When I was ten, the fifth grade class of my elementary school filed into very specific rooms. Boys here. Girls there. An old VHS hummed out a song, “Just around the corner for girls.” I remember very little of that video, besides singing the catchy tune in the back of the car so often afterwards that my sister finally slammed me in the face with a six-inch from subway. I got a nosebleed and she got in sooo much trouble. Those things, you don’t forget. But the video and the ensuing conversation, I very much forget. My fifth grade mind was so occupied with the unjust politics of recess soccer that any little devices the school nurse cautiously held in front of me seemed useless. Little did I know, years of a heavy flow of obstacles lay ahead of my peers and me. It was not just around the corner, it was there, very much in me, and in my pants, as I had to go to art class.
Now years, and too many awkward boy-girl pool parties later, I’m here to say that when it comes to “period care,” I still know very little. But I think it’s time we take control of the conversation and know all of our options. Not just the discourse appropriate enough for TV advertisements from the “leak free” volleyball players to the tampon commercials that claim their hip black labels will dispel stigma and discomfort. In the end, they’re all those same things our elementary school nurse waved timidly in front of us and they’re not ideal for everybody or every situation.
So let’s talk about menstrual cups, stealing the show of alternative hygiene products. A menstrual cup is an upside-down bell-shaped device made of a nontoxic material like medical-grade silicone and used to collect period blood. They are most often inserted into the vaginal canal like a tampon, but some brands, like Softcup, are worn higher up, around the cervix. Diva cups, arguably the most popular and well-referenced menstrual cup, cost between $20 to $30 and come in different versions suitable for ladies of all ages. You can go 12 hours with your diva cup in without risking toxic shock syndrome, making it an ideal travel companion or backcountry necessity (leave no trace!). With proper love and care, they can last a whopping 10 years!! I don’t really want to think about where I’ll be in ten years, but I do really like to think that my trusty diva cup will be there too.
Menstrual cups don’t contain latex, BPA, dye or any other additives characteristic of tampons and pads, whose effects are, largely, unknown. “Right now, you know more about what’s in your sweater than you do what’s in your tampons,” points out Sharra Vostral, a professor at Purdue University and the author of Under Wraps: A History of Menstrual Hygiene Technology. Furthermore, cotton in tampons can rid your vaginal walls of naturally occurring lining, making your lady bits more susceptible to disease. The cup, however, is not without flaws. It will often take several cycles for a woman to be comfortable with adjusting to a diva cup. Also, my friend’s puppy ate my first one, so the advent of a diva cup in your life does not guarantee that all awkward conversations will be avoided for all eternity. Diva cups don’t ensure the grace and confidence of divas, strutting through life leak-free. I wasn’t always singing the praises of menstrual cups, and you don’t have to either! But it’s an option that I feel like we deserve to know about so we can make the right choice for ourselves.
The challenge of mainstreaming alternative hygiene products speaks to the prickly truths of our society’s attitude toward menstruation. Sometimes, it is easier to rip off a disposable product and throw it away, without thinking about the ramifications. Other times, we need that; situations deem it necessary and society doesn’t allocate us the time or comfort level to express our needs to go empty our cup of blood before we get in the SLU van for a four-hour lab. And that’s okay, but diva cups provide a viable alternative in a feminine hygiene market that is more dynamic than we are conditioned to believe. As Diva Cups begin to take a greater piece of the feminine hygiene pie, let’s just go with the flow.