Tampons and that time of the month
Most women from the ages of 12 to 50 go through the same thing every month: menstruation (more commonly known as the period). This means that almost a mind-blowing number of people use period products. They are such a staple in modern western life that we often don’t think about how women dealt with the monthly deluge before tampons and pads were introduced or how women in other parts of the world deal with their time of month.
In the west, periods are relatively destigmatized, but in many places around the world, women are still secluded, forbidden to participate in religious ceremonies or physical intimacy, and considered dirty, contaminated, or impure.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, women in North America would stay home from school or work during their periods.
Today, one in 10 African girls skip school during their periods and many drop out of school entirely because they lack sanitary products, which makes it too difficult to go to school, according to UNESCO. This issue is not isolated to developing countries either, and occurs in North America as well, reported the Tennessean. Even if they do have period products, some girls don’t have a place to change them while at school. Many girls are not educated about periods due to stigma, and have no idea what’s happening to them the first time they menstruate.
In stark contrast, many Indigenous cultures, such as the Cree nation celebrate menstruation as a gift from the moon, seeing it as a sacred, spiritual experience, according to Women’s Health.
Moving from getting periods to dealing with them did not happen without a few wrong turns along the way.
The Egyptians were the first to write about inserting materials intravaginally, though they were not for managing menstruation. They used what were called pessaries, devices designed to administer medicine. The Egyptians and Romans both used these devices, which were made from Nile dirt, honey, and elephant or crocodile dung stuffed inside a wad of linen and then soaked in acacia juice, goose fat, or opium. These were designed to deal with gynecological problems, including as a contraceptive. More often than not pessaries are believed to have caused infections in women, not helped them.
Women have been using things that could be called tampons (as we know them) for thousands of years: Ancient Roman women are said to have used wool, Indonesian women to have used vegetable fibres, and rolls of grass were used in parts of Africa. Ancient Japanese women, according to author Jaime Schultz, made tampons from paper and would change them 10 to 12 times a day.
The earliest appearance of the modern tampon, including a string for removal, was in Europe in the 18th century. Curiously, it wasn’t always used for menstruation. A French doctor in 1776 reported a roll of vinegar-soaked linen that was used as a contraceptive while an American gynecologist in the late 19th century described eight different uses of tampons, including administration of medicine; only one of the eight uses was absorbing discharge.
In 1879, commercial pads arrived in western markets for the first time, and in 1933, a man named Earle Cleveland Haas patented the modern tampon and applicator after a friend of his mentioned she had begin using a sponge intravaginally. Though the tampon wasn’t taken up immediately (they were seen as immoral), for women with active lifestyles they became a staple, especially as women took part in industry during the Second World War.
However, according to Schultz, even in 1942, 37 per cent of tampon users were still making their own tampons from bits of sponge or cotton.
Nonetheless by 1944, a quarter of North American women were buying and using commercial tampons.
As the tampon gained traction, they were marketed as discrete, feminine, and diminutive. Some of the earliest brand names in the 1940s include Lil-Lets, Meds, Pursettes, and the most telling of all: Fibs.
In the 1970s came tampons with two strings, and “deodorant” tampons, which caused allergic reactions in many women. In addition to these came the Rely tampon from Procter & Gamble in 1975, which was shaped like a tea-bag and was said to be so absorptive that a woman could use the same tampon for the duration of her period.
In 1976, new regulations were introduced making tampons medical devices instead of cosmetic ones, and required ingredient lists on cosmetics, but not medical devices. This meant that Rely tampons had avoided much more rigorous testing as a medical device, and kickstarted a race for each brand to produce their own version of “hyper-absorbent” tampons made with synthetic ingredients.
By 1980, a quarter of tampon users were buying Rely tampons, and in the same year 812 cases of toxic shock syndrome (TSS) were reported, 38 of which were fatal. This was due to the ingredients Rely and every other “hyper-absorbent” brand used for their tampons, including carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), polyester, polyacrylate rayon, and viscose rayon; they all faced lawsuits.
While cases of TSS are few and far between today, they still occur, and tampon companies still generally use ingredients that are known to cause TSS, as well as other ingredients that could be harmful to the user’s health, though many companies are now disclosing ingredient lists on their boxes.
As for the future of tampons, it could include anything from saturation indicators, reusable applicators, beveled tampons to stop leaks, and maybe even vibrating tampons.
What a waste
The latest problem with tampons and pads is the immense amount of waste they produce. The average woman who gets a period is projected to use approximately 16,000 tampons in her lifetime, according to the National Centre for Health Research, with packaging, applicator, and product all ending up in the landfill. With almost 3.5 billion women on the planet, that is an astronomical amount of period products.
Many commercially produced pads and tampons use or contain plastics, which can take up to a thousand years to decompose in a landfill. Luckily, there has recently been more support for eco-friendly alternatives to the now traditional pads and tampons. Reusable pads that can be thrown in the wash, menstrual cups that can be emptied and reused instantly, period underwear, and the menstrual disc (which is also reported to increase orgasms — you can use it during sex!) are just some of the alternatives that can help reduce the waste produced as a result of periods.
Looking forward
Education about these topics also needs to be emphasized for girls that might not be taught about periods, menstrual products, or contraception, especially in developing countries where it is often heavily stigmatized. Women and girls are suffering without the ability to make informed decisions about their bodies and their periods, a privilege that we often take for granted in the west.
As we move forward, it is important that we keep encouraging positive discussions and foster understanding about periods. According to the National Health Service of Britain, a woman can lose upwards of 80 millilitres of blood during her period, which can be accompanied by extreme pain from cramps, and also include headaches and migraines, back pain, joint pain, and difficulty sleeping. It’s not always just an excuse to avoid going out or being active, as it is so often portrayed in popular media.
If you or someone you know needs period products, they are available through the Central Student Association in their office on the second floor of the university centre as well as in certain bathrooms on campus.
HOW PERIODS ARE REFERRED TO AROUND THE WORLD
- Lady time: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, U.K., U.S.
- Time of the month: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, U.K., U.S.
- Strawberry week: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Norway, Switzerland
- I’m on the rag: Australia, Belize, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, U.K., U.S., Belgium, Belize, Iceland
- The monthly party: Netherlands
- The communists are visiting: Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Sweden, U.K., U.S.
- The Russians have arrived: Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Romania
- Japan is attacking: Australia, Canada, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, Spain, U.K., U.S.
- The English have landed: Belgium, Canada, France
- I’m untouchable: India, Nepal
- I’m dirty: Fiji, India, Pakistan, Tunisia
- I’ve got a pile of old, useless junk: Czech Republic, Slovakia
- Big aunt: China, Hong Kong, Malaysia
- Granny is coming in the red car: South Africa
- My Flowers: Ireland
- The Tomato has come down: Spain
- I’m sick: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chile, Ecuador, Morocco, India, Romania, Spain, Turkey
- Monthly oil change: Germany, Hungary, Netherlands
Feature image by Alora Griffiths/The Ontarion