Tampons are Tools of Patriarchy

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

I've never even thought about using a douche. The vagina is a self cleaning machine!

Yup - like an oven! :D Self-cleaning and self-lubricating vagina, multiple orgasms...who is the inferior sex again? :lol: :lol: :lol:

I've been having my period since I was freaking 10 years old! I was so much ahead of all the other girls that some of my friends had not even had the "talk" with their parents yet. I was also among the first to wear a bra....Good times. :?

[church_of_dog]

The cup is good for people with heavy flows. They hold more then a tampon. They are not a mess in public restrooms. You just wipe your hands with toilet paper and wash them in the sink with soap and water. I would suggest wearing something as a backup if you have flooding periods.

I tried a Diva cup and didn't get it to work for me -- it was uncomfortable and I think it just didn't fit me right or else I wasn't putting it in properly. I did plan to try the other varieties of cups but that was about when I started the problems that eventually necessitated my hysterectomy, so I never got around to trying the others.

But what I wanted to comment here was, it was my understanding that the cup would hold more than the volume of a typical period -- which is supposedly something like only 2-3 tablespoons. Now obviously someone who has greater-than-typical-volume periods would have to investigate for themselves, but for a typical volume flow I remember thinking it was reassuring that it would never overflow even if you waited a bit long to empty it. It was more of a freshness reason to empty it however often, not because it would fill/spill otherwise.

I may be in error, so please correct me if so, but that's what I remember from 4-5 years ago when I was trying to switch to it.

[lilith]

I've heard this but always thought it was a myth.I'm one of those women who come through your checkout line;Summers Eve douche, &shower wash,RePhresh gel(ph balancer), and Playtex deodorant wipes,the occassional perfume suppository, and iodine douches after my period.Obviously, I'm obssessive about it(so was my mom).Can someone explain how they are bad, aside from dryness and uti's from the deodorant suppositories?

UTIs are pretty bad in and of themselves. They hurt and are very inconvenient (running to the toilet every two minutes) and can apparently negatively impact fertility.

Excessive dryness sucks too. It makes sex harder and less enjoyable, can make your partner doubt his/her ability to turn you on, and can lead to tearing. Youch.

Both UTIs and dryness are, in my opinion, way too high a price to pay to solve an issue that is largely the result of marketing departments exploiting women's fear of judgement and association of sex and vaginas with dirtiness.

Tampon packaging in Australia comes with a warning not to flush. I don't know if our septic systems are different or if it's just erring on the side of caution, but flushing tampons is very frowned upon.

I went to a small country primary school and had the same (male) teacher for both years 5 and 6. Every year when a nurse would come to the school to give the senior girls their sex ed course he would have a bitch about the importance of not flushing tampons when the girls returned to the room. He had three daughters, and when they were teenagers he had to have very expensive plumbing work carried out in his house, apparently as a result of them flushing tampons, and he complained about it to us yearly. My sister, who is five years my senior, said that he did the same with her class.

I don't think all the pussy perfumes talked about in this thread are available in Australia - if they are, I've never seen them, and I've undertaken extensive searches of the feminine hygiene section of both supermarkets and chemists. I have seen a solitary perfumed douche product, and that's it. Apparently Australian women have naturally prettily scented vaginas, smelling of eucalyptus leaves and koala tears.

I remember reading a biography of Marianne Faithful once, and it mentioned that when Mick Jagger returned from his first tour of the US he was trying to play it cool and not admit to sleeping with other women, but he ended up telling her about it cause he was so weirded out that their vaginas tasted and smelled like strawberries and that they used a product to achieve this, and he just had to ask her about it, having never heard of such a thing.

And that's the sum total of what I've got to say about feminine hygiene products, I think.......

Except that I'd really like to try a cup, but I haven't seen them available here. I might have to order one online - the smaller, softer one that people were mentioning up thread sounds good.

And tampons can't possibly be tools of the patriarchy - most men can't bring themselves to mention them, purchase them, or even think about them without blushing like a schoolboy. Even after my ex husband had witnessed me giving birth he still got shy and awkward about picking up tampons for me and would do all he could to avoid it.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

I seriously have zero patience with men getting weird about periods - especially the periods of their significant others. GROW UP is all I have to say about that.

