No weekend would be complete without a quick check in on the Social Justice Warriors, special snowflakes and other politically correct agitators at our nation’s campuses. This story cropped up earlier in the week from the good folks at Campus Reform, but we didn’t get a chance to look into it until now. At Brown University they’re finding time away from their racial protests, banning of conservatives and whatever studying may still go on to strike a blow for equality. For all of you young men who will be attending classes and residing there this fall, you’ve got one less thing to worry about. When you go to the men’s room, there will be plenty of tampons available, courtesy of Viet Nguyen, President of the Undergraduate Council of Students.
Brown University’s student body president will be hand-delivering menstrual products to all nonresidential bathrooms on campus, including men’s rooms, with the help of 20 other students…
“There’s been a lot of conversation about why pads and tampons are a necessity, not a luxury, but not a lot of action. We wanted to take it into our own hands,” Nguyen explains in the email, observing that “low-income students struggle with having the necessary funding for food, let alone tampons.”
By putting menstrual products in women’s, men’s, and gender-inclusive bathrooms, Nguyen aims to “set a tone of trans-inclusivity, and not forget that they’re an important part of the population,” but is under no illusions that the effort will be universally popular.
I recall an early meme from the feminist movement which claimed that “a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” If that’s a fair comparison, then precisely how badly do men need tampons and sanitary napkins? According to Newsweek… it’s complicated.
By putting menstrual products in women’s, men’s and gender-inclusive bathrooms, Nguyen’s campaign highlights an often ignored fact: Not all people who menstruate are women. “We wanted to set a tone of trans-inclusivity and not forget that they’re an important part of the population,” he says. “I’d be naïve to say there won’t be push back. I’ve had questions about why we’re implementing this in male bathrooms as well. It’s an initial confusion, but people generally understand when we explain it.”
Well, not to quibble here, but actually everyone who menstruates is a woman. I’m not sure if they still have a medical department at Brown or any classes which deal with genetics, but if you ask some doctors they may be able to help you. I won’t throw the baby out with the bathwater here however, because the Newsweek article does at least go on to highlight a completely separate issue which is not only worth discussion, but a resolution, and one which is rolling out across the nation right now. Why is toilet paper not taxed (as an “essential“) but feminine hygiene products have been taxed in many states? And if toilet paper is free in schools, why not tampons and pads? As much as the “trans community” may find me to be a big item in the Basket of Deplorables, even I can agree with that argument.
But when you’re putting them in the men’s room to collect dust, you’re just wasting money. There’s nothing conservative about that whatsoever. It’s just a very small rat hole to lose cash in for the sake of political correctness.
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