The average woman will use between 5,000 and 15,000 pads and tampons during their time menstruating, most of which ends up in landfills, according to an article in National Geographic.
There are sustainable products out there. Most notably the menstrual cup or DivaCup as many know it. However, many women cannot use those types of products due to disorders that cause pain in the opening of the vagina such as vulvodynia and vaginismus.
These disorders don’t allow women to insert anything into their vagina without pain or with extreme discomfort. This won’t allow them to use the menstrual cup because of this pain.
Pain may not be the only reason women feel uncomfortable wearing a menstrual cup. Due to the nature of this feminine hygiene product, a woman must wash it out in order to reuse it. This could be an awkward process if the woman is in a public restroom with more than one stall and sink in it.
More recently in March 2020, discussion of the use of menstrual cups became more apparent. In an article by BBC News, menstrual cups aren’t regulated in the United Kingdom and there is no safety testing. The article also said that misuse of the product could cause the pelvic organ to prolapse.
“Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when the group of muscles and tissues that normally support the pelvic organs, called the pelvic floor, becomes weakened and cannot hold the organs in place firmly,” the article said.
This could cause organs too drop from their normal position such as the womb, bowel, bladder or the top of the vagina. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, “there are a lack of regulations and standards for menstrual cups.”
Although they’re lacking regulations and standards, they are still accepted as having high quality materials and are typically safe for use. However, these cups can cause toxic shock syndrome like tampons can.
Toxic shock syndrome is a potentially deadly disorder caused by bacteria that produces toxins. In 2018 it was found in a study published in the journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology that menstrual cups can cause toxic shock syndrome.
Tampons and menstrual cups can cause the bacteria to grow, because it introduces oxygen into the vaginal canal. With the breeding ground for bacteria being inside the vagina, it can cause various issues including toxic shock syndrome.
“People believe that menstrual cups can’t cause toxic shock syndrome, but unfortunately, that is wrong,” Gerard Lina, the study’s author, said in an article in Consumer Reports.
Although there is a risk to get toxic shock syndrome from both products, it is rare. Having the possibility of getting this syndrome has produced fear in many women, causing them to only wear pads, a menstrual product that doesn’t cause that syndrome because the product isn’t inserted into the vagina.
All of these factors can contribute to someone not wanting to use a menstrual cup. So, where does that leave them if they want to be sustainable regarding their feminine hygiene products? They don’t really have that much of a choice. However, there are other choices, choices that aren’t talked about.
Other reusable alternatives are sea sponges, menstrual discs, cotton pads, period underwear and more. Even though there are a wide variety of alternatives, those aren’t mainstreamed. In school we don’t learn about other alternatives, thus they don’t become a household name. When feminine hygiene products are talked about, the big three are pads, tampons and menstrual cups.
A lack of knowledge regarding feminine hygiene products and alternatives to those big three leads to a lack of knowledge on sustainable product choices.
In order to change that, public school systems, public figures and the companies that sell the alternatives need to discuss these other options more. Once those options are discussed more, women can further educate themselves about what product they want to use.
It’s completely up to a woman what she decides to use during her period, however, the lack of understanding and attention surrounding sustainable products is problematic for those who want to be sustainable and choose to not use a menstrual cup.
Nicole Hindberg can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @HindbergNicole.