Mr. S has never had a problem with it. As he says, “So what? People will know they’re for my woman – points for me!” (But as others have said, now that I have and love my Divacup, those days are over.)
When a friend of mine first moved in with her future husband, he was much older and recently divorced from a “traditional” marriage in which Male and Female roles and items were kept completely separate. The first time they went shopping together, she grabbed a pack of feminine whatevers and tossed it into the cart. He was horrified: "Don’t put those in with the FOOD!"
I’m put in mind of a comedian (wish I could remember his name) who did a bit a bit about buying tampons. And why he couldn’t understand being embarrassed about it.
"Yes I’m buying tampons, because I have a woman. What have you got in your cart? A bottle of vodka and a Playboy? Whereas I have a woman. "
Makes sense to me. At least once I got over being embarassed about buying them for myself (teenaged). None of my SOs (as in signifigent enough to go shopping for me) have had a problem with it. I think Portnoy’s mom asking him to buy them for him was a bit much but other than that…
I bought them for my ex all the time, and with no complaints, which came as quite a surprise to her. Seems that none of the other men she had dated before had been willing to be seen purchasing feminine hygeine products in a public venue.
This attitude (as well as many others frequently attributed to stereotypical “guys”) is pretty much a mystery to me. I mean, I can understand a certain amount of reluctance to buy condoms, adult videos, or remedies for potentially embarrassing medical issues, but tampons? Please.
I have no current SO, but when I have had one, I’ve occasioinally asked someone to pick supplies up for me and never had anyone object.
I have heard some guys, when sitting around drinking beer, suggest that guys that would pick the supplies up for their women are whiped. However, generally the guys tha say that have no chance, whatsoever, of ever being anywhere near a woman’s private parts, in any context, so I think that says quite a bit.
Ah…it’s a thing. I’m the shopper of the house and I will go to my grave defending my need to have a backup supply of everything. Hell, I make sure we’ve even got a huge bottle of cheap yellow mustard in the pantry and we almost never use the stuff. As you can imagine then, when I am called upon to acquire plugs, I go to Costco and get a monster-size box (meaning lots of pons, not great big ones!) and then a backup. But then, I’m crazy and likely a little OCD. The estranged hates this little quirk, even though it’s proven handy many times.
Still, it’s gerat fun when making the shopping list to ask, “Do we need any mustard? How about girly things?” when I know full well I could open a tampons & mustard stand on any streetcorner in The Big City.
Yes, I did/would. To say the truth, I’m completely mystified by the reluctance of some men to buy tampons. And even more puzzled by the fact that some women find embarassing to buy them. I just don’t understand. It’s not like tampons are some evidences of you being involved in some activity that could be frowned upon, like say, buying dildos ( I would/did buy dildos too. But in this case, I can understand where the embarassement comes from, at least).
Being embarrassed about buying tampons makes as much sense to me as being embarassed about buying band-aids or deodorant.
Not to mention you only need them once a month, so if you run out at the end of one cycle it’s easy to forget about them until you need them again.
I can’t imagine sending my SO out to buy some. It almost confuses me sometimes, and I know what I want. And there’s always one size/style combination that I can’t find (always seems to be the same one, too), adding to the confusion. I should just buck up and buy a Divacup already.
I’m a woman and I don’t think I’ve ever sent a man to buy pads or tampons. One time I did have to ask my dad to buy pads (he didn’t mind - he buys for my mom) and I didn’t know off the top of my head what brand/size/type to tell him to get, so I said get whatever and ended up with some really crappy store brand. But, it was my fault.
I don’t send them not because I think they’d be embarassed. More like I need to go myself and study the offerings, find the right size and shape of whatever I need and buy the right box for the money. Of course, I’m really bad at being a woman - I still always buy the wrong stuff for MYSELF!
I actually feel kind of squicky to buy them myself. I think because I’m announcing to all the fellas in the grocery store “hey I’m on the rag right now! No sex with me today, ok?!”
Because, you know…ALL of the fellas in the grocery store were JUST about to come up to me and ask if I wanted to get it on. Until they saw the box of pads.
Presumably she hasn’t yet gotten to that comfortable, unpretentious “Hey honey, throw a towel down and let’s get to it” point in her relationships with nameless guys at the store.
No you couldn’t. Everyone knows mustard isn’t the correct condiment when eating t… nah, better not go there.
More to the point: My spouse will do so, though as others have said, he’d require very clear instructions as to brand, style etc. and he would feel a little embarassed. I’ve managed to avoid having to send him on that errand through 20+ years of marriage, except when my son was newly hatched and I ran out of the “you just gave birth to an elephant”-style ones and I was not mobile yet. He did it without complaint
Like so many others in this thread, I have no problem shopping in the tampon aisle, as long as I’ve been given exact instructions as to brand, packaging, etc.
Nothing unusual for me, though. It turns out I need exact instructions for all the shopping I do, not just tampons. Salad dressing, tomato sauce, toothpaste…I once came home with the wrong kind of fresh spinach and had to say twelve Hail Marys and wear the hair shirt for a week. (Who knew one kind of fresh spinach was different from another?) Buying the right tampons is just another day in the life of.
I love being a husband, but when did I turn into the cliché?
My dad did all the grocery shopping in my family, but my mum picked up all the cosmetics/beauty aids/tampons and pads. Not because my dad wouldn’t, but because every trip of his to the grocery would result in about three phone calls. “Um, you asked for Brand X Dijon Mustand with Horseradish. They’ve got a 250 mL jar or a 17 gallon tub. Which one did you want?”, or “You wrote down here, in the “Fresh Produce” section of the list, that you wanted 2 yukon gold potatoes. Does that mean two bags of yukon gold potato chips or two bags of frozen yukon gold french fries?”. So it was just easier for my mum to buy the tampons and shampoo and stuff.
I can’t see why anyone above the age of 13 or so would be bothered, but it would be fun (if you’re a guy) to stand around in the isle for a minute with your legs crossed over, slightly doing the pee dance, and then grab a box and dash off towards the cashier.
People you’ve never met before will be talking about you for days.
Another no problem, just tell me exactly what you want.
All these “it’s not like anyone thinks they’re for me” comments remind of something from OpalCat’s Page O’ Flames, which is choking my Firefox at the moment…
A man and wife have been married for years. One day the wife comes home and gives her husband some paper’s and tobaco. He tells her that she knows darned well, he doesn’t roll his own . She tells him its cheaper. A week later he has to go get her some tampons. He hands her some cotton balls and tells her make her own it’s cheeper.
My husband has never had any qualms about buying supplies for me. I do have to write down what I want; with all the nitpicky variety out there, I sometimes have a hard time identifying the correct package myself!
One very nice thing about my MIL is that she raised boys with some common sense, real information, and an idea of how to treat women right. Thanks, MIL! (This was especially welcome after I had to explain the Facts of Life to a boyfriend or two.)
My SO has bought them for me with me there. Heh. He was paying, but we were both shopping and I needed pads! So, he bought them. No biggie.
I remember wishing the earth would swallow me when I was 13 and my dad bought me pads. He pointed out to me that he’d lived with a woman (my parents were divorced by then) and sometimes buying this stuff was part of the deal.
Explaining how this all works to a boyfriend? How could they not know???
