1) At least you agree that it actually isnt free. It actually costs these restaurants and other businesses alot of money to keep those peoducts in stock. There are plenty of toiletries that keep us healthy, but that doesnt mean you should get them for free. Nor does it mean someone else (aside from a parent or gaurdian) should have to buy it for you.

2) It’s called carrying some with you. Millions of women do it everyday. Most women have purses or bags and can have them immediately accessible. Periods are more or less on predictable cycles. Even if you decide not to keep an extra pad in your purse at all times, you can definitely remember to put some in at the time of the month you more or less expect it will happen.

Before toilet paper, people used cheap washable cloth. Which is considerably cheaper (and better for the environment) than disposable toilet paper. Same with diapers. People used to use cloth diapers until disposable versions came out. Now cloth diaper use is in the minority. We switched to what is considered a luxury item because it made things easier. It was convenient. And that convenience became the norm. You simply got so used luxury items that you feel entirled to them. Complaining that the luxury version of things are expensive and that you deserve them for free.

3) They are affordable. A combo meal at mcdonalds could cover the cost of even a heavy flow month. Tampax, the more expensive brand of tampons, is roughly $7 per 36 tampons. Less than $0.20 per tampon. Assuming you go through 4 tampons a day during your period, you wont go through that whole box. Maybe not even half of it. So even heavy flows likely wont deplete the one box. The argument that they cannot afford it is a bad one because they are relatively cheap, and it applies to most toiletries. Maybe someone doesnt have money for extra diapers at the moment. Maybe they dont have money for toothpaste or floss. Maybe they dont have money for a box of tissues for their runny nose or band-aids and disinfectant for their cut. But that doesnt mean others should be required to purchase it for you. The only people who really have an excuse are homeless and incarcerated women who dont have it supplied to them.

And i dont know why you tried to bring up the “free” argument. Because even you admitted that they really arent. Additional products would cost the business even more than they already pay. At the very least, they would need to charge more to cover the cost, which would only reduce customers. As stated before, there are a number of things that are good for our health or we may need “urgently”. That doesnt mean it ahould be provided for free. Your child may have a dirty diaper and yes, a child sitting in a dirty diaper too long can be bad for its health, but you cant expect or demand free disposable diapers in bathrooms. You as the parent are expected to have disposable or cloth diapers on your person.

4) Women do have access to mensrual products. You just admitted that the issue isnt the cost. Menstuel products are readily accessible in stores. They arent rare and stores will sell them to even small children. They arent put in a case like cough syrup or anything. Women in general have access to them. The only times that they dont is if they forget, which has more to do with personal responsibility, like the parent not having an extra diaper on them.

Women can work on their periods. Women can leave the house. I work with women who will tell me when they are on their periods (coincidentally, until a female coworker mocked me for it, i did in fact offer free tampons to coworkers since i had coupons that made them almost free). If the reasoning is blood, you can easily get some toilet paper or a thin cloth and use that as protection for your drive to the corner store. If the reasoning is cramps, then you not being able to leave the house means that you couldnt get to the restaurant or business anyway for said free pads and tampons. Similar to how you couldnt make it to the business to use their bathroom and their toilet paper anyway. Which makes it a bad argument. Women are stronger and more resourceful that you seem to believe.

5) “i’d love to hear what exact alternatives you have to [disposable] menstrual products”

Well if you read my response before replying, you will note that I already answered your question.

There are a number of washable products available. The diva cup (and the many other brands of the same product), reusable cloth, reusale seasponges, reusable tampons, ect.

The disposable tampon was invented in 1931. Women have been having periods long before then. I assure you that women were not just bleeding everywhere until 1931. They had washable cloth alternatives.

6) and yes, they are in fact luxury items. You are the one who needs to do your own research.

Disposable alternatives to what already exist are used to make things a little easier than the original. So instead of washing that poopy cloth diaper everyday, you can just throw it away. So you dont have to carry around a handkerchief, you can just throw it away. So you dont have to wash your cloth absorbant cloth pad, you can get a disposable one. Your argument is essentially that you shouldnt have to pay for plastic bottled water because people need water. You arent paying attention to the fact that the product you are referring to is a convenient version of what already exists. Just get a normal non-disposable water bottle. No one is saying that women should not have pads or tampons, but that they arent entitled to disposable luxury versions. That no one should have to pay for them for you. You have just gotten too used to the convenient version of the item and assume that everyone deserves it for free.

And dont use Canada as a comparison. Canada is known for trying so hard to be progressive that they often spread inequality or use very bad logic to appear as though theyre doing the right thing. Like hiring quotas for government positions. Just because Canada is doing it doesnt mean we should too.