AITA for telling my SIL she can leave Christmas dinner when she freaked out over tampons?

A Reddit user hosted an early Christmas dinner and faced unexpected drama when her boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend freaked out over seeing a box of tampons in the bathroom. When the guest caused a scene and deemed the tampons “shameless” and inappropriate, the host asked her to leave, leading to tension with her boyfriend and his brother. Now, she’s questioning whether her response was justified.

‘ AITA for telling my SIL she can leave Christmas dinner when she freaked out over tampons?’

Okay, she’s not my SIL yet but I used it to make the title simpler. She’s my boyfriend’s borther’s girlfriend. I (f28) have been with my boyfriend (m32, Ian) for 3 years. We’ve decided to host a small, early Christmas dinner. One of the people invited was his brother, Jake (m26). Jake asked if he could bring his girlfriend as she was all alone (they’ve been together for 3 months) and we agreed, the more the merrier. His girlfriend, Naveah (f28) seemed a bit timid but lovely. Naveah brought her 8 year old son (that we didn’t know was coming).

She seemed lovely right until she went to the bathroom, she came out shrieking,box of my tampon she in her hand, literally gasping for air in between her shrieks. I could barely understand her. Turns out, my box of tampons was visible (duuuh, it’s within a reach because hey, I need it monthly, why should I hide it and then look for it). She was going off about being disgusting, how could I be so shameless to have this in front of a child and other men and so on.

I looked at her in disbelief, I couldn’t believe she made a scene about a box of tampons, has she never been in a shop? Anyway, I told her that my tampons stay where they are but if she’s so pressed, she can leave and go home where no tampons are present. She turned red, quite literally, her face was bright pink. Huffing and puffing, she dressed her kid and told Jake to drive her home which he did.

Jake didn’t come back but he called from her house telling Ian that I was the a**hole. I was surprised to hear that Ian (my boyfriend) agreed with him. I thought he would be on my side. We were about to argue but I decided it wasn’t worth it and went to my office to cool down and think this through. Am I the a**hole for telling her to leave?

These are the responses from Reddit users:

[Reddit User] −  NTA – Nobody would have f*ckin noticed if she didn’t drag the damn things out and yell about it like a buffoon. Keep the box when you’re done. Leave it out if she comes over again.

iron_red −  NTA—this stranger came to your house and insulted you. She’s hardly a member of the family after 3 months of dating your boyfriend’s brother. If she was genuinely concerned about her child seeing the tampons, then she wouldn’t have walked out waving them in the air and screaming.

Celestia-Messenger −  Girl , you need a better boyfriend. They are the AH . And the gf entitled attitude brings an unannounced child. No , you were brilliant. Tell boyfriend he can stay at his brothers until he apologize and stick up for you.

CrystalQueen3000 −  NTA. It’s a box of unused tampons, she was being a d**ma llama.

bethargo −  Who the f**k loses their s**t over a box of unused tampons. And to say that children and men shouldn’t see them? Kids and most men literally don’t care about that kind of stuff, especially kids. She is so weird. Your bf and his brother are the AH’s for thinking you’re one. She was a guest and also made a very bad first impression. She was extremely rude.. You = NTA.

000-Hotaru_Tomoe −  NTA SIL sounds unhinged. Her reaction was crazy and excessive. It’s not like you smeared a used tampon on her’s child face. BESIDES, it’s the second time I read about someone being invited and bringing unannounced children. Very rude, you always ask the host.

ParsimoniousSalad −  NTA. Good grief. She’s traumatizing herself. I’m surprised she survives, being female. Your boyfriend owes you an apology. If he can’t handle seeing a box of tampons (or having your back on this), he’s not ready to be in a relationship.

Straight-Singer-2912 −  NTA. Was there a reason she went to DefCon One, acting like she found a smoking crack pipe? She stopped your party in its tracks, shrieking and carrying on. Is it possible she was looking to sabotage it, or wanted an excuse to leave? Does she not like you and is trying to break you and your BF up? She is either emotionally unhinged, or she has some ulterior motive.. But absolutely you are NTA.

devilcat68 −  NTA, she shows up at YOUR house with an uninvited kid and disrespects you like that???? What an AH, your bf and his brother too.

Graves_Digger −  NTA. That is your home, your bathroom. She sounds like she’s got some internalized misogyny going on to think that a natural thing is so disgusting that you need to hide all traces that you menstruate.