Periods and menstruation are facts of life, and anyone who cohabitates with a female between the ages of 10 and 50(ish) at any point of their lives, for any reason, can expect to have to deal with the entire process on some level.
A fact that apparently didn’t occur to this man or his three older teenaged sons when he married a woman with a nineteen-year-old daughter.
The four of them share a bathroom, everyone gets along great, but this is their first time living with a woman for any sort of time.
His oldest son, 18 (!) came to him and said they were uncomfortable seeing their stepsister’s period products in the trash can in the shared bathroom.
Instead of telling his son it’s a part of life and to suck it up, he talked to his stepdaughter, asking her to dispose of them more discreetly (or flush them, what?!).
He was upset that she laughed it off, and even went on the offensive, and was even more irritated when his wife did the same later that night.
Since he believed it was a real issue, he tried to talk to his daughter again, and was rebuffed with extreme prejudice.
You will not be surprised to find that most on Reddit think OP (original poster) is, in fact, the a**hole here, a judgement that also extends to his sons.
Many people thought he’d missed a chance to help educate his sons on a natural process, and how to be better men.
Others pointed out that the sons seem pretty immature for their age, and never having lived with a woman is really no excuse for not being educated about how to.
And pointed out that it’s best they learn about this kind of thing from a sister, and not after they’ve treated their first girlfriend or wife like some kind of leper.
Others lamented the fact that way too many men are weird about feminine products.
And yeah, I’m sure that girl has more than a few complaints of her own, suddenly sharing a bathroom with three teenaged boys, so I’m not sure they should be the ones complaining.
OP did post an update, in which he admits that his stepdaughter and wife sat them down for an excellent PowerPoint, and that all is well.
They even apologized.
This is about the happiest ending of an Am I The A**hole post I could imagine, and I love to see it!
How would you have replied? Tell us in the comments!