This Harvard Grad Designed Tampons That Don't Open Cylindrically, And I've Never Even Thought About The Actual Shape Of My Vagina
Legend has it, the modern tampon was created by a man who stuffed cotton into a condom.
According to menstrual mythology, the modern tampon was created by a man named John Williamson, who stuffed a condom with cotton-like filling. By that logic, tampons would have been created in the shape of a penis rather than a vagina. And when you stop to think about it, tampons do open cylindrically — but is a vagina cylindrical?
As the story goes, Williamson worked for the manufacturing company Kimberly-Clark in the 1920s. When he presented his menstrual solution to his father, a medical consultant for Kimberly-Clark, his father allegedly shouted, “Never would I put any strange article inside a woman!”
Although, according to patent records, Earle Haas actually invented the tampon as we know it in 1931. The first commercial tampon brand, Tampax, was produced using Haas’s patented design.
Harvard grad Nadya Okamoto, the queer, Asian American co-founder of August, a period care company, brought this question to TikTok — where she went viral — when she explained that she designed tampons with the intention of actually fitting a vagina, and they don't open cylindrically.
Nadya also co-founded Period, the global non-profit fighting to end period poverty and stigma, and is the author of Period Power.
To be clear, vaginas come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Imaging studies have shown that most vaginas are “narrower toward the vaginal opening and wider toward the cervix. This usually forms a ‘V’ shape.”
Assuming a vagina is a sort of cylindrical case for a penis is not that far-fetched — the word "vagina" literally means "sheath" in Latin, while "gladius," Latin slang for "penis," means "sword."
In addition to their innovative design, August tampons (and pads) are made using 100% organic cotton and are fully biodegradable within 12 months — a stark contrast to a typical pad, which can take 500 to 800 years to decompose, and a pack of pads, which has the plastic equivalent of three to five plastic bags. “We have no plastic in them, and we use food-grade glue so that, even with the stickiness, it's completely absorbent,” Nadya told me.
“Our packaging isn't plastic. It’s made from the same materials as compostable bags. Our tampon applicators are recyclable and BPA-free. We're carbon neutral in our supply chain,” Nadya continued. (August even has a traceability page to outline this.)
She also acknowledged that though menstruators like menstrual cups, the August community expressed that they prefer pads and tampons — which Nadya attributes to a lack of conversation around period care, leading many menstruators to use what their parent uses. "A lot of it was that we need to meet people where they're at with more sustainable versions of that, and then continue iterating on that.”
As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until 2020 that a period ad (by Kotex) even used red liquid, instead of blue, to demonstrate pad absorbency. So while you may be grossed out by period blood, menstrual stigma and subsequent censorship really speak to larger issues around menstrual care — including poor menstrual education in schools, period poverty, and mental health.
“In 2021, we look at this era of period brands that refuse to see the word ‘period’; that are not gender-inclusive; that use blue liquid instead of red liquid; that use euphemisms like ‘time of the month’; and that don't really talk about periods for what they are,” Nadya added. “You know, even in those big global campaigns, they don't say the word ‘period.’”
By middle school, preteens already know to slip a tampon into their sleeves or hide a pad in their waistbands. “We’re conditioned to think that this small wad of cotton is worth so much shame that we have to hide it at all costs — even bringing our whole backpack to the bathroom. No one tells us that, right, specifically?” Nadya noted.
Nadya attributed poor menstrual education to incomprehensive sexual and mental health education in public schools — noting that some schools require permission slips before discussing periods because they're considered inappropriate.
As a result, Nadya believes the first step is talking about consensual sex, periods, and puberty in a real and comprehensive way — with conversations around period pain, PMS, uterine fibroids, and endometriosis, for example, and without outdated, slut-shaming videos.
(You can get one of these sweatshirts from August for $40.)
While menstrual concealment is standardized, proper and objective menstrual education is not. In 1946, Walt Disney Productions (commissioned by Kimberly-Clark) produced one of the first commercially sponsored films distributed to American high schools, called The Story of Menstruation. But rather than emphasize that menstruation is normal and therefore nothing to be ashamed of, the 10-minute animated film normalizes menstrual shame.
View this video on YouTube
Though the film addresses women, it's important to discern that not all women menstruate and that not all menstruators are women.
Disney consulted a gynecologist for scientific accuracy and addresses "taboos" in the film. Still, the film emphasizes "proper" behavior and cleanliness. In positioning menstruation as an issue of emotional regulation and hygiene, it perpetuates menstrual stigma and misconceptions.
Frankly, menstrual education videos have not improved much since 1946. Of course, Disney was not the first to position menstruation as an issue of hygiene and secrecy — period care companies had and have used the same stigmatic marketing for decades.
“Period brands have been responsible for further perpetuating stigmas around periods,” Nadya said. “They're selling them primarily to women by saying, ‘Buy our products because you need to hide your period and forget you have a period.’”
This stigma and obfuscation surrounding menstruation are problematic in ways beyond principle. For one, they make it difficult for menstruators to clearly communicate with and receive accurate treatment from their healthcare providers. (As an example, endometriosis takes, on average, seven years to diagnose, in part due to period pain myths.)
Even the word ‘period’ is a euphemism.
If you're surprised that food stamps (SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid) don't cover period products, it's for the same reason that most states tax them: They're considered luxury items. To help combat menstrual inequity, August absorbs the tax in the 27 states that currently enforce the tampon tax.
Notably, Louisiana, Vermont, and Maine signed laws (starting October 1 in Maine) exempting tampons from being taxed in 2021. In California, tampons are only exempt from being taxed until the end of 2021. However, as recently signed into law, "California public schools will be required to provide free menstrual products in bathrooms" beginning in 2022.
As the New York Times points out, a common question heard when discussing taxes on period items is, “Why are tampons taxed when Viagra is not?”
Naturally, period poverty and stigma are enough to affect mental health, but menstruation itself can impact mental health, too. While usually thought of as just periods, menstruation is actually the full 4-phase, 28-day (on average) cycle, during which hormone levels (including estrogen, which has been linked to serotonin) change. And as Nadya pointed out, “Hormonal changes equal mental health changes.”
She went on to elaborate, “There’s the anxiety around having a period in general — the PMS, the body changes, the pain, the changes in your acne, etc. We're all familiar with getting our period, being caught without period products, and the embarrassment from experiencing maybe having to walk in public when you have a blood stain visible.”
Fundamentally, Nadya believes period care companies have a responsibility to improve period care and dispel menstrual stigma. This belief drove her to design better fitted and more functional tampons, create sustainable period products, and absorb the tampon tax through August. She even created Ask August, a digital tool and resource, to help create a safe community for menstruators to learn about menstruation.
Ask August contains a database with answers to questions around menstruation. “When you ask someone what they need for their period care, nobody says, ‘Oh, I have a perfect period,’ or, ‘There are no problems,’” Nadya shared.
“If you come to Ask August and you don't find your answer, you can actually submit your question, and we'll answer you. We wanted to create a collective, cumulative space where we can keep adding information,” she added.
For her part, Nadya concluded, “Regardless of where my career takes me, I'm completely passionate about and thrilled by the workaround improving quality period care and ending period poverty and stigma.”
