mental health/addiction/anger counselor, research fiend, off-duty fashion model, MFT-in-training, victim advocate, justice system public enemy▫️ Bay ↔️ LA
SF Bay Area, CA
Joined January 2012
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If anyone affected needs help navigating the emotional aftermath of sexual assault trauma, finding an attorney, navigating the legal system, or psychologically enduring war with these losers:
I'm an experienced victim advocate and survivor myself, having navigated 10y of my own cases in criminal and civil court, and taught a class on sex crime law. I'm also now an applied associate marriage and family therapist and credentialed counselor.
My services are always free of charge and my DMs always open.
This was a difficult story to report. Some of these conversations stayed with me long after the interviews ended.
I spoke with these bright, ambitious women who came to Silicon Valley to pursue their dreams. They described being sexually harassed, assaulted or raped—often by someone they knew and trusted, someone they considered a friend.
What was especially painful to hear was what happened afterward. Some described being discouraged from going to the police. Others said they were told nobody would believe them. And someone was told that she was seeking attention and all was a lie. 🥲 Alongside the trauma came fears about losing friendships, careers and their place in a community they had hoped to belong to.
When the person you’re accusing has money, influence and powerful connections, seeking accountability can feel like David taking on Goliath.
Victims aren’t always women, although most of the accounts shared with me came from women. One woman’s point stayed with me: we need to confront the predatory mindset—the entitlement that allows someone to disregard another person’s boundaries.
Whisper networks can help people warn and protect one another. But they cannot substitute for a system people can trust: somewhere to turn for support, a fair process for investigating allegations, and meaningful accountability when misconduct is established—even when those responsible are wealthy or powerful.
To the women who shared their experiences with me: thank you. I know these are deeply personal and painful things to revisit. I appreciate your trust.
No single article can capture the full weight or complexity of someone’s experience. I take seriously the responsibility of telling these stories with care.
My hope is that bringing them into the light helps more people find support—and helps create a culture where pursuing your dreams doesn’t mean staying silent about harm.
If you ever unfortunately get into the situation of experiencing rape or sexual assault, please seek medical care and professional support, and consider reporting to the police when you feel safe and ready. You do not have to face this alone. What happened was not your fault, and you deserve care, support and to be heard.
I was deeply moved by the strength of the women I spoke with and their determination not to let what happened define their lives. They still have dreams to pursue, companies to build and so much ahead of them. They deserve every opportunity to shape that future. 🌷
Read my latest article for @nypost and @californiapost (link in thread) 👇
Rachel Zader retweeted
Skipping breakfast is associated with an increased risk of ADHD, depression, decreased cognitive performance, and greater frailty
It also triggers a significantly higher glycemic response and delayed insulin reaction after subsequent meals like lunch and dinner in HEALTHY people.
One sign of deception is if the person acts TOO "carefree." They feel anxious about lying, so they overcorrect on appearing "relaxed." They they might take an abnormally slumped casual posture, make excessive friendly small talk, etc. in a situation where anyone else would be focused on the seriousness of the situation, especially if they are being suspected or accused of something, as this usually makes honest people at least a little stressed, upset, defensive, etc.
On July 15, 2008, Jodi Arias was left alone in a police interrogation room hours after her arrest for murdering her ex-boyfriend. The camera kept recording. She fixed her hair, got down on the floor and did a headstand against the wall. A month earlier, in his shower, she had stabbed him 27 times, cut his throat and shot him in the head.
His name was Travis Alexander, and his roommates in Mesa, Arizona didn’t find him for five days. What gave her away was a camera somebody had run through the washing machine. Police still recovered the photos: Travis in the shower minutes before he died, and then a picture of someone bleeding on the bathroom floor.
In the video below she’s alone in that room, upside down against the wall, then sitting on the floor like she’s waiting for a bus. Later on the same tape she tells herself, “You should have at least done your makeup, Jodi.” The jury at her trial never saw any of it.
She first told police she hadn’t been in Arizona at all. Then she said two masked intruders killed him. At trial she said it was self-defense. In 2013 the jury convicted her of first-degree murder, two separate juries couldn’t agree on a death sentence, and in 2015 she got life without parole.
Was she falling apart in that room, or completely sure she’d get away with it?
Rachel Zader retweeted
If you have acne, you need to chill with B12 supplements.
