periods

Since it debuted in 2011, the U by Kotex brand of pads and tampons (aimed at pre-teens) has made its mark with funny commercials and frank talk about periods. But recently, Kotex has decided to launch a part of their site that addresses period myths and the general lack of awareness many pre-teens have about their bodies. Their latest campaign, Generation Know, offers a site where girls can anonymously ask questions about periods and get answers from experts, peers, and moms. And holy cow, are these girls misguided.

I mean...there are no “wrong” questions when it comes to the complexities of the female body, and a lot of the questions are pretty basic (like “what happens during a pelvic exam?”). But some are a truly frightening demonstration of the absolute lack of information that young girls get when it comes to matters of their own health.

Here is a sampling of the more alarming questions from the site:

“Is it ok to wrap your tampon in toilet paper and then change the paper but not the tampon? Then the tampon lasts longer because it remains dry.”

“Once you are sexually active, do you need to go to the doctor so they can cut a piece of your vagina off?”

 “Do tampons cause cancer?”

University of Massachusetts professor Chris Bobel is the author of the soon to be released book New Blood: Third-Wave Feminism and the Politics of Menstruation. In this two-part interview she unpacks periods and the activism, advertising and controversy that makes them so very personal and so very political.