And now for something completely different...

[fangirl715]

I just saw this article on the BBC this morning, and decided I had to pass it along:
A man in India invents a machine for women to make low-cost sanitary napkinsThe whole process wasn't exactly skittles and beer for him; his wife (who inspired the whole project when he learned she had to use rags) left him, as did the rest of his family, and the

Comments

[bedfull_o_books]

The easily disposed bit is really, really important.

One of the issues that stem from getting developing world women to wear western style sanitary products is the horrible impact they have on their local waste disposal systems. Incineration of rags has to be much less toxic than incineration of whatever that plastic polymer stuff they put in our super absorbent "products."

Even better would be reusable pads. (I haven't read the article, so maybe that's what he is doing?) Easily disposed of is fantastic in any case.

[fangirl715]

I think they're being made of cotton/cellulose, pretty typical old-school materials, as opposed to some of the various new-fangled ones that I"m sure aren't biodegradable/burnable; it may not be the best, but in terms of their health, it's a damn sight better than what they've been using. (The article goes into a lot more detail as to the other options; I can't even imagine how you'd use sand, unless it's a matter of just squatting over it all day and never being able to leave the house.) Apparently local cultural taboos are such that you can't really wash your rags properly and dry them in the sun (if they could, I'd say reusable cotton pads would be just the ticket), and bad menstrual hygiene is behind a lot of Indian women's health problems; while this may not be ideal from an ecological standpoint right now, it's probably the best option for the time being. Hopefully the culture will "loosen up" to the point that more eco-friendly methods can be used, but that will take time

[bedfull_o_books]

I remember the belt well. Bulky, bulky, bulky pads. Horrible. But yes, better than staying home lying on a bunch of towels all day.

Stupid social taboos.....

[achinhibitor]

All so true...

A man in India invents a machine for women to make low-cost sanitary napkins

Presumably men can operate the machine also?

how significant having clean, easily obtained, and easily disposed-of products

That's industrialization in a nutshell. Some economist calculated that a Yanamami can buy or otherwise obtain about 300 different things, while a New Yorker can obtain about 1 billion different things. Life is better in New York.