The doses are too high and excess B12 can change the metabolism of Cutibacterium acnes, increasing porphyrin production and inflammatory lesions.
It manufactures its own vitamin B12 and when you consume or inject a massive amount of B12, the bacteria sense the surplus and immediately shut down their own B12 production genes.
So with its internal factory turned off, the bacteria's metabolism becomes severely unbalanced and to cope with the excess B12, C. acnes shifts its resources and begins overproducing porphyrins, organic compounds that are highly irritating to the surrounding tissue.
The sudden flood of porphyrins interacts directly with the membrane of your skin cells.
This interaction damages the cell wall, causing essential potassium ions to leak out of your skin.
Your body views this sudden potassium drop as a cellular emergency.
It activates an immune system protein complex called the NLRP3 inflammasome.
The inflammasome releases aggressive inflammatory signals IL-1β).
This causes a rush of white blood cells to the hair follicle, resulting in the rapid appearance of the classic red, painful, inflamed acne bumps.
It's POTS awareness day.
POTS has become way more common thanks to Covid-19 exposure, as viral illness, surgery, trauma, etc can trigger it to appear, so if you get head rushes when standing frequently, see if you have this.
About 25% of people who have this are house-bound so you can understand how shitty it is to deal with this on a daily basis. Thankfully it only gets to the point I have to use my cane or can't get out of bed at all a couple days out of the year. I only hope I'm this lucky later in life.
Had to fight my work on accomodations this year bc they were having me work in a 80-84 degree office (heat for long periods worsens it) and I can't tell you how gross it feels to have to ask for priority plane boarding, or use a cane in a long line because you can't stand static very long during an episode, bc everyone looks at you funny because you look like the healthiest person in the room. Not all illnesses are visible!
"your PGE password is compromised"
What are they going to do in my PGE account, pay my electric bill this month? Go ahead, might not even change that shit, sounds tedious
Some toxicology mythbusting:
"Natural" ingredients are not necessarily safer or better for you than synthetic chemicals. "Chemical" itself is kind of a misnomer the way it is used pejoratively - water is a chemical.
I often hear the complaint of something being an "endocrine disruptor" by the same people using certain essential oils, beans, and whole grains... which also act as endocrine disruptors. They're nearly unavoidable!
Similarly, one of my family members recently said she doesn't drink certain artificial sweeteners because they're "carcinogenic", but the truth is they are carcinogenic only at very high doses that would be impossible to get in the form of even a six-pack of diet Coke in a day. Know what else is classified as a carcinogen? Aloe vera.
I think there's a lot to be said for changes that can be made with low cost/high benefit to health - putting an air purifier in your bedroom, checking the tap water quality in your area, installing a shower filter, learning about and avoiding certain chemicals that ARE toxic in small amounts or with limited exposure, detoxing in a sauna, checking daily-used beauty products on EWG, or wearing a mask when working with household cleaners (due to the direct impact on lung volume). That's where I'd put most of my energy, not on, say, avoiding ANY synthetic ingredient or traditional product without informed reasoning to do so.
Rachel Zader retweeted
Believe it or not, it is highly common for depression to develop before hair loss and large-scale clinical studies show a strong, bidirectional relationship between the two conditions.
One hypothesis involves prostaglandins.
Depression is strongly linked to systemic low-grade inflammation and increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Now when the body experiences inflammation, it triggers the production of PGE2 via enzymes like cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) that can alter brain function.
But let's back up a bit.
Prostaglandins are lipid mediators that affect processes varying from inflammation, uterine contraction and bronchoconstriction all the way to regulating blood flow and clotting.
PGE2 for example which is just one of them, mediates inflammation, promotes vasodilation, increases vascular permeability, regulates immune responses such as even fever for example, causes relaxation or contraction of smooth muscles depending on the tissue, is involved in ovulation and fertilization, helps maintain the integrity of the gastric mucosa, stimulates both bone resorption and bone formation through osteoclasts and osteoblasts, it can inhibit certain T-cell functions and these don’t even scratch the surface.
Prostaglandins such as PGE2 can even promote the formation of Candida biofilms and this is the entire reason why aspirin or heck, even ibuprofen reduces Candida adhesion and biofilm development.
Some studies also show that individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome often have increased levels of specific prostaglandins like 8-iso-prostaglandin.
