1-800-TAMPONS

I remember sitting at my kitchen table alone, hands sweaty. I was home alone, my brother outside playing and my parents at work. Finally after months, I mustered the courage to call. I had written down my questions in preparation and I was hopeful of the outcome. I dialed and a woman answered. Relief. “Welcome to Tampax, how may I help you?” she asked. “Hi, I’m 15 years old and I need some help.” I replied.

As a competitive tennis player in the 90s, I had suffered through my period while playing tournaments and matches using bulky pads, without wings. Literally it felt like you were wearing a diaper. Back then, tennis gear was pretty basic. You would wear a tennis skirt and underneath, separate tennis bloomers that had pockets sewn into them so you could hold tennis balls. This was all fine when your skirt was a dark color and you could wear darker bloomers when having your period. But my high school team’s colors were maroon and WHITE. Yes, white skirts with white bloomers. Nothing could be worse for a young girl menstruating while playing a sport in white attire.

As my varsity team’s #1, I was guaranteed to play all matches, whether home or away. The home matches were easier for me because even though the high school locker room was a ways away from the tennis courts, I could anticipate the time it took to get there and plan things perfectly to make it to the bathroom. However, my anxiety would increase exponentially when playing away games. I had to factor in the bus rides, the warmups, and access to facilities. All these logistics were extremely perplexing for a teenage girl, trying to fit in without an embarrassing period accident.

I agonized every month and fretted over the tennis schedule, counting the days that were my heaviest and praying that I didn’t have to wear my white skirt during those matches. I almost quit the tennis team, my favorite sport, because of this. Now, there is more awareness about these things with terms such as “period stigma” but back then, I felt like I was on an island all alone in my struggles. Except that one day, this all changed when I overheard girls talking about tampons. From what I could understand, there was a product that you could insert during your periods that would stop the flow before hitting your underwear?! Where was this product and how could I start using it? A girl on my team had given me the paper insert from her tampon box and I had hidden it in my backpack. When I was home alone, I eagerly studied the paper and quickly realized that I had a huge barrier to overcome- my mother. The graphics on the paper insert made it very clear that I would have to insert the applicator in me. I came from a very conservative Indian family so inserting anything into me would be a non-starter. How could I convince my Indian mother that inserting something into my vagina would still render me a virgin, that this tampon would not take my virginity away?

That’s where my phone call to Tampax comes in. That was the question that I had been building up the courage to ask someone and I was hoping that the anonymity of a phone call would afford me the courage to do so. This was long before the internet was widely available to us and before Google was a source of information (now, 25 years later, the Tampax website has a section called “Tampax Truths” and a whole page dedicated to “Do Tampons Take your Virginity Away?”. Go figure!) So, I finally asked the Tampax representative my question, with a hushed voice and timid tone. Do you want to know the astonishing thing? The woman on the line didn’t even skip a beat. She took the question in stride, as if she had heard that question many times before. She was kind and understanding in her response, never once laughing at me, and helped me frame an answer for my mother.

Armed with information and knowledge, I talked to my mom. I told her directly and candidly what having my period during tennis matches was doing to me and how scared I was of a leak. Thankfully (god bless her!), my mom got it. Even though she didn’t quite understand how a tampon worked, she saw that there was a product that would give me some relief. I am so grateful that she understood despite her culture and reservations. On our next shopping trip, the first item that I put into our cart was a box of tampons (Tampax brand of course!), without question or incident, and I was so happy. During my next match while having my period, I strutted onto the tennis court with a smile, in my white skirt and bloomers, winning in more ways than just tennis.