Pardon the title, but...Fundies and tampons?

[EllieCee]

This is all out of curiosity...I almost didn't post it because it sounded stupid, but...

Are fundies allowed to use tampons? I know that tampons =/= sexual penetration, but do you think they'd be against younger girls to wearing them? Does anyone know fundie views on it?

[elliesmash]

We were never given tampons or told how to use them when I was growing up, because then I'd have to touch my hooha, and that was a no no.

[tabitha2]

My cousin, age 12 or so, and I once had this discussion. Her mother-a strict Pentecostal-told her "nothing goes up inside of you but your husband" I bet most fundies feel the same.

My grandmother tried to force me to wear one of these when I started at her house;She would not believe me when i told her nobody wore those any more and had not for 30 years-she still had an old one gathering dust in drawer

http://www.mum.org/belnumod.jpg

[Cassandra]

My cousin, age 12 or so, and I once had this discussion. Her mother-a strict Pentecostal-told her "nothing goes up inside of you but your husband" I bet most fundies feel the same.

Ha! :lol: :lol:

I find that attitude sad and hilarious. Obviously this implies no masturbation or gynecological check ups. :(

[xDreamerx]

I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if fundies were anti-tampon. I mean, even some people in the mainstream who are just old school can be. I remember my 1950s Grandma telling me she didn't think they were appropriate and that nice girls in her day just didn't wear those. My mother told me she and her sisters used to sneak them as a result because they hated pads (This was the late sixties/early seventies when adhesive pads were just coming out and otherwise you had to wear those belts. It must have been awful).

[Guest Anonymous]

Yes fundies do use tampons (sorry guys had to register to respond to this one because it is a very asinine question and so are the replies seriously what a thing to debate about) I wasn't allowed to use them not because they went in me or because I had to touch myself to use them but because my mom got tss once from them and was afraid my sister and I would. I started using them after having my first child. BTW fundies enjoy sex too and some of us do walk around our houses naked too how do you think we get all our kids?

back into the dark ttfn.

[muffynbear]

otherwise you had to wear those belts.

Forgive my ignorance, but what belts? I'm just not sure what you're referring to. Was there some kind of belt that you had to wear when you had your period? My mom was a teen in the late 50's and early 60's and she never used tampons, thus I was not encouraged to use them. Whenever I asked her 'why' she always made a face and said "Because we just don't use them." As if it was something "dirty" to use I guess.

[xDreamerx]

Before adhesive pads came along, there was no way to attach them to the underwear so you had to wear this belt, that I guess the pad just clipped into, to hold it in place. They were much bigger and longer than the sort of pads we have now. I'm going to see if I can find a link with a picture of one or something to explain it better. I googled the words mensturation and belt and found this site. It has pictures of old advertisements so you can see.

http://newvintagelady.blogspot.com/2010 ... about.html

[anniebgood]

Oh you youngsters. Back in the day there were fabric belts with little hooks attached that you anchored the ends of your ugly, non absorbent and uncomfortable pads with. We didn't have the large range of pads that are sold today. I hated them. I praised God when the adhesive ones came, though after I had the babies and had to wear horse pads, they didn't even bother with adhesives, those suckers weren't going anywhere.

My mom said I could use tampons if I wanted, she wore them because they were easier for her than pads. I learned about them when she had a string hanging down and I said Mommy you have a white string down there....I don't like tampons really, for me they felt like I was sitting on a log, and even after I had children the only ones that felt good were the tampax juniors.

I've been free for 11 years now and believe me I was so happy when that came that the hot flashes, mood swings and errant hairs on the chin didn't matter at all.

:banana-blonde: :banana-linedance: :banana-rock:

[uber frau]

Belts: http://www.mum.org/belts.htm

(It's a pretty interesting site actually-way more information on the history of 'feminine hygiene' than most ppl want to know.)

When I went to Fundie HS, about 20% of the teenage girls would be sitting out (sex segregated) swimming classes with a 'stomach ache' any given week. There where about 3 of us didn't ever sit out-because we snuck out and bought our own tampons.

[MrsKay]

uber frau - you posted just as I was about to post about that site lol!

[muffynbear]

Belts: http://www.mum.org/belts.htm

(It's a pretty interesting site actually-way more information on the history of 'feminine hygiene' than most ppl want to know.)

When I went to Fundie HS, about 20% of the teenage girls would be sitting out (sex segregated) swimming classes with a 'stomach ache' any given week. There where about 3 of us didn't ever sit out-because we snuck out and bought our own tampons.

