Guy asks if he's wrong for buying his best friend's daughter tampons after getting shamed by a woman

We, as a society, have been trying to destigmatize the taboos around menstruation for a long time now. Be it through awareness campaigns or by broaching the subject within our own homes, the worldwide effort to dispel the shame and guilt associated with it is commendable. However, even in this day and age, there are many—of all sexes and ages—who believe this perfectly natural biological process should only be discussed in hushed tones and that those who do not menstruate have no business knowing anything about it. This is abundantly clear from a recent r/AmItheAsshole post where Reddit user, u/creatingastorm asked if he's wrong for "buying my friend's daughter tampons and being too familiar with her."

"Ok, a bit of context! I (M46) met Cassie(F40) last year during one of the breaks in lockdown, we got on and despite not seeing a huge amount of each other in person because of various restrictions, we have stayed in contact," he explained in the post. "I have known my friend since I was 16. As a consequence I have known all of his kids (all 4 of them) since they were born, they know me well enough to be completely comfortable with me. [They] have been to my current house a number of times and when I lived in London, the older kids would stay etc. C(F21), his daughter, is in healthcare and I live close to a teaching hospital that is offering a course in her field. This is about 30 mins from where she lives, longer during peak."

u/creatingastorm then went on to recount the specific incident that made him question how he treats his best friend's kids. "Last week, late afternoon, Cassie and I were at my house having a coffee in the kitchen. The doorbell rang and it was C. I knew she had a meeting to discuss the course she wanted to get into at the nearby hospital, so I started asking her how her meeting went and she immediately said 'can I use your bathroom?' I said no problem and she ran upstairs to the main bathroom rather than use the toilet downstairs. Less than a minute later I heard her swear and I went upstairs to ask if she was ok? She said that she had just started her period and didn't have any tampons," he wrote.

As any decent human being in his position would do, u/creatingastorm immediately offered to locate a tampon for his friend's daughter. "I'm going to add I have zero problems talking about this or buying sanitary products," he wrote. "I said hold on and mentioned that Cassie was downstairs, went down and asked Cassie if she had any sanitary pads or tampons as C had been caught out, she seemed embarrassed and said no. I went back upstairs and explained that Cassie didn't have any and that I could run to the shop (it's a few minutes away in the car) and grab her some. C explained that she didn't have much time as she was on the way to her meeting and didn't want to mess her clothes up. The best I could say was do what you need to to your clean up and I'll be back in a few mins."

"I went out got some tampons and then told C to pop any towels etc. in the washing machine and I would start a wash," he continued. "C did what she needed to do and then came into the kitchen to say hi (to Cassie) and bye to me, she came in to give me a hug and I wished her well for her meeting." Now, here's where things actually got a bit awkward. "After she left Cassie said that she thought it was weird that C was so comfortable asking me for help with her sanitary products and that it seems like I'm overly familiar with her," u/creatingastorm revealed. "[To be honest], I was taken aback by the comment, all I did was help my friend's daughter out ahead of an important meeting. I also said I'm not sure any of this would have been C's first choice to deal with the situation. Cassie left shortly after I said I wouldn't do anything differently and that I'm sure she just got a bit caught out. Apart from a couple of msgs, I haven't spoken to Cassie."

Although his interaction with Cassie made him second-guess his relationship with his best friend's children, other Reddit users were quick to assuage his concerns. Some even praised u/creatingastorm for being so comfortable around the topic of menstruation to which he humbly replied: "I don't think I did anything special, I was only trying to help out in what was a moment of need."