Tampons, Euro Style

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We’ve come a long way, baby – we don’t have to wear pads attached to a belt, but have many options for period time (from tampons with smooth applicators to no applicator or even menstrual cups). I’ve seen a lot of tampon ads that seem to think that using a tampon equals freedom; there’s road trips! You can ride a horse! You can go swimming! Copyranter featured a post about how exciting it is that a menstrual pad ad showed blood (as opposed to that blue liquid – which always kind of weirded me out). I found the Copyranter article from Body Impolitic in a post that made me giggle as well as roll my eyes showing European tampon ads. One ad might be riding the coat tails of the True Blood and Twilight vampire love, and makes me hope that those are organic tampons. The Italian ad actually annoys me, as it insinuates being on your period means no sex – unless of course you’re wearing a tampon. It could have easily been an ad for birth control that allows you to skip your period. It also begs the question, what’s so wrong with having any sort of sexual activity while you’re on your period?

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About Holly Moyseenko

Holly Moyseenko is a sex educator living in Ohio, who also volunteers as an advocate for survivors of sexual assault.

  • http://spinnersendvintage.blogspot.com Allison Camille

    It seems to me that this mode of advertising has roots in the “menstruation is punishment for eve’s sin and is therefore dirty and shameful” attitude. You would think that some knowledge of the facts about menstruation would lessen this but “periods are icky and embarrassing” still seems to pervade advertising, movies, and tv. I think this is why sexual education is so important. Not only in high school either, by then it is usually too late. If we teach our children the facts about their bodies, maybe there won’t be so much shame and alienation during puberty. Teaching children about sexual health will not make them sex-crazed perverts, it will arm them with the tools they need to understand the changes they will go through and perhaps help them to make smarter, safer choices with their bodies.

  • http://profiles.google.com/hmoyseenko Holly Moyseenko-Kossover

    All really good points! I went to an all girls school, and you’d think that we would have been more positive about menstruation, but I remember being told that we had to hide our tampons or pads in our bags (what’s the big deal??). I think that for a lot of people, their first period was a little awkward, but as you said – this whole idea that they’re icky and embarrassing needs to go. It’s a bodily function and something that happens. How many people are embarrassed about needing to urinate?

    I love how you worded teaching kids about sex – “will not make them sex crazed perverts”! That is funny but also really important to tell people!Â