Now prostaglandins are derived from arachidonic acid (which is an omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acid found in cell membranes) that is converted into prostaglandin H2 (PGH2) and then this serves as a precursor for various prostaglandins like PGE2, PGF2α, PGD2, TXA2, PGI2 and so on (PGH2 is also the precursor to thromboxanes such as TXA2 (plays a role in blood clotting) but not leukotrienes (arachidonic acid is metabolized into leukotrienes by the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) enzyme)).
How does this process happen?
The entire process can be broken down into 3 “phases” so to speak.
The release of arachidonic acid, its conversion to PGH2 and the formation of specific prostaglandins.
First, through a stimuli such as an allergen or cytokines for example, phospholipase A2 (PLA2) (a family of enzymes with over 30 types (the 3 main categories are cytosolic (cPLA2), secretory (sPLA2),and calcium-independent (iPLA2)) that hydrolyze phospholipids at the SN-2 position), is activated, it cleaves arachidonic acid from phospholipids/from the phospholipid bilayer of cell membranes and leads to its release (into the cytoplasm).
Then after this rate-limiting step in prostaglandin synthesis, cyclooxygenase enzymes/prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthases such as COX-1 (cyclooxygenase-1) and COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2) come into play and add two oxygen molecules to the free arachidonic acid in order to form prostaglandin G2 (PGG2) and then, by removing one oxygen molecule, we get PGH2.
Now, depending on the tissue, PGH2 is then turned into prostaglandins by synthases such as PGE2, PGD2, PGF2a, TXA2, PGI2 (so the synthases or isomerases determine the final product (prostaglandins or thromboxanes, depending on what the body needs)).
Mast cells for instance, “prefer” so to speak, PGD2 during type I allergic responses (mast cells are a major source of PGD2).
In general, PGE synthase produces PGE2, PGF synthase produces PGF2α, PGD synthase produces PGD2, thromboxane synthase produces TXA2, prostacyclin synthase produces PGI2 and so on.
Note: Short-term/acute prostaglandin spikes aren’t something to be concerned about (unless a person is at a profoundly compromised state) since prostaglandins like PGE2 for example lead to immune activation to fight pathogens and stop once the trigger subsides.
Chronic elevation (aka when the inflammatory process doesn’t turn off) is where harm emerges with results such as neurodegeneration and cancer for example.
Now, COX-1 and COX-2 are the two main isoforms of the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme family and thus central to the production of prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and eicosanoids (lipid mediators).
So even though they share some common traits (when it comes to their structure for example they have a 60% identical amino acid sequence and they both are heme-containing proteins), their roles and even locations in the body differ quite a lot.
For example, COX-1 is constitutively expressed in many tissues while COX-2 is by inducible by inflammation and typically upregulated during inflammation or in response to injury.
Then, COX-1 protects the stomach lining (when prostaglandins such as PGE2 or PGI2 are produced by it, they stimulate mucus and bicarbonate secretion in the stomach which protects it from hydrochloric acid and pepsin, this is one of the main reasons why why aspirin can lead to ulcers (it inhibits COX-1)), regulates blood flow in the kidneys (one main reason why aspirin once again for example is not recommended to people with kidney disease), and in platelets it converts arachidonic acid into thromboxane A2 (TXA2), which promotes clotting and blood vessel constriction. On the other hand, COX-2 is upregulated by cytokines such as IL-1 and TNF-α and growth factors during inflammation, it sensitizes nociceptors (pain receptors) in the nervous system, induces fever, affects wound healing and cell proliferation.
So as you can tell, prostaglandins (and thus COX enzymes) been chronically elevated in a person can have a range of negative effects (depending on the specific prostaglandins involved, their levels, and the tissues they’re acting on) such as:
-Increased inflammation that exacerbates pretty much all medical conditions
-The overstimulation of mast cells (and thus consequences such as gut issues, skin issues, mood issues particularly related to anxiety and so on) -Hair loss
-Chronic fatigue
-Chronic pain syndrome
-Cancer promotion
-Blood Clotting Imbalance
-Reproductive issues such as early labor or miscarriages
-Antagonizing/inhibiting the expression of StAR.
-Inhibiting Leydig cell steroidogenesis
Now, how can you tell if you have chronically elevated prostaglandin levels?
