Do the people running the National Trust know what a woman is?
A tampon dispenser has been placed in the gentlemen’s loos at a National Trust property.
Seen in the gents at Sizergh Castle
The Telegraph reports:
The National Trust has been criticised for dispensing vegan tampons in men’s lavatories.
The charity is providing the sanitary products in the men’s toilets at Sizergh Castle, near Lake Windermere in the Lake District.
A box fixed to the wall, with the wording: “Got a period situation going on? We got you” offers the free tampons. Nearby is a disposal bin featuring a male icon.
One 79-year-old visitor to the stately home said: “Entering the male-only designated toilet, I was confused. Pads and tampons were provided, plus a male disposal bin.
“There was a female-only toilet nearby, and both male and female facilities [were] clearly marked with a male figure and a female figure… not unisex facilities.
“As a man, I appreciate the prostate bins in the men’s toilet and pads for men, but having gone and used the urinal, I then turned around and I was facing a green bin saying something like: ‘Are you having period problems?’
“I went outside and put my head outside the door. I wanted to check if I had used the wrong toilet. I was confused, and it led to a great deal of discussion with my wife and friends as to why tampons and pads were put into the gents. I think it needs explaining as to what this policy means.”
The tampon box is provided by Dame, which specialises in sustainable period products and claims that nothing used in the making of its products is animal-derived.
The National Trust announced a partnership with the company in September, saying it would enable it “to deliver period dignity sensitively, sustainably and with a distinct aesthetic in keeping with our unique spaces”.
Cornelia van der Poll, a co-founder of the Restore Trust campaign group – an internal members’ group that advocates for a more traditional focus on conservation – said: “The National Trust’s job is to look after historic buildings, not to provide sanitary products.
“The National Trust is becoming embroiled in gender controversies. The purpose is ostensibly to welcome everyone, but actually it is just alienating more people than it welcomes and it’s wholly unnecessary.”
Maya Forstater, the CEO of Sex Matters, a sex-based rights charity, said: “Whoever placed sanitary products that only work for women’s bodies in men’s toilets has lost touch with reality and the law.
“It can never be appropriate to place a tampon dispenser and urinals in the same room. Allowing people of one sex into a space reserved for the other sets the scene for unlawful harassment of the people who are meant to be there.
“It’s no wonder that the 79-year-old visitor to Sizergh Castle was confused to find tampons and sanitary bins in the male toilets.
“If this National Trust site thinks its policy is progressive, it is deeply misguided. Authorising or approving people venturing into single-sex toilets for the opposite sex is not only against the law, but a violation of privacy and dignity.”