Wow, I've never heard of a sanitary belt before. Waayyy before my time.

[DuckEgg]

Is quite scary in my opinion. I thought just getting a period was the scariest thing of my life, but I think I would have keeled over backwards to have to strap something to myself. :icon-eek:

[PennySycamore]

Is quite scary in my opinion. I thought just getting a period was the scariest thing of my life, but I think I would have keeled over backwards to have to strap something to myself. :icon-eek:

Wearing a belt and pad was way less scary than getting a big ol' blood stain on the back of your dress. I still remember how my best friend wore a dress with a white skirt to summer band practice the morning she got her period. She got up at the end of practice and the back of her skirt was red. I walked behind her because we were in junior high and all a girl that age needs is a bunch of guys snickering at her. I think this happened in the summer of '67m, IIRC.

Having said that, I think modern sanitary protection is one of greatest inventions of the 20th Century. Adhesive pads are so much better than the old belted pads, but even those pads were more convenient that the old ways of women wearing rags stuffed with newspaper. The women had to wash the rags out by hand.

Belted pads slipped (at least mine always did) and sometimes the belt would show through your clothes. I'm not sure if it was The Wasp Woman or another sci-fi horror movie from the 50s where the actress's belt shows under her skirt.

[justlurking]

Wow, I guess some of you have never read "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" before. I'm 29, but remember reading that book when I was young and being confused as hell as to why Margaret and her friends were picking out belts for their periods. Don't know if Judy Blume or her publishers have updated the book since the 90s (when I read it)...

[Juliakitty]

Wow, I guess some of you have never read "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" before. I'm 29, but remember reading that book when I was young and being confused as hell as to why Margaret and her friends were picking out belts for their periods. ..

Yeah, I'm 32 and I was the same way. Belt? What belt? Although to be fair, Judy Blume books in general are like that for me. Wait, what?

I know of a fundie whose mother told her she was not allowed to use tampons until after she got married, end of discussion. When she was a teenager she used one anyway and broke her hymen. She was a virgin when she got married but had nothing to show for it.

[bananacat]

Ha! :lol: :lol:

I find that attitude sad and hilarious. Obviously this implies no masturbation or gynecological check ups. :(

I used to work with a woman who was Christian but Indian, so she essentially had an arranged marriage when she was 28. She had never had a pap smear until that time, and she had to get one to get married. She was terrified of sex, and she didn't really want to get married yet. The gyno exam had been painful for her, partly because of her anxiety but also because she seems to have had a bad doctor that didn't take into account her being a virgin. She was so sad about the whole thing and she actually said she regretted losing her virginity to a gyno exam. She became more and more terrified as her wedding approached, and she would talk to me about this and said she would ask her husband to wait a month or two before doing anything. I always felt so bad for her.

[Austin]

When I was in high school, if "aunt flo" came to visit during school hours, you had to go to the nurse and get "feminine protection". Belts and pads were what was handed out then, even though adhesive pads had been out for couple of years. Maybe the school district had a surplus of the belt/pad combos? I don't know, but I do remember that nobody wanted to go get that contraption, so everybody kept back-up supplies in their lockers or borrowed tampons or pads from girlfriends.

I was raised fundie-lite, and I distinctly remember tampons being an issue for teens/younger women in the church community. There was definitely a concern about broken hymens and the like. So to the fundie who logged in to tell us how ridiculous the question of whether fundies have an issue with tampons is, I know from personal experience that some certainly do.

My momma was more progressive, so no matter what the prevailing "wisdom" at church was, she thought it was silly and I wore tampons nearly from menarche. I was a swimmer and an equestrienne and pads just weren't working for me. Thank heavens she thought for herself and taught me to do the same.

[Guest Anonymous]

Something I don't understand about the pads/belts: why did you need the belt to hold the pad in place? I don't wear, and have never worn, tampons. Until a few years ago I used regular disposable pads with adhesive backing, but for several years now I've used cloth pads. They don't have adhesive backing (obviously) and mine aren't the kind with button/snap wings. They stay in place nicely, even at night.

So, how were the pre-adhesive disposables so anti-staying-in-place that a belt was required? I'm sure I'm just missing something! :lol:

[Austin]

Something I don't understand about the pads/belts: why did you need the belt to hold the pad in place? I don't wear, and have never worn, tampons. Until a few years ago I used regular disposable pads with adhesive backing, but for several years now I've used cloth pads. They don't have adhesive backing (obviously) and mine aren't the kind with button/snap wings. They stay in place nicely, even at night.

