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"Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"

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WantToTouchtheWahine
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
But are you still a virgin if you're getting an IUD shoved up your snatch in a few days? Eeeeek...

I'm worried tampons, evil as I find them, may have to be my go-to from now on as I'm scared about using the cup with it...
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formergr
07/13/09

@WantToTouchtheWahine: I've used the cup and tampons since I got my IUD, and felt absolutely no difference (though I got my period a day or two after insertion, and was a bit tender still to use a tampon that first day).
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WantToTouchtheWahine
07/13/09

@all: Ah, I knew my Jezzies would be reassuring! I'm crossing my fingers for no period at all :)
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scarletwine
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
I truly wish manufacturers (and magazines) would focus less on the hymen/getting lost/masturbation myths and tell girls more clearly about the actual insertion. I had read a million "it's okay you're still a virgin" and "no it can't get lost" reassurances but not a single one of those cross-section diagrams explained that you basically have to aim back toward your spine rather than up. My early tampon trauma would have been alleviated entirely. Where were you when I really needed you, Seventeen Magazine?
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WantToTouchtheWahine
07/13/09

@scarletwine: Seriously. Many painful hours spent in the bathroom while my dad (DAD!) hovered anxiously outside.
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horrificat
07/13/09

@scarletwine: No kidding! I had absolutely no idea how to stick something up myself at 12 yrs. of age. My mother was pretty unhelpful, telling me I had to just "figure it out" myself.
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labeled
07/13/09

@horrificat: I'm guilty of telling my daughter that she'd have to figure it out - because I have to say, there's just not a lot I can do about it FOR her. Not w/out winding up on Springer some day. She's so uptight about the whole thing that I honestly just told her that she needed to grab a mirror, and play around w/her bits & get to know them. The kid knows the anatomy, I've told her the angle/try standing up with a foot on the toilet/ try squatting, etc... Aside from that, what else IS a mom supposed to do?
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Chimpasaurus
07/13/09

@labeled: I actually have a friend who ASKED her mom to insert it for her! I find that to be WAY more humiliating and awkward than just figuring it out yourself.
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labeled
07/13/09

@Chimpasaurus: Brand new levels of AWKward.
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bangers
07/13/09

@Chimpasaurus: i grew up with a girl whose mother broke out the vaseline and tampons and helped her put one in the first time.
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laureltreedaphne
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
It's not my fault that I have a heavy flow and wide-set vagina!
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Lady Skittlehattington
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
But what if it's a tampon shaped like a penis?
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JennaW
07/13/09

@Lady Skittlehattington: Oh, in that case, you're a ho.
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mepo - Robert Cornhole invented it
07/13/09

@Lady Skittlehattington: I find a mini cock in me always makes my roller skating more fun.
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formergr
07/13/09

@Lady Skittlehattington: Very briefly in the early nineties, they tested out a tampon with a *curved* applicator. I remember sending for a free sample from a Sassy ad because it looked so fascinating (and dirty)!

And then it arrived while my parents were home or something, and I shoved it under the couch pillows after looking at it. And then my mom found it, cue awkward conversation.
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Yahtzii
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
I can't believe this hasn't come up yet. My apologies if it has, and I tried very hard to stifle this urge but the Mean Girls exploded out of me in a gale of fast typing and nasty little giggles:

"Most people think I'm lying about being a virgin because I prefer jumbo tampons, but I can't help it if I have a heavy flow and a wide-set vagina!"
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JennaW
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
So the Taliban got its start writing ad copy back in the day?

You know what makes you not a virgin, human race? Having had sex.
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Edited by JennaW at 07/13/09 1:42 PM JennaW was starred JennaW was unstarred

Flackette Goes Retro
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
I remember this exact ad from either Teen or Seventeen, when I was in sixth or seventh grade. Even at the time, I was like "Really? Some people think that tampons will take your virginity?". My mom was fine with me using them right from the start, although it actually took a long time for me to figure out how to use them. She even bought special "slender" and "junior" ones for me. I later found out from friends that not everyone's parents were so enlightened.
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SarahMC
07/13/09

@Flackette Goes Retro:
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
I always wanted one of those advice columnists to just give up and reply: 'Yes. yes, a tampon took your virginity. Now marry it or live in shame.'
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
07/13/09

@HeatherNumber1: I'm picturing a cute miniature tux on the tampon in question.
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cand86
07/13/09

@HeatherNumber1: Hearted. That's great.
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Lizard in the Wires - synthesizer signals suspense!
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
Next time anyone asks me to do ANYTHING my response is going to be "I can't. I might break a membrane or something."

Doubly if that someone is asking me to skate (roller).
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SarahMC
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
Human progress is so strange. I look at a contraption like the iPhone... and then I think about the fact that some people believe tampon use = losing virginity, and I don't know how to proceed.
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AtomiClash: humanitarian misanthrope
07/13/09

@SarahMC: I'm doing this!: I think they have an app for that.
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hamburgerhotdog
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
I remember my girlfriends and I were at Pentacostal Bible Camp looking through a (contraband) issue of Seventeen one of us had snuck in when we saw this ad and howled in laughter - even completely sheltered 12 year olds in 1990 knew this was preposterous.
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hydrogen_jukebox
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
Before having sex for the first time, my then-boyfriend used the argument that I used tampons already to get me to give it up quicker.

