Not your cup of tea!

Moving on to the tampon. This is pure evil in our society huh? You have to insert this into your what?? What about preserving our womanhood?! What about the first night? Why ask this question to an 11 year old girl? Anyway, I tried it when a cousin of mine came back from the US. It came with an applicator too when the stores in India had just the basic structure. The first time inserting this foreign object in me involved some prayers, some palpitations and stress!! Getting into the right position, the right frame of mind, and needing to really relax (they don’t stress on this enough, but — RELAX); wanting to know the big deal of this small little thing that could absorb all that blood, I gave it a go. I went on to buy the ones without the applicator too. From the thread always getting wet, to its disposal, to all round unpleasantness.. I crawled back to the pad.

Guessing the cup made its first appearance about 5 ish years back? There was so much talk about this revolutionary product that one could use for 10 years without buying another, the positive environmental impact it had and its easy use made it all seem like a product we’ve all been waiting for. I went in with my little knowledge and experience with the tampon, thinking it’ll be the same thing. But no! It wasn’t nearly as close!

So I’ve been using a menstrual cup every month since the lockdown and I have some thoughts on it. It can be tricky and a definite ‘learning curve’, but once you’re over that, it easy peasy!

So here are my thoughts on it!

My reason for writing this blog was how us women have always been taught to somehow be scared of our bodies. It’s too delicate, says society. Yet, we push babies out every hour! We are stronger than what we’ve been allowed to believe. The hymen will tear and break screams men who know nothing about our bodies and we listen.

Using the cup every month allowed me to connect with myself. Learning to breathe, to touch, to listen and to see. When I was younger, whenever I looked down at the pad in the washroom, I would be disgusted and I’d want to get rid of it immediately. The odor and later the addition of fragrance by companies was a way of ‘masking’ the unpleasantness of it all. But, the cup has made me realise that the unpleasant odor was due to the pad itself and the oxygenation of it all. Our actual odor is subtle. And once you get used to inserting, disposing, cleaning and reinserting, you will realise the cup is a clear winner. It is for me.

This is not a promotion of the cup or preaching about inserting a cup (or anything) inside. Instead its my experience with different types of menstrual products in the market, finding what suits me and most of all — learning to love this extraordinary body of mine and accepting every inch of it.

To Looking up,

LOVE.

Also, do you have any stories and experiences with any of these products? Please share them in the comment section or send me an email! I would love to read them.

Related posts:

President-elect Joe Biden, merely by speaking about two national crises of historic magnitude (the economy and the pandemic), reminded us that even in his final weeks in office, President Trump…

Na busca por uma vida mais saudável procuramos dietas, métodos e até mesmo remédios para emagrecimento e, nos deparamos com milhares deles. Ocorre que, muitos não proporcionam o que realmente…

I recently started writing 6 word stories. This is a fun thing to try. And anyone can do it as writing six words doesn’t take that much time. Although it can be difficult to say what you want to say…