Truthdig: There’s No Delicate Way to Put This ...

[marmar]

There’s No Delicate Way to Put This ...

Posted on Jan 12, 2009
By Eunice Wong


Hello ladies.

Would you consider reusable menstrual items?

Please stay with me.

I do not sell these items, nor am I connected to the companies that make them. I’m a mom who’s been cloth-diapering her baby for six months, to save money, my son’s health and the environment. Only recently did I realize that while I’ve been feeling ecologically virtuous, I’ve also been throwing out tampons and pads every month for more than 20 years of my life, and have another 20-plus years to do so.

I did some research and was appalled. I claim, like most people, to be concerned about the desperate state of the planet, yet I never challenged the disposable monolith we live in. A sampling:

There are 85 million women of menstruating age in North America. Conservative estimates are that the average woman disposes of between 10,000 and 15,000 tampons, pads and applicators in her lifetime1. That’s about 250 to 300 pounds of waste per woman.

In 1999, about 2.5 million tampons, 1.4 million pads, and 700,000 pantiliners were flushed away daily2. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090112_theres_no_delicate_way_to_put_this_/

[GliderGuider]

1. My previous partner

used menstrual cups for that very reason. Apparently they take some getting used to, but they are quite effective.

[emmadoggy]

3. Menstrual cups are the

BEST THINGS SINCE SLICED BREAD as far as I'm concerned. I first learned about them a little over a year ago (Hello? Where is the marketing on these things??) right here on DU and made the switch immediately.

WHAT A GODSEND!! I love it. Wish I had known about them years ago - would have saved me so much grief (not to mention lessened my environmental impact).

Haven't had any luck converting anyone else though (my sisters) - they think there is too much of an "ick" factor and think they would be inconvenient in public restrooms (they're not).

I wish there would be a huge marketing push on cups - so many women have simply never heard of them.

[Berry Cool]

4. Sadly, too many women have been taught from birth that menses are

gross, diseased, dirty and smelly. They get this message from the media as well as the culture.

Of course, they're nothing of the sort. No, you don't want the stuff all over your clothes or hands, and it will smell soon after it leaves your body, but not if you take it out and dispose of it right away. And it's not dirty or diseased.

But fighting a cultural taboo is hard.

[peace frog]

2. The menstrual cup sounds like a good alternative

WARNING: don't read if you're squeamish

Beats what they did in my grandmother's day: use clean, dry cloth rags that later had to be boiled to remove all traces of menstrual blood and be washed for re-use. When she described the process, she said it was an odious chore that no woman cared to do but they did it out of necessity. The menstrual cup will actually collect the blood for disposal - a less labor-intensive alternative than cloth.