I tried to explain this whole thing to him, but he seriously did not want to understand it. He's still a dick to this day, surprise surprise.
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Edited by hydrogen_jukebox at 07/13/09 1:25 PM hydrogen_jukebox was starred hydrogen_jukebox was unstarred

tanktopversusboatneck.whowins
07/13/09

@hydrogen_jukebox: Oh that makes me so stabby.
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
07/13/09

@hydrogen_jukebox: Ew. You should have poked a few fingers up his butt and said, 'Oh come on Boyfriend, we both know how much you eat and the kind of dumps you've been taking. It's clear what you were prepping for.'

Too much?
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dreamypisces
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
I wonder what the doctors (and nunnery's) thought about OB (which was the first tampon I tried). Having to insert it with your finger - may lead the young lady to *masturbate* and can not be allowed (even though the whole time you're actually a bit grossed out by your bloody finger).

Whose idea was the OB brand anyway?
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Zombie Ms. Skittles
07/13/09

@dreamypisces: According to their commercials, it was designed by an OB/GYN! Hence the "OB" name.
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labeled
07/13/09

@Zombie Ms. Skittles: A female OB/GYN, no less.
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Lymed
07/13/09

@dreamypisces: A lot of people love OB. No applicator means less waste and means it is small enough to carry in your pocket.
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Yahtzii
07/13/09

@dreamypisces: The irony is that a dry, scratchy OB tampon is probably one of the most uncomfortable things you can put up there. If masturbation was anything like that, I'd have sworn off a long time ago.
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Edited by Yahtzii at 07/13/09 1:29 PM Yahtzii was starred Yahtzii was unstarred

Gardenia
07/13/09

@dreamypisces:

A German entrepreneur (male) had the idea when he was looking to make a living after the war and came across an American tampon ad.

He teamed up with an OB/Gyn (female), who designed it. Supposedly they interviewed a lot of women who had been using 'homemade' tampons for a while.

The name is an abbreviation of the German 'Ohne Binde', which simply means: no pads. They were looking for a very innnocuous name.

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kimbert
07/13/09

@dreamypisces: I love OB! They're the only kind I can use, plus you can stick a whole days worth in your pocket. No side trips to your desk before you go to the bathroom!
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Gardenia
07/13/09

@Lymed: In Germany, o.b. takes 80 % of the market. Most of the rest are other brands... I am sure the percentage of applicator users is in single digits.

Gah! Pun not intended.
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Flackette Goes Retro
07/13/09

@Lymed: Personally, I just lack the skills to insert a tampon without an applicator, but I say more power to those ladies who like them. I wish I could use them - they're so compact and easy to carry in your pocket!
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Uncommon Whore
07/13/09

@kimbertly1: I'm faithful to OB as well. They're convenient to carry and I like how the expand out, making it so I don't bleed all over my pants!
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Breamworthy
07/13/09

@Uncommon Whore: Yes! Tampax are like twice as long as OB - how can that be more comfortable?

And, in my 20+ years experience using them, OB are only scratchy if you're using too high an absorbancy or changing it while it's still pretty dry. I recently started using a Diva cup, but I still carry OB around in my purse and use them at the beginning/end when my flow is lighter.
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Sputnik_Sweetheart
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
A friend of mine once said to me, "They say you can use tampons if you're a virgin, but I don't know [if I believe that]" This was a few years ago and we were both in our twenties. Attitudes have changed a lot, but we still have some ways to go, unfortunately.
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stoprobbers
07/13/09

In reply to "Are You Sure I'll Still Be A Virgin?"
I was terrified the first time I used a tampon. I got my period on the early side, just shy of 12 years old, and was freaked out enough that I was bleeding regularly in the first place that I didn't even think about using a tampon for the first seven or eight months. But then came the end-of-the-year pool party and the knowledge that I couldn't swim in a pad, and it was time for tampon lessons from Mommy.

More than anything, I was scared that it would hurt and that it would get lost. And I was so very embarrassed that I was about to shove some cotton wrapped in cardboard into me. Vaginas are mysterious and scary when you're young, even when they are yours.
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Zombie Ms. Skittles
07/13/09

Posted in the wrong place!
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Edited by Zombie Ms. Skittles at 07/13/09 1:24 PM

Lymed
07/13/09

@stoprobbers: Vaginas are mysterious and scary when you're young, even when they are yours.

Isn't that sad? Shouldn't our mothers, our sisters, our aunts, and even our fathers teach us about our bodies so we are not scared of any part of our body?
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Edited by Lymed at 07/13/09 1:28 PM Lymed was starred Lymed was unstarred

stoprobbers
07/13/09

@Lymed: Oh, I dunno. My mom taught me about my vagina as a kid, but when it started doing things that I couldn't control, and when I started having to mess with it in ways I was unfamiliar with, I got scared.

But, then, maybe it's just me. When I started budding breasts I was 12 and had just gotten through health class in school where they had taught us about mammograms and breast cancer. When my boobies started to come in, small and hard, I freaked out and told my mom I thought I had cancer. She just laughed and told me I was growing my rack.
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my cousin is an ape
07/13/09

@stoprobbers: Ah, THIS! I remember in high school health class one of the guys (very seriously) asked how tampons don't get lost "up in there." Our very nice (and very gay) sex ed teacher was like, "Well, it's not a black hole."
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Edited by my cousin is an ape at 07/13/09 2:27 PM

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