels and did she know which sort her mum wanted.
She told me that I shouldn’t call them sanitary towels, because it implies that having a period is insanitary.
I should evidently just call them pads or tampons.
She went on to tell me how bad they were for the environment. I was tempted to ask if she’d like to use washable/ reusable strips of fabric.
I usually call them pads, but is the instruction new?

Blondiescot Sat 15-Jul-23 14:58:58

Fanny pads!

Oopsadaisy1 Sat 15-Jul-23 15:06:29

We used to call them ST’s back in the day, then Tampax became all the rage.

merlotgran Sat 15-Jul-23 15:07:17

I think they’re called period pads now.

DaisyAnneReturns Sat 15-Jul-23 15:09:55

You can get very pretty reusable period pads. Probably a lot better for her as well as the environment, as they won't have the hygroscopic gel in, that they all seem to use these days.

nexus63 Sat 15-Jul-23 15:16:04

i "came on" grans term for periods and i called them towels, i was only 10, i found out a year later about lil-lets and called them that.

Norah Sat 15-Jul-23 15:16:07

Thanks be to God, I don't have to name them - no need any longer. smile

Smileless2012 Sat 15-Jul-23 15:24:01

Neither do I Norah but would still call them ST's if I did.

Blondiescot Sat 15-Jul-23 15:24:59

DaisyAnneReturns

You can get very pretty reusable period pads. Probably a lot better for her as well as the environment, as they won't have the hygroscopic gel in, that they all seem to use these days.

You also get very good period pants now. Worth considering.

sharon103 Sat 15-Jul-23 15:26:44

I'll probably get this taken off but years back and was at secondary school we used to call them jam rags.

Deedaa Sat 15-Jul-23 15:28:15

I call them something I haven't had to use for over 50 years!

GrandmaKT Sat 15-Jul-23 15:28:45

A guy I knew once told me that when he was about 7, his mum asked him and his younger brother to go to the chemist to get her some. (I found this pretty shocking, but his mum did have mental health issues...) Anyway, they went up to the counter and asked for "some jam butties for me mam"! blush

Cherrytree59 Sat 15-Jul-23 15:29:22

Just period pads.
Often called San-pro on Mumsnet

sodapop Sat 15-Jul-23 15:30:59

I call them pads as well.

I remember when I first started nursing they were bulky cotton wool affairs and we called them bunnies.

Foxygloves Sat 15-Jul-23 16:01:03

No idea, I haven’t used the term for years.
But I remember when I was maybe about 11 or 12 my mother sent me to the chemist for some indigestion tablets called “Tums”
When I asked for these by name only, , the assistant, a rather shy young man blushed to the roots of his hair, reached under the counter and gave me a rectangular package wrapped in brown paper. Puzzled I took the package home to general hilarity. 😳😳😳

Calendargirl Sat 15-Jul-23 16:13:30

I would just call them sanitary towels, that’s what they are.

downtoearth Sat 15-Jul-23 16:14:38

DGD Period pads
DD fanny curtains
ME STs and girls in my year ar secondary school in the 60's,same as Sharon 103
I started work at 15 in Timothy Whites,that became Boots I have had a lot of nodding and winking in the general direction of what was required and they where duscreetly slipped into a bag under the counter.
My innocence was shattered at having to sell durex,alluded to as in the happy boys drawer grin

Blondiescot Sat 15-Jul-23 16:18:05

I remember going with my mum to what was a little draper's shop in our home village. She'd be discreetly handed a brown paper package and nothing was said. It was years before I actually twigged what was in that package. I still don't understand why it was the draper's shop which sold them though. Thank god we've moved on from that nonsense.

fiorentina51 Sat 15-Jul-23 16:51:58

Downtoearth
I worked at Boots as a dispenser. During my 6 months of drug counter experience, I too had my innocence shattered...well brought up Catholic girl that I was, when I was asked for a packet of Durex. The customer was a well known local lady of the night.
In those days contraceptives were not on display so had to ask a senior colleague where they were.
"In the drawer marked indoor sports." I was told.😳

seadragon Sat 15-Jul-23 16:53:52

sodapop

I call them pads as well.

I remember when I first started nursing they were bulky cotton wool affairs and we called them bunnies.

My mum called them 'bunnies' too and her period was her "chum" ! I could never use tampons as I have a retroverted womb but seem to recall my 'bunnies' were "Dr White's" in my vocabulary....so glad to see the back of them a quarter of a century ago. As my mum used to say (often!): "Men! They don't they're living!"

rafichagran Sat 15-Jul-23 16:56:13

Oopsadaisy1

We used to call them ST’s back in the day, then Tampax became all the rage.

That's what we called them.

LadyGracie Sat 15-Jul-23 17:00:46

My mum and nan also called them 'bunnies'.

JaneJudge Sat 15-Jul-23 17:02:17

I call them sanpro which is short for sanitary products. I have never really thought about the connotations of the word sanitary so maybe I should change my terminology

downtoearth Sat 15-Jul-23 17:03:52

florentinaworked in pharmacy most of my working life,also Boots trained as a dispenser.
In 1968 ladies of the night also required douches with appropriate tubes,and jugs,and so did the women who helped to dispose of unwanted pregnancies,all explained by an older experienced drug counter assistant.
Trusses that needed measuring and suspensory bandages that needed sizing, Rendalls and pessaries all in the drawers that confused without any training or knowledge.

Shinamae Sat 15-Jul-23 17:04:24

My aunt used to say “are you unwell?”