I think
ailie, in her now-deleted writeup saying that women can't get by without pads/tampons, has misunderstood what
moJoe is making fun of. Yes, every woman between
puberty and
menopause needs
tampons or
maxi-pads or the
Keeper or something to catch
menstrual discharges. However, what's the point of putting scents in the products, or
bleaching their fibers, or using additional stuff like
Feminine Deodorant Spray? Somebody must be that paranoid, using
douches even though they can actually mess up the acid balance of the vagina and leave it more prone to infection, because all these things stay on the market.
Personally, the thing that amazes me is tampon applicators. Some women are apparently so afraid to touch their own bodies that they use cardboard or plastic tubes to push the tampon in? Applicators are terribly uncomfortable for me; they never get the tampon in at a comfortable angle. My fingers work so much better, and I can wash my hands.
(Added later: On the other hand, Chiisuta tells me that "I have never been able to get a
tampon in the right place with my
fingers and believe me, I've tried. I
have no qualms about touching
myself (HOOWAH!) but I don't think my fingers can reach as far as the applicator. Something about angles." This is the exact opposite of my own experience. But we're all built differently. I also got a message whose author I lost track of pointing out that on camping trips or other places where it is not necessarily possible to wash your hands immediately, tampons with applicators come in very handy.)