[NurseNell]

Anyone else remember the horrible sanitary belts that we wore to keep the Kotex in the right place.

I still have one, a new never been used one. Remember how the metal holder would sometimes catch in your pubic hair? Ouch.

I'm no longer among the menstruating masses, thank the goddess, but when I was I preferred tampons because of swimming.

However the first time I wore one was a disaster. I was a 1st year nursing student. It was a Tampax with a cardboard applicator. I apparently didn't insert it far enough. I then rode in the back seat of a car to a classmates house, 90 miles away. OMG, I thought I was going to die. It was a few more months before I tried them again

[DarkAnts]

I tried a Diva cup and didn't get it to work for me -- it was uncomfortable and I think it just didn't fit me right or else I wasn't putting it in properly. I did plan to try the other varieties of cups but that was about when I started the problems that eventually necessitated my hysterectomy, so I never got around to trying the others.

But what I wanted to comment here was, it was my understanding that the cup would hold more than the volume of a typical period -- which is supposedly something like only 2-3 tablespoons. Now obviously someone who has greater-than-typical-volume periods would have to investigate for themselves, but for a typical volume flow I remember thinking it was reassuring that it would never overflow even if you waited a bit long to empty it. It was more of a freshness reason to empty it however often, not because it would fill/spill otherwise.

I may be in error, so please correct me if so, but that's what I remember from 4-5 years ago when I was trying to switch to it.

You loose 2-3 tablespoons of blood. You loose other bodily fluids too. The total amount of other fluids vary from person to person. I would easily say that it adds up to more then one full diva cup. But thats just my experience.

I do suggest trying other cups. I have had better success with the lunette. Its shorter and slightly smaller. That was important to me. There are now even smaller cups on the market. There are also some different shapes too. The diva cup is longer the many on the market which is why I went for an alternative brand.

edit to add here is a link to a table comparsion of the different cups on the market.

http://menstrualcup.co/brands/compare-menstrual-cup-table.html

[NurseNell]

same! (well, a hysterectomy, so "instant menopause")

but I still keep the unopened case of tampons I had on hand, because after society collapses they are gonna be the best barter inventory imaginable! :lol: :lol:

I also never removed the few spares I kept in the glove compartment, because...

... I hear they're good for treating bullet wounds!

(I'm only a half-assed survivalist, but I figured why not? At the very least I might help out a younger female friend in a pinch someday... :D )

The small sized OB ones are good for bad bloody noses.

[church_of_dog]

prettily scented vaginas, smelling of eucalyptus leaves and koala tears.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[lilith]

I seriously have zero patience with men getting weird about periods - especially the periods of their significant others. GROW UP is all I have to say about that.

I know. The ex would have sex with me while I had my period (on his own instigation, it's not a time that i feel particularly amorous) but he would not touch the area with his fingers and he'd freak out about buying me tampons. God knows why, they were obviously for his wife.

[church_of_dog]

The small sized OB ones are good for bad bloody noses.

HA! The string would come in handy there too :wink-penguin:

[Coconut Flan]

Cats think they're fun toys!)

So do many dogs. :evil:

[AllisonWndrland]

Are you talking about the woman in the gray hoodie, all bundled up and shrinking away from all public contact? Those commercials are insane. Like you're a pariah if your vagina doesn't smell like flowers.

Yeah, think so. I just remember her as shrinking away with an ashamed look on her face as women in the background look at her knowingly and whisper to each other. That particular commercial just really pisses me off.

[salex]

I have to ask this because they were before my time--what was with those old strawberry douches I used to see as a kid? Why strawberry? Confuses me to this day.

[blisterine]

Ah, the pads of 40 years ago! Those long handled, super thick Kotex pads were all my Mom would buy. They came in a huge purple box. God those pads were gigantic.

Finally I was old enough to earn my own money and could buy my own supplies. To this day just hearing the word "Kotex" makes me shudder.

Those things are like sitting on bales of cotton. I think I lasted 2 periods before I persuaded my mom to let me try tampons.

I worked in retail in my early days and we had this woman who worked with us and she always carried the big purple box to work with her in a grocery bag. We had to carry mesh purses and everything was checked when we left the store. They would open her grocery bag, see the purple box and wave her on through. Until the day a security tag went off...