Well since direct measurement through blood, urine or even tissue analysis can be quite hard (even when it comes to 13,14-dihydro-15-keto-PGE2), first, if you actually read the above parts and didn’t skim through them, the more symptoms you have the more likely is that you have chronically elevated prostaglandin levels.
Then, since COX-2 is induced by inflammation, markers like C-reactive protein (CRP) or interleukin-6 (IL-6) might correlate with them and are worth measuring.
And on a final note, if your symptoms massively improve when using COX inhibitors this could also be a sign of elevated prostaglandin levels.
Now let’s say that prostaglandins are high. What can you even do? Well, you should:
1. Understand the mechanism behind this
2. Find out the root cause of your case
3. Use the COX inhibitor that’s right for you
So let’s see what increases A.A levels in the body and how we can manage elevated levels now.
1. Very high dietary intake of its precursor (linoleic acid) through the consumption of vegetable and seed oils and very low intake of O3 (in SN-2).
O3s compete with O6s fatty acids for the desaturase and elongase enzymes (delta-6-desaturase, delta-5-desaturase) so getting not only plenty of linoleic acid but also very few O3s, allows more linoleic acid to be converted into AA.
Note: Seafood isn’t the only source of O3s like DHA and lamb has plenty.
2. Insulin resistance
This also upregulates PLA2.
3. Stress.
Cortisol for example increases PLA2. Cycling stimulants, getting enough magnesium, inositol, glycine, B5 and vitamin C are good way to manage stress.
4. Anything that contributes to plenty of oxidative stress that also activates PLA2.
So if you smoke for example or spend time in the sun all the way to sunburning, you need to stop.
5. Harming its conversion through the wrong dietary habits.
Arachidonic acid is synthesized in the body from linoleic acid through delta-6-desaturase that converts linoleic acid to gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), then elongase gives us dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) and delta-5-desaturase converts DGLA to arachidonic acid.
Vitamin B6 for example, is a cofactor for delta-6-desaturase and zinc also supports its activity. A zinc deficiency can also upregulate PLA2.
Speaking of PLA2, a magnesium deficiency (which is quite common) will result in dysregulating calcium signaling, which is required for cPLA2 activation.
Then, vitamin E protects membrane lipids from peroxidation thus indirectly inhibiting PLA2.
In general, not consuming other dietary antioxidants, whether they are vitamin C or polyphenols, can have a negative impact since oxidative stress activates PLA2 as stated, and without antioxidants we can’t neutralize reactive oxygen species (ROS).
6. Consuming too much alcohol (weekly).
Alcohol has been linked to increased arachidonic acid levels in cell membranes and also alters fatty acid metabolism. 7. MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome)
Now after these basics are covered we can add COX-2 inhibitors.
Now the COX enzymes are the targets of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in general.
But not all of them are the same.
Aspirin for example acetylates a serine residue in COX-1 and COX-2 while ibuprofen for example just blocks the active site temporarily.
Does this mean that aspirin is a wonder drug?
Not really since as you’re able to tell, by downregulating COX-1 for example you can mess up your stomach not to even mention that plenty of people have issues with salicylicates or H. Pylori and thus can’t use aspirin.
So natural supplements (besides things such as whole food vitamin E that were mentioned prior) that can lower prostaglandins by inhibiting COX-2 include:
1. Cistanche
2. Curcumin
3. Ginger
4. Chamomile
5. Boswellia
6. Resveratrol
7. EGCG
8. Quercetin
9. Nettle
10. Berberine
Methyl donor depletion can also increase prostaglandin levels so undiagnosed SNPs in MTHFR for example or harmful supplement trends such as niacin megadoses can also come into play.
“Why could niacin be a problem for this?”
Here’s a summary: The “flush” reaction that niacin is known to cause in amounts usually larger than 200mg is nothing more than the GRP109A on skin cells getting saturated (this doesn’t happen with dosages lower than 100mg for example) and triggering the release of arachidonic acid from cell membranes and thus creating PGD2.
That’s it.
This is why for example aspirin or indomethacin stop the flushing (they are COX inhibitors and the flushing is driven by PGD2).
Then niacin is detoxified in the liver through methylation by forming N1-methylnicotinamide, which uses up SAMe.
