Teen Teaches Stepdad A Lesson After He Confronted Her Over Her Period Products Making His Sons 'Uncomfortable'
His house, his rules – period?
Karolina Grabowska / Pexels Family game night revamped — ‘Periods For Pricks’, the educational game a mom and her daughter made in response to her stepfather’s unusual request.
This stepdad took to the AITA thread on Reddit to ask if he was wrong for asking his stepdaughter to stop putting her period products in the trash of a bathroom she shared with his three sons.
Apparently, being ‘exposed’ to period products in a bathroom shared with a woman was uncomfortable for his 18, 16, and 15-year-old sons.
The AITA, or n/AmITheA–hole, subreddit on Reddit is a forum for users to share their stories in hopes of getting viewers' feedback on whether or not they’re the A–hole.
After his sons told him they were ‘uncomfortable’, a man confronted his stepdaughter about her period products.
It’s the honeymoon phase! For about 6 months, this Reddit user has been living in his house with his conjoined, supposedly happy, family.
As the man explains in his post, his wife has a daughter who also lives with them, "She’s 19, almost 20, and I have three sons aged 18, 16, and 15."
In love with his new wife and happy with his living situation, he details how he truly feels his stepdaughter is a "good influence" on his younger sons.
While he seemed happy, his sons felt differently.
"My sons have never lived for a long period of time with a woman, nor have any of them had long-term girlfriends," the man admits, "living with two women has been unusual for them."
You wouldn’t say.
His oldest son approached him over what he found while peeking in the bathroom trash bin.
In a conversation with his dad, his son blatantly criticized his stepsister for "disposing of her used sanitary products in the trash can that they share."
Seeming to agree that period products have ‘no place’ in the bathroom trash — the dad writes, "it makes him uncomfortable which I think is reasonable."
“My sons are teenage boys and don’t want to see their stepsister's period products on full display,” the man says about the children’s only bathroom.
"Full display" may be a slight exaggeration considering the man states in his post that his stepdaughter’s period products were concealed in the wrapper — they were not just thrown directly into the trash.
Confronting his stepdaughter, he voiced his sons’ concerns and asked her to ‘flush’ her period products in the toilet.
“A few nights ago I went into the kitchen to grab a snack,” he writes, “and she was there doing some work.”
He thought it’d be a good time to nip the situation in the bud.
“I told her my sons were uncomfortable and asked her if she’d mind putting her used products in diaper bags or flushing them down the toilet.”
Immediately baffled by her stepfather's audacity, she brought up his own bathroom disturbances.
“She laughed,” the dad recalled, “and told me it was rich coming from a man who 'sheds like a gorilla' and has produced 'three skid marking sons' — which I thought was just an unnecessary attack.”
Defensive, he adds, “I’ve been nothing but nice to the girl and it’s hardly a comparison.”
Ensuing an argument, the teen immediately lectured her stepfather on how ‘flushing’ her tampons were not only environmentally unsafe but could also lead to issues in their pipes.
Something tells me that paying for a pipe clogged with feminine products wouldn’t go over well with the stepfather and his sons — but, he considered her response to be an ‘excuse’.
“My sons shouldn’t be subjected to her unhygienic products,” he admits, “if it makes them uncomfortable.”
Furious at his ‘ridiculous’ behavior, his wife assured him that after 10 years of having a period she ‘knew what she was doing.’
“When I told her it was making my sons uncomfortable, she said my sons needed to 'get a grip' and turned over and went to sleep.”
“This is a genuine issue to me,” the man complains, “and she didn’t care enough to have a discussion about it.”
The next morning, the dad decided to confront his stepdaughter again — which she immediately dismissed, “the same as her mother.”
Still outraged at his stepdaughter’s necessity to dispose of her period products and his wife’s disregard for the ‘situation,’ the man has angrily taken to Reddit to get some clarity from readers.
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Comments aggressively call out this man’s discomfort with periods as ignorance.
“Listen to your damn wife, and stop trying to mansplain how to handle periods…educate yourself,” one commenter writes in bold.
Another comment suggests a solution, for both parties, “buy a pedal bin and teach your boys to use a toilet brush.”
“Sorry, but what?” one top comment replied, “I’m a guy and realize this is ridiculous. You need to help yourself and your sons become better men and accept that it’s a natural process.”
In an edit to the post, the original user wrote that “my wife and stepdaughter gathered my sons and I and gave us a full intensive 'Periods For Pricks' course — PowerPoint and all…My sons and I learned a lot and apologized to my stepdaughter.”
While the story may have ended with a heartfelt apology, let this story ring true for anyone in your life who has a period — don’t be the A–hole.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer who focuses on pop culture analysis and human interest stories. Catch up with them on Instagram or TikTok.