She had opened the bottom of the box and crammed a very expensive beaded dress in the bottom with pads on top. She was fired on the spot. When inventory came around, there were quite a bit of expensive dressed and evening wear missing, all in the same size she wore.

My plumber friend calls them white rats and is constantly telling me not to flush them. He has horror stories of unclogging a drain and tons of tampons coming out of the overflow drain. I tell him not to worry, Mother Nature is taking care of that. I'm down to Quarterlies, not Monthlies.

[Conuly]

You loose 2-3 tablespoons of blood. You loose other bodily fluids too. The total amount of other fluids vary from person to person. I would easily say that it adds up to more then one full diva cup. But thats just my experience.

Clear and succinct. But it's worth noting that many women do only have to empty it once or twice a day. (I say many, not all. If you already know you have a heavy flow, you'll almost certainly have to empty your cup more often, even if it is huge.)

[church_of_dog]

Clear and succinct. But it's worth noting that many women do only have to empty it once or twice a day. (I say many, not all. If you already know you have a heavy flow, you'll almost certainly have to empty your cup more often, even if it is huge.)

Makes sense. Thanks to you both for the clarification/correction.

I do wish I had come around to the diva/otherbrands cups earlier in my life, but I would nevernever NEVAH wish to go back now that I'm done with all that! My whole menstrual experience was as mild as it gets -- mild cramps at age 16 and then a year or so of problems preceding the hysterectomy at 49, but all the years in between, I had the mildest, most non-stressful menstruation possible. And I'm hugely grateful for that. And even so, I'm SO glad it's in the past! Nevah again! :cracking-up: :disgust: :nenner:

[Aurora rising]

Clear and succinct. But it's worth noting that many women do only have to empty it once or twice a day. (I say many, not all. If you already know you have a heavy flow, you'll almost certainly have to empty your cup more often, even if it is huge.)

I would empty it twice a day - it´s more hygienic if you clean it two times a day.

I have a mooncup and I LOVE it. With tampons I had so much infections after my period that I switched very gladly. But I had to get used to it, it feels strange in the beginning.

[already hungover]

....aaaaand this is why I take the birth control pill that makes you stop menstruating. God bless Seasonique.

[snusmumriken]

Is the Diva Cup okay for women who have heavy flows?

I've been thinking about trying a Diva Cup (or some type of menstrual cup) for a long time. But I have a heavy flow...I have to wear both tampons and pads, especially at night, for the first few days of my period (but the last days are normal/light). I'm worried that I would have to be emptying it out too often or maybe even not being able to wear one at all at night, having to still use pads and tampons. What happens when you don't change it out after 8 hours? Is there a type of "overflow"?

One thing I have heard/read women say about the cup is that it is very messy to take out - as in, their toilet/bathroom looks like a scene from a horror movie and their hands are completely covered, it's so bad - considering it's hours and hours worth of plugged up blood. Is it that messy for you? What happens when you're in a public restroom and it gets messy?

How long did it take to get the hand of?

I have a heavy flow and find the Diva cup better than tampons + pads which is what I used to do. I still usually wear a pad for the 2 heavy days, as a backup, but you can tell before "emergency" time that you need to empty it. Those days, I need to change it in public once if I'm out for 8-9 hours. And on heavy days yeah, it can be messy and get on my hand but that's easily washable and stopped squicking me out early on.

But as people have said, there is a definite learning curve to keep the messiness contained. The first two periods were a little rough until I really got the hang of changing it, and changing in public back then was a bit of a mistake. Stuck in a stall in JoAnn all like WHAT DO I DO?? Haha. But it got much, much better. I prefer now to change it in a private or empty bathroom because...sounds...but it's not so bad otherwise.

Okay, end TMI. Hope some of this info helps! :dance:

[meep]

....aaaaand this is why I take the birth control pill that makes you stop menstruating. God bless Seasonique.

Not everyone can take birth control*, even if they want to. I can never.