So, how were the pre-adhesive disposables so anti-staying-in-place that a belt was required? I'm sure I'm just missing something! :lol:

Because before pads with adhesive strips came along, there was no way to secure the pad to your underwear. The belt was worn around your lower waist with straps that hung down to your crotch area and you attached the pad to the belt. Otherwise, the pad would not stay in place and would ride up your back or fall out of your underwear down your leg, not to mention leak.

[Guest Anonymous]

Because before pads with adhesive strips came along, there was no way to secure the pad to your underwear. The belt was worn around your lower waist with straps that hung down to your crotch area and you attached the pad to the belt. Otherwise, the pad would not stay in place and would ride up your back or fall out of your underwear down your leg, not to mention leak.

I understand what you're saying, but what I'M saying is that I wear reusable, cloth pads now that have no adhesive backing and they require no belt. What's the difference?

[Austin]

I understand what you're saying, but what I'M saying is that I wear reusable, cloth pads now that have no adhesive backing and they require no belt. What's the difference?

I don't know what the difference is, having little experience with pads (only after childbirth ever) and none with cloth pads. I do know that the early disposable pads were really bulky, as the thin-but-highly-absorbent material used today was not available yet. Just like disposable diapers used to be huge, and now even the ultra-absorbent ones are thin and lay nearly flat. Perhaps the bulkiness made it more of an issue.

ETA: another factor may be that elastic has improved over time so panties fit our bodies better and the leg openings do not gap as much as before good elastic/lycra came onto the scene, etc. Panties were looser when I was growing up, and I know in my momma's time, panties often did not have elastic around the leg openings at all. More like what we would call "boy shorts" underwear, only not containing lycra like we have now.

[Noon]

Well, Momof5, obviously it isn't an asinine question if people have had legitimate experiences with the issue. Your experiences != the rest of the world's. Crazy, huh?

We were allowed to use tampons, but we had to hide them from out fundie grandmother until marriage. Otherwise, in her eyes, we would no longer be virgins and all hell would have broken loose. So before she came to visit we had to hide them somewhere in the back of the sink or medicine cabinet when she wouldn't look. I vaguely remember her finding my sister's once and her flipping out until someone was able to convince her they were actually my mother's. Le Sigh.

So anyway, tampons 'taking' your virginity was/is definitely a concern among older fundies, but I'm not sure how alive the belief still is. If I had to make a guess, it's probably still lurking in your more sex-phobic families and with recent immigrants from countries where tampon use is still uncommon/misunderstood.

[darareaksmey]

Oh hell. I used one of those belts with pads when I first started. Then I learned from some of my friends that they used safety pins to pin the pads to their panties, and that was at least less conspicuous, but my mother disapproved of that. Natch. She used to fuss because the stress on the safety pins would tear little holes in my underwear. Sheesh. But then again, when I started my mother (not a fundie, then or now) told me that only married ladies could use what she called "tampoons." I wish I had known different. It would have saved me all sorts of horror. But the advent of the adhesive strip kind really was the best thing to happen in the history of feminine protection, IMO. Tampons aren't for everyone, but those fucking belted/pinned pads were the worst ever.

[apple1]

Something I don't understand about the pads/belts: why did you need the belt to hold the pad in place? I don't wear, and have never worn, tampons. Until a few years ago I used regular disposable pads with adhesive backing, but for several years now I've used cloth pads. They don't have adhesive backing (obviously) and mine aren't the kind with button/snap wings. They stay in place nicely, even at night.

So, how were the pre-adhesive disposables so anti-staying-in-place that a belt was required? I'm sure I'm just missing something! :lol:

First- I am old. :roll: :roll:

I started out with having to use that belt/pad combination. I don't know how to explain it to you, but those pads sure would NOT stay in place without a belt. Actually, even with the belt, it was hard to keep them in place. The stuffing/absorbent material in them was nothing like today's pads. There was a lot of shifting and bunching. They were really bad for bunching up in the center and allowing leakage out the sides. Horrible. I had more than one day that I had leakage through my clothing. Once was my first day at a new school. :oops: :oops:

(My mother told stories of having to using old rags and having to wash the rags when she was younger. When she got a job at 16 she started buying disposable pads).

Anyway, I got a box of "Tampax" (were there any other brands at first? I don't know.) and I was determined to figure it out. Took me a while in the bathroom. I never looked back.

My family was "fundy" (as it was back then; a lot of the stuff snarked on here was never heard of in our church), and I never heard a discussion about tampons and virginity, not even whispers.

Edited for riffle.