What do you call sanitary towels?

I would have referred the young lady to the meaning of “sanitary” and used it as a good opportunity to enlighten her and possibly develop a conversation about the roots of words. (See my post upthread at 08.28)

Reusable cups are all the rage in my family.

Panty pads, same goes for Tena now.

sharon103

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

Same!

Pads.

Blondiescot the little shop that sold knitting wool etc in our village sold pads. Later on my Mum sent me to the chemist for some for her. It was self service and I saw them in the corner at the back of the shop. I picked up a pack of Dr Whites and took them to the counter. Where the assistant tutted at me, marched over to the corner, pulled a brown paper bag off the string attached to the shelf and safely covered the offending item so that the sole other customer couldn’t see what I was buying. The other customer was a woman by the way.

The first time I saw a sanitary towel it was the type with loops. My friend and I were in her big sister's bedroom. We didn't know what it was so my friend looped the loops over her ears and we decided it was for treating toothache.

Panty Liners

Decades back when used as such I called them Sanitary Towels like most people then. Still think of them as such.

Period pads

When I started menstruating at age of thirteen (1936) my mother gave me squares of towelling and said it would happen every month and it was my body having a clear out. It wasn’t until I joined the WAAF that I had pads because they were issued as part of kit.
Unfortunately I now have to wear pads for a different reason.

STs for me too. Periods at my boarding school were known as "Uncle George" (or just George) and we had to record them in the George Book.

At school in the 1950s we called them STs. It was a source of great mirth to us that the film star Spencer Tracy had the same initials. What sophisticated little humorists we were.

I call them pads and tampons.
Now you can get a lot of different "cups" that are fitted inside and emptied and washed. And yes it is a lot more environmentally friendly although not everyone can use them as some have periods too heavy, some have allergies etc. There is also special period pants for people with a light flow that are simply rinsed out and added to your normal wash.
I would take this opportunity to bring it up again with your DGD next time to discuss the different option and get her view on what products she prefers. TBH I would like to know if they are taught all the alternative options available now in school. I know there was a drive for free pads and tampons in school but it would be great to see alternatives being available as well.

At the age of 13 in the early 1950s, every girl in the class but One had started to menstruate

The annual swimming gala took place in an insanitory Victorian swimming pool which was demolished in the following year
35 girls sat grinning on the edge f the pool when our( POST-menopausal) unmarried class teacher was seen to be going through some sort of crisis at the end of the pool and then approached us
She steeled herself to say " Surely not everybody here is indisposed" " Oh yes we are, Miss G. it is most certainly not wise to swim"
The one remaining girl was required to swim as the games mistress had kept some sort of list of our starting our periods and Alex had no excuse
Three years later as we were all climbing the school stairs to a subject room a joyous cry rang out to the rest of the class. "I've started, I've started"

Mollygo Wonder what your DGD thinks of disposable nappies in relation to the environment. Tampons sutely aren't as bad as pads.I admit I do not know the material origins or production methods in any of the items.

It's Sanitory Towels for me, but when I first saw them, I though they were hammocks for fairies!!

We had a small shop selling everything . One customer used to come in and ask for piano dusters . She did not have a piano .

I remember the joke about Tampax when it first came out.
Small boy went into chemist and asked for Tampax. “Are they for your sister?” Asked the chemist. “No. For me because the advert says that with them you can ride a bike and swim and I can’t do either”

You beat me to it !!!!

Fanny pads or jam rags, (going back a few years).

After games lessons we had to use much hated communal showers. We were excused these by handing the games mistress a slip of paper with "P" on it. She kept a record of these as we were keen to avoid the showers as much as possible

We also called them bunnies - they were Dr Whites, very bulky and with rubber pop on around the loops awful things!

Feminine hygiene products

Always referred to as "bunnies" when I was doing my nursing and midwifery training in the 1960s.