This means that megadoses will deplete methyl stores (especially if B6, B12, or folate are low) which will then also increase homocysteine levels which then will further increase oxidative stress (it can activate NF-κB for example that upregulates COX-2 (more COX-2 = more conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins).
That's all.
For more about brain health, go here for a few more hours:
fitandball.gumroad.com/l/bra…
-George
I hear Gen Z is tanning a lot so REMINDER: these women ALL use fake tanner because any tanning you see is your body's reaction to direct sun damage!!! Sun damage is the #1 cause of premature aging and can cause cancer. (Do you think they'd look like this in their 40s and have been tanning all the time?)
You should be wearing sunscreen daily, and yes, even if it is overcast out. If you reaaaally want a tan just use self-tanner, and I linked the one I occasionally use in comments. DO NOT TAN IN THE SUN OR USE TANNING BEDS.
Tanologist (3 shades/depths) - link.amazon/B05Iqr5SJ
Seriously if I see someone say they aren't wearing sunscreen at the beach I'm going to do some smackdown fr
Can you imagine taking allergy medicine for a few days and your longtime depression or ADHD just goes away? I'd be pissed
This is a small case series of patients with refractory neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD and more, who experienced significant improvement after subsequent diagnosis and treatment of MCAS.
While the average person still thinks that histamine for example is just something related to allergies, let’s not forget that histamine acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain, influencing things such as arousal, attention, mood, sleep, and motivation.
So when levels build up it can create:
-Restlessness and physical + mental hyperactivity
-Difficulty concentrating, brain fog, inattention
-Irritability, impulsivity, or agitation
-Sleep disturbances (insomnia or poor sleep quality)
-Anxiety or sensory sensitivities
-Hyper arousal
-Racing thoughts, anxiety/panic, or restlessness
-Insomnia or disrupted sleep cycles (common in manic phases)
-Depressive symptoms (fatigue, brain fog, low motivation) during crashes
-Emotional lability or energy fluctuations
Of course, we don’t pull all these out of our asses.
There are more reports noting that histamine flares can mimic manic/depressive episodes, and MCAS patients sometimes receive initial bipolar diagnoses.
Anytime I see these comments, the tell is funny to me bc anyone who has had a model or hot lady or whatever spend the night knows ALL of us look "mid" with no eye makeup etc on, and usually quite a bit like teenage boys.
My grandfather was a police chief in a major city in the Bay Area for a long time in the late 60s and 70s, and as a child, my dad recalls him bringing the Zodiac case work home for years, during which my grandfather would stay up late, toiling over the work; during this time he helped pioneer some of the fingerprinting techniques that are used today in an effort to find this killer. It wasn't enough. It always bothered my grandfather that they couldn't find a way to catch him.
One has to wonder whether the Zodiac's reliance on necessarily offline methods of communication, as well as his activity occuring during a much more analog time in history were what allowed him to get away with the murders. One has to wonder if this could be possible today in a world where you can't so much as breathe without it being registered somewhere, somehow.
A San Francisco news tape from October 1969 shows a 20-year-old student on hospital pillows in Napa, in thick black glasses. A week earlier a man in an executioner's hood had tied him up beside a lake and left him for dead.
The man in the hood was the Zodiac Killer. On September 27 he walked up to Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, two Pacific Union College students sitting above Lake Berryessa. He had a gun and a white circle and cross on his chest. He said he wanted their money and their car. He made Hartnell tie Cecelia up, then tied Hartnell, then took out a knife.
Cecelia Shepard died two days later, in the same hospital. Hartnell is one of only two people known to have survived the Zodiac.
In the video below, you see him a week after the attack, still flat on his back, his voice steady.
Asked whether he bears the man a grudge, Hartnell says, "Well, of course not."
"You can't hold this against them," he says. "But the real concern that I have is that he doesn't do this again."
He says that when he was being tied up he took the man for a robber and wanted to help him. The man never took the money. A park ranger tells the camera that when Hartnell offered it, the man said, "I don't want the money. All I want to do is kill you."
Hartnell describes lying there sure he was going to die, and forcing his mind onto the next thing he had to do: stay alive long enough to get free and get help.
On the evening of the attack, at 7:40, the man had called the Napa police from a payphone, reported "a double murder," said "I did it," and left the receiver hanging. Before leaving the lake he drew the circle and cross on the door of Hartnell's car, with the dates of his earlier attacks.