ETA:*=Hormonal types of birth control

[alchemy]

TMI below:

I have heavy periods and long periods and the cup works really well for me. During the heavy day I can end up with 2 full cups (I don't remember the cup's capacity, 1-2 ounces?) in a 6 hour period. During the heavy day I change every 2-3 hours, and have a pad for back up since leaks can happen when it gets overfull. On the lighter days it's great because it eliminates the waste of pads or tampons on only a few drops yet keeps me protected in case I get one of those five-day-fakeout gushes at the end of the cycle.

My gross side is also fascinated in the different consistencies of output at different times in the cycle. From standard looking blood stuff, to chicken liver like clots, to the self-clean cycle where's it's nearly clear yet copious.

It took a little while to get the hang of removing and emptying. I've experienced a few pop & spatter removals which gave the crime scene bathroom other people have spoken of, but those are rare. I dropped it in the toilet once and had to fish it out with chop sticks and rush it away for some sanitizing, but otherwise it's been pretty easy to use and care for.

Before the Diva Cup I tried another brand that I don't recall the name of. It was grey rubber instead of Diva's clear silicone and I could actually hear it squeaking when I walked. Like someone in wet shoes walking on a hardwood floor. Don't ask, I have no idea why it did that. The tail of it was really long and pokey too, I don't know why I didn't think of just cutting that off.

[PokaDot]

Is the Diva Cup okay for women who have heavy flows?

I've been thinking about trying a Diva Cup (or some type of menstrual cup) for a long time. But I have a heavy flow...I have to wear both tampons and pads, especially at night, for the first few days of my period (but the last days are normal/light). I'm worried that I would have to be emptying it out too often or maybe even not being able to wear one at all at night, having to still use pads and tampons. What happens when you don't change it out after 8 hours? Is there a type of "overflow"?

One thing I have heard/read women say about the cup is that it is very messy to take out - as in, their toilet/bathroom looks like a scene from a horror movie and their hands are completely covered, it's so bad - considering it's hours and hours worth of plugged up blood. Is it that messy for you? What happens when you're in a public restroom and it gets messy?

How long did it take to get the hand of?

I know others responded, but this is my experience. I have a very heavy flow. On my worst days I have to "dump the cup" about every 90 minutes. I use pads as backup for when I know I won't have easy access to a bathroom (and at night). The "overflow" is it'll just leak and if you squeeze it'll run out ;).

I say it takes maybe 2-4 cycles to get the hang of. I recommend trying it while not on your period while using a lot of lube. There's also a bunch of folding techniques you can use (I use a "punchdown" method).

Livejournal for a while (idk if it is still active) had a really good dedicated community to all things menstrual cubs: menstrual-cups.livejournal.com/‎

[Conuly]

Yes, menstrual cups can work for people with heavy flows. I have a fairly heavy flow the first few days and I literally have to empty it at least every two hours, which is worlds better than disposable pads (every 90 minutes, and then I felt bad because I used so many more than my mother or sister, back when I was a teen, and that had to be bad for the budget.) I wear a cloth pad for backup, and even if I really go too long there is just a *little* leaking into the pad, not a huge gush. (I do feel a little sloshy, though, and it does gush when I take it out! Still, nothing gets stained.)

*serious TMI follows*

I actually have get out of bed in the middle of the night to empty the cup the first day i have my period, but if I miss, again, it's a *little* leaky. Before, if I overslept? Even if I used a pad and a tampon? Blood all over the sheets and down my legs and - well, I'm sure you can picture it. Now leakage, when it happens, is an accident instead of a catastrophe.

*end TMI*

They can be messy to take out when you're new to them, and a little awkward the first time you remove one in a public bathroom. I gotta say, though, with or without a cup I have never gone through an entire cycle without getting blood on me. It's no big deal. If I'm in public I bring a paper cup with me and pour it over the cup into the toilet to rinse it, that works well. Or, if I can't, I wet a paper towel before going in and just wipe it out.

[happy atheist]

I work at home, so I rarely need to use a public bathroom. At home, the sink is reachable from the toilet. That makes everything quite simple with the cup.

[Hane]

Have horrible killer red-flood periods that last for days and days and days? Does hormonal BC do scary things to your body (like make ONE leg swell up and give you excruciating headaches during orgasm)? Are you through having kids? Then listen to Aunt Hane and have an endometrial ablation! Smartest thing I ever did!