I don’t know if anyone saw on the news last week but an American ad for period products was banned on account of it mentioning the word ‘vagina’. Apparently, actually mentioning the part of your body that tampons et al are designed for is not allowed. This coyness is something that is reflected in the whole way we as a culture approach our periods and the way our female bodies work which at best is plain silly and at worst encourages disassociation and shame around women’s bodies.

Since I bought my Mooncup and since I read the Cunt book that changed my life, I have been thinking a great deal about periods and my body and the way tampons and towels are advertised.
And I have come to the conclusion that the advertising is both damaging and, well, plain stupid.

My most recent bugbear has been the advert for Tampax pearl, where a woman dressed in a green Coco Chanel suit plays Mother Nature, and interrupts a fashion shoot where a woman is dressed all in white on a white set. She informs the model that she can no longer participate in the fashion shoot because she is delivering her period. Because of course, when a woman has her period, she is completely incapacitated and should not in any circumstances participate in real life and go on with her day! (the sarcasm is heavy in my pen here). Anyway, the model tells her male model companions to stick around and finish the shoot, as she has bought Tampax pearl, a product that means she can go on with her day. Oh poor women who don’t have the pearl product! cries the ad. How will you survive each month!

I am going to use this ad as my starting point for the many, many multi faceted issues I have with advertising for period products. (I refuse, point blank, to say sanitary protection. This is the only time I will say it).

Firstly, I take issue with the aforementioned point that Tampax are suggesting that without the magic of the pearl product, women can’t get on with their lives when they are on their period. This is a clever marketing ploy (“buy our product and you can live your life the way you want to!”), but also taps into a greater, historical and cultural anxiety about menstruating women. Traditionally, women on their periods were shunned, hidden away, and in their religious situations prevented from going to the place of worship. Why? Because your period was seen as something unclean, shameful, to be hidden away.

So, very subtly, Tampax are playing into this idea. They are saying that without the Tampax pearl, women should not be able to continue with their day, they should leave the public space, hide away until they are clean again, and they must never, ever, NEVER wear white! Unless, of course, they buy this pearl thing-a-ma-jig.

Now, the next question I have is what is this pearl thing-a-ma-jig anyway? What’s wrong with your regular old Tampax? The answer of course is that tampons and towels as products are kind of a one trick pony. Women only need them once a month. They do the job whether you dress them up in a skirt, give them wings, add a “silken” layer or, make them in the shape of pearls. So all period companies have had to come up with all the aforementioned ideas to keep women buying the more expensive alternatives to their products. It’s a big con. A big, big con. And the biggest con of all is the pantyliner, doing the job that knickers have done for ages. The pantyliner is the period companies’ way of making sure that women buy their products all the time, whether they have their period or not. We then have the numerous femfresh products, the biggest sinners of all in my opinion. There is so much hideous women hating going on with femfresh. They are products with only one goal in mind – making profit from women shaming. It’s not big and it’s not clever.

The problem I have with the way period products are advertised taps deep into the way women are taught to feel about their periods in our culture, and that is that they are something to be ashamed and embarrassed by, a “curse” that makes women become “hormonal” and “irrational”. This way of thinking is all wrong. I mean, think about it. Once a month, for between 3-7 days, for an average of 30-40 years, women have a period. That’s a hell of a lot of time to spend feeling embarrassed, ashamed and fed up. That’s a lot of time spent thinking your body has turned against you with its “curse”. It isn’t healthy to think this way!
Period advertising re-enforces these ideas.

Once you start questioning the way we approach periods and women’s bodies in society, it’s easy to start feeling more and more angry and uncomfortable. For example, there’s an ad where a woman is with her boyfriend, who thinks her tampon is a sweet in her handbag. Thew! Because that could be embarrassing couldn’t it? Your boyfriend or husband, the man you have sex with, might realise you are a woman with insides and periods and everything! Man, I can’t imagine anything worse! (again, sarcasm). There’s an ad where blue water (blue??!!) is poured on a towel and women squeal at how absorbent it is. There are towels that are decorated in flowers and have been scented.

What are these ads saying to us? They are telling us that your period is something to be embarrassed about and must be kept hidden at all costs. It is saying that we must be discreet, we must be coy, we must be shy of our bodies. This is such a destructive way to think about our bodies. We shouldn’t see them as a distant agent working against us to make us miserable. We should see our periods as part of our lives, and the way our body works.

And then, to top off this mouldy cake with a sour cherry, we have the famous Tampax lady. The lady who Tampax, the company, send to schools to educate teen women about their periods, but most importantly, to educate young teens to buy Tampax, and to feed them the message that Tampax thrives on, keep your periods hidden and feel ashamed!
When the Tampax lady comes on her visit (in year 7 and year 10) she gives everyone a pack of Tampax products, including a little holder so that no one will know you’re carrying a tampon in your bag.
Says it all really, doesn’t it.

Obviously not all women have periods. But a lot of women do, and that’s a lot of women who are being fed from a very early age that their bodies are something to be ashamed of. By banning the word vagina from TV advertising we are sending a clear message that our bodies are dirty, and that the word vagina is akin to a swear word, a banned word. It is suggesting to women that their bodies are something to be silenced, hushed and feel embarrassment about and this is not ok.

This is what I would like to see. Firstly, I want period advertising that isn’t so women and body shaming that it has to use blue water to signify blood. I’m not saying we should use blood, it’s not like we use waste in loo roll ads, but something less anodyne and coy would be better. I want ads that don’t treat periods as some dirty secret that women have to keep hidden from men’s eyes. I want companies that don’t come up with endless much of the same products that are overpriced when nearly all women from puberty to menopause need to use them. And I want ads to stop thinking that vagina is a dirty word.

But changing the rules of advertising these products can only go so far. Ads may shape our view of things, but ads are in turn shaped by cultural mores. What we really need is a big cultural overhaul in the way we look and think about periods.

I read about Barbara G Walker describing menarche parties, celebrations that her community would throw for a woman when she starts her period. How amazing is that? How amazing would it be that if from day one, we told women their periods weren’t bad or gross or smelly or shameful, but were a step in the road of life and part of our bodies, and our body’s way of preparing women for potential motherhood.

Instead of having the Tampax woman come to schools to spout her propaganda, what if we told women all these things? What if social education was dedicated occasionally to teaching boys and girls about periods in a positive way, rather than splitting up the class so the boys don’t get embarrassed by “girl talk”.
If we talked about periods properly and didn’t see them as female shame, then this embarrassment would not be an issue in the first place. There would be no embarrassment around the subject because we would all be open about our bodies and therefore no embarrassment would exist.

So, what can we do, as women, to fight back against the anti-women messages associated with our periods? Well, the first step is to start conversations. At BFN, we’re planning a meeting and discussion group about women’s bodies and the way they are seen in society. We’re hoping to put on a family fun day with a red tent fairly prominently displayed, and are aiming to promote the message that your period is nothing to be ashamed of.

And you can help yourselves by finding out about the alternative products such as mooncups, keepers, nature care, lunar pads – products that promote pro women sentiments and are better for your health and for the environment. It may take a while to find the product that is best for you. But once you do, it is so liberating to leave behind those anti-women messages associated with the mainstream period products that suggest your periods are so gross, you need scented panty-liners just to leave the house.

No-one is suggesting that you should think your periods are easy, painless and a fun part of life. You can if you want to, but I think we all know that would be a challenge! But if we could prevent and fight back against this idea that they are shameful, embarrassing and a curse, that they mean there is something wrong with you, I believe we could really create a more positive atmosphere for women to live in.

And we would never, ever, NEVER refer to “sanitary protection” again.