Real men buy sanitary pads for women they recently met


The woman at the door said 'Over at the back' when I asked where the sanitary pads were (I had no idea what to call them.. ) . I went to the back and another woman came up and asked 'What are you looking for' and I realised that there were different kinds and brands and the only request I had was to get the pack without wings though the pack had different sizes. The saleswoman helped me choose one. I have a feeling she was accustomed to doing this.

The cashier put the pack of pads in a black plastic bag. It seems most other  items were put in white bags. She did not ask me what bag I would prefer.

These were not for a me but for a woman who I met recently .. and no, it is not as though we skipped the whole dinner, flowers, text 20 times an hour thing to get down to honey please buy a pack of pads.. it was more after a conversation of being helpful and I said I had no problem buying any 'personal products'. And while the context of the connection with the woman does not mean that I know any of her personal details.. I realised that if was to be useful I would have to know why she preferred no wings to wings and other more personal details which many women probably do not get to discuss with the men who they love and who claim to love them.

Gender bending came up this week.. thinking of the boys and men who walk with umbrella in the hot sun, and the men wearing pink and other bright colours in jeans and shoes and so and the men who dyeing their hair. That dyed hair thing shocked me when I realised that as many men as women I know who are greying like me are dyeing.   I thought men thought gray hairs as  a sign of wisdom and experience .

I know there are discussions about whether men would buy pads and who they would buy the pads for (mothers, sisters, wives , girlfriends mostly, but it is not as though the salespeople ask who are you buying for ? )

But yeah.. I felt like a real man ,, in my blue shirt and khaki pants and with all the grays in my hair and on my face in the hot sun without umbrella or cap and the pads in the black plastic bag for the woman who I recently met.

Comments

  1. NelsoniaFebruary 21, 2015 at 7:03 PM

    another great one

    ReplyDelete
  2. VarshaMay 9, 2015 at 12:28 PM

    This is great. I like the part about defying gender norms and would like to see more of it.

    ReplyDelete

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