I don't get it

[legalmoose]

Why is it considered embarassing to buy condoms and tampons and the like?

Went to CVS with friends yesterday after lunch (at which we discussed the sex lives of the various participants *grin*) and I got to be the one who had to buy the condoms for the women. I didn't mind, but when I got up to the line they put the box in a brown paper bag, and then put that into a plastic CVS bag. When I expressed my puzzlement to the ladies they said the place did the same thing with tampons.

Are we supposed to be embarassed by normal human activities?

Comments

[alfheimr.livejournal.com]

*clears throat* Allow me to say: "Yes". Thank you.

[the-dibbler.livejournal.com]

i've never understtod that. there have been times that all i've needed at the store was tampons or pads and toilet paper and i don't bother with a basket or anything, but i'll still browse. so what. everyone needs tp and most women need tampons at one point or another.

as for condoms, personally i feel like i'm saying "hey i have a brain in my head, i practice safe sex" and buy them as needed, or if my mother is shopping with me. :)

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

I carry a condom in my backpack, and if I am hunting for something, it might happen to slip out. Someone who sees this could read it as, "this fellow expects that he might have sex at any time, anywhere he goes! How irresponsible! What a slut! Bad person!" Or, it could mean, "this man is responsible - whenever he has sex, he has a condom ready". It depends on whether you think that people are really ready to pretend to believe that other people just don't have sex.

Many of us were brought up in a way that lets of believe that - so any admission that we actually do have sex is embarassing.

Well, until we grow out of it, that is.

[hylandr.livejournal.com]

Haven't you been listening to our enlightened president? Sex is evil. It's all about abstinance. Remember: SEX = BAD.

[moose]

I grew out of that crap.

Once I was in a store with a friend. I had to buy some barges ["sanitary napkins" whateverthefuck ya wanna call 'em] and use them asap. So I popped a bag full into our cart, opened 'em up, took one out and showing it to my friend said, "Be right back, gonna go find their restroom." My friend was HORRIFIED that I not only was so blase' about buying such stuff but that I *GASP* HELD SUCH A PRODUCT UP FOR EVERYONE TO SEE.

I suppose today's tampon/condom/barge is yesterday's bucket of water. I don't understand people...

[lorelei-aisling.livejournal.com]

Hehehehehe. I remember when a check out guy said to me "I always get embarrassed when somebody brings women stuff to me." So I told him, "Has anybody told you that it was unwise to piss a woman off during this time of month?" in a super snotty tone. I then reported him to his manager.

Yeah, logically we think while buying condoms "I am being responsible, etc." but then there are the ghosts of those nasty disgusting Puritans bitching us out about sex being bad etc.

[gregmce.livejournal.com]

As someone who cashiered at a grocery store during summer breaks from university, I've never understood why customers were so mortified. Trust me. We've seen it before. Every day. (The sanitary napkin thing really blows my mind, because it's a natural body function! It's not like women wake up one morning and think, "I'd like to menstruate today.")

Puritanism...

[popcritique.livejournal.com]

...plain and simple.

Even after 200+ years of cultural changes and the sexual revolution in the 60's, Americans still have an unhealthy relationship with their bodies and their sexualities. We are making progress though, albeit at a snail's pace.

[attilathe.livejournal.com]

Buying tampons and condoms aren't really that big of an issue.
However, try to start a conversation with "You should have SEEN the huge motherfucking tampon I had to use this morning! I'm pretty sure I now have two birthing canals!" and count how many horrified looks you receive.

Of course, this all comes from the continent that euphemizes 'toilet' with 'restroom'. Go figure.

[popcritique.livejournal.com]

eww.