I’m in my late 30s. My public school warned against tampons and told us we should ask our mothers before we use them because it could damage our hymens. Wait until you’re older they said. It was highschool.
They were vague about it but it was a school health class. Rural America.
So yes it was a thing for me. Hopefully schools have updated.
Wasn’t my experience, but I will take your word for it. I’d heard of it of course, but always in a vague, third-hand kind of way, or like it used to be a thing when they first came out. Caveat: I’m a guy. But that said I’m surrounded by very conservative and religious people and my wife is from an even more conservative part of the country, and the tampon thing was never an issue. She says she never even heard about that, and the only thing related to tampons she remembers was about risk of toxic shock if you leave them in too long.
It is absolutely a thing among conservative circles. I’ve known young women whose own mothers scared them away from using tampons because they said it would break the hymen and then you could no longer prove you’re a virgin (or some claim that you truly aren’t a virgin anymore, as though you can lose your virginity to a tampon) so then you’ll be considered unclean and no decent man will want you anymore.
It’s gobsmackingly stupid but it is very very real.
It’s definitely “a thing” in the US, but the comment I replied to said only married women were “allowed” to buy them. I took that to mean allowed by law.
Maybe that was too much of an assumption.
Regardless, we’re talking about power structures denying bodily autonomy to women which, I think we can agree, is fucking disgusting.
It was not legally enforced but it was socially enforced trough stores refusing to sell them to you and mothers calling you a whore if they find them in your room.
This source is paired with multiple posts on r/XYchromosomes where their mothers associates tampons with being sexually active and an anecdote from Jo Brand on QI where she casually talks about having to use disgusting rags because the store would not sell her tampons.
Until as late as the 1950’s, every packet of tampons had to carry the warning ‘Not suitable for unmarried women’ for fear that virginity might be impaired, which was of course untrue. To this day however, in predominately Catholic countries, sales of pads are notably higher than tampons.
Fucking Lemmy people making me do research.
An additional source that I am unable to find is Jo Brand on an episode of QI talking about stores refusing to sell tampons to unmarried women.
I’m not saying it never happened, just that it isn’t a thing anymore, not in any mainstream sense. Obviously there are small communities or whatever. There always are, but they are not representative of any significant group of people and can’t be pointed to as an example of some kind. This is the kind of thing lemmy/reddit does all the time that gets really annoying. It’s low effort circle jerking, and people just eat it up because it makes them feel superior.
Did you miss the part where Catholic and conservative countries still uses tampons less than other countries. The main issue is that they think it
A. Increase masturbation because it requires the girl to familiarize themselves with their own genitals
And
B. Breaks the hymen and makes the girl no longer a virgin.
These are things that conservatives absolutely still care about and if you read r/twoXchromosomes you will eventually see women with conservative parents having to snuggle their tampons into the house.
Also, why are conservatives losing their minds over Tim Walz providing tampons to schools if what I am saying isn’t a thing anymore?
Like a presidential candidate once said, things dont just fall out of coconut trees. They are influenced by what was before.
The tampon thing is about requiring schools to put them in the boys bathrooms, which is a totally different thing. But also my response is about my experience in the US.
So you went from asserting a thing doesn’t happen, to admitting you’re talking out of your ass, to doubling down again on a subject you’ve just said you know nothing about? Talk about clowns on the internet lmao
As prudish as America is, I’ve never heard that before. Not saying it’s not the case though.
Lol it’s not a thing. I have no idea what lemmy people go on about sometimes.
I’m in my late 30s. My public school warned against tampons and told us we should ask our mothers before we use them because it could damage our hymens. Wait until you’re older they said. It was highschool.
They were vague about it but it was a school health class. Rural America.
So yes it was a thing for me. Hopefully schools have updated.
Wasn’t my experience, but I will take your word for it. I’d heard of it of course, but always in a vague, third-hand kind of way, or like it used to be a thing when they first came out. Caveat: I’m a guy. But that said I’m surrounded by very conservative and religious people and my wife is from an even more conservative part of the country, and the tampon thing was never an issue. She says she never even heard about that, and the only thing related to tampons she remembers was about risk of toxic shock if you leave them in too long.
It is absolutely a thing among conservative circles. I’ve known young women whose own mothers scared them away from using tampons because they said it would break the hymen and then you could no longer prove you’re a virgin (or some claim that you truly aren’t a virgin anymore, as though you can lose your virginity to a tampon) so then you’ll be considered unclean and no decent man will want you anymore.
It’s gobsmackingly stupid but it is very very real.
It’s definitely “a thing” in the US, but the comment I replied to said only married women were “allowed” to buy them. I took that to mean allowed by law.
Maybe that was too much of an assumption.
Regardless, we’re talking about power structures denying bodily autonomy to women which, I think we can agree, is fucking disgusting.
It was not legally enforced but it was socially enforced trough stores refusing to sell them to you and mothers calling you a whore if they find them in your room.
https://feddit.nu/comment/9831035
This source is paired with multiple posts on r/XYchromosomes where their mothers associates tampons with being sexually active and an anecdote from Jo Brand on QI where she casually talks about having to use disgusting rags because the store would not sell her tampons.
https://www.ahpma.co.uk/menstruation_facts_and_figures/
Fucking Lemmy people making me do research.
An additional source that I am unable to find is Jo Brand on an episode of QI talking about stores refusing to sell tampons to unmarried women.
Yeah I guess I don’t know much about the Uk or other countries, I’m just speaking for my experience in the US.
But you you did know enough to be smug about it, apparently. These crazy Lemmy people saying such silly things.
I’m not saying it never happened, just that it isn’t a thing anymore, not in any mainstream sense. Obviously there are small communities or whatever. There always are, but they are not representative of any significant group of people and can’t be pointed to as an example of some kind. This is the kind of thing lemmy/reddit does all the time that gets really annoying. It’s low effort circle jerking, and people just eat it up because it makes them feel superior.
Did you miss the part where Catholic and conservative countries still uses tampons less than other countries. The main issue is that they think it
A. Increase masturbation because it requires the girl to familiarize themselves with their own genitals
And
B. Breaks the hymen and makes the girl no longer a virgin.
These are things that conservatives absolutely still care about and if you read r/twoXchromosomes you will eventually see women with conservative parents having to snuggle their tampons into the house.
Also, why are conservatives losing their minds over Tim Walz providing tampons to schools if what I am saying isn’t a thing anymore?
Like a presidential candidate once said, things dont just fall out of coconut trees. They are influenced by what was before.
The tampon thing is about requiring schools to put them in the boys bathrooms, which is a totally different thing. But also my response is about my experience in the US.
Lots of experience being a far right conservative in America?
So you went from asserting a thing doesn’t happen, to admitting you’re talking out of your ass, to doubling down again on a subject you’ve just said you know nothing about? Talk about clowns on the internet lmao
That one hit a little close to home?