The Zodiac kept writing letters to newspapers for years after that night. He was never identified. The case is still open, and Cecelia Shepard's family never got a name.
A week after he lost his friend, Hartnell's only request was that the man never do this again. Could you have asked for that?
Rachel Zader retweeted
Jamie Dimon was paid $31M in 2018. In this video a congresswoman asks him to balance the monthly budget of one of his own bank tellers.
Katie Porter found the job listing herself, in Irvine, California. It pays $16.50 an hour, which is $35,070 a year, and $29,100 after tax for a single mother with one child.
That's $2,425 a month. A one-bedroom apartment where she and her daughter share the room takes $1,600 of it, and utilities take another $100.
A 2008 minivan with gas is $400. The cheapest food budget the Department of Agriculture will admit to is another $400. The cheapest phone is $40, and after-school care, because the bank is open while school isn't, is $450.
That leaves her $567 short every month, with nothing in the budget for clothes, school lunches or medicine.
Porter asks Dimon how she should manage it. "I don't know. I'd have to think about that."
Should she open a Chase credit card and run a deficit? Should she overdraft and pay the fees? Same answer both times.
He offers to call her and see if the bank can be helpful. The job was still listed at that wage.
Rachel Zader retweeted
“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory” — Obama
Part of Victoria's Secret models looking like otherworldly beings or whatever that people are freaking out over is just being 99th+ percentile for female height, that's all. This is me next to average- height women, then next to my 5'11 friend @micheleboyd, who I look normal next to.
Insulin response is better if you wait longer to consume your meal from the first bite. Europeans often take longer meals, as opposed to Americans, who house their food. Is this one reason Europeans are thinner overall? Interesting...
I just thought about it but my family is a bunch of really tough people, and it's taught me something important.
My brother's flatlined twice and been paddled back to life, and has beaten a fentanyl and crack addiction into remission for years.
Mom I have endless stories about but to start, she's had a knife held over her hand by a supervisor to threaten her - not all lawyers, but always a lawyer - and instead of crumpling went out and yelled about it to everyone and quit on the spot. She also basically got kicked out of a cult in the 80s for being too assertive, and when we were kids, organized a class action lawsuit as a poor single mother with no college degree on behalf of 70 people and won. List goes on with her.
Dad seems chill but he'll do stuff like collapsing in his driveway with sepsis until he's found by his EMT neighbor after trying to wash the car. Dad was layer told he'd 24 hours from death. I asked him why he was out there and he said "well the Suburban needed to be washed." 💀 Guy was 120lbs at 6'2 by that point and was trying to "walk off his flu". I'm glad we figured out what was wrong but the guy can do pain like no one I know.
My 85yo grandma broke her hip and powered through the painful physical therapy bc she was so mad about being stuck in bed, a daily hiker. A MONTH after she broke it, I watched her jump up backward to on the kitchen counter to dangle her legs absentmindedly to watch the turkey in the oven at Thanksgiving. Like WTF grandma. The woman can out-hike ME.
And so when I look at my early experiences that on paper sound like the background of someone who, say, became understandably addicted to drugs for the rest of their life, never finished college, etc., and then compare them against the life I forged instead, I'm grateful, because I think it's being surrounded by this grit and strength that has always given me the conviction to do nearly anything I've tried to do.
If you want to have defy your losing hand, you have to surround yourself with people who defy their own. I work with people in bad circumstances every day who have never been shown this - that there are no rules. That you can decide to change your story at any time. You can bite the hand that feeds you. And with enough conviction and the right knowledge, you can flip the switch of destiny on the tracks in front of you.
Everyone loves a redemption arc. And so I continue. You can, too.
When I started my period my dad went to the store with me to get pads (I was like help me choose and he was like "I mean don't look at ME, lol") and many times bought them when I didn't feel like going out with him. Periods or breastfeeding being equated to a sexual thing is the result of misogyny toward
female bodily function, where female bodies are primarily thought of as mainly for male sexual gratification, so any other function it might serve becomes sexualized, or just termed "gross" if it can't be.
The Dad did the right thing by not acting like the kid's period was a fucking sexual thing and therefore refusing to deal with it. Daughter's parents are the creeps if you think about it.
