Women prefer using menstrual cups as they're safe and efficient, study states
| Jul 18, 2019, 11:24 IST
It's no secret that no matter which store you head into, there will be one aisle dedicated to pads and tampons and pretty much everything menstruation-related. However, what you will find tucked in one corner are the menstrual cups. For those uninitiated, menstrual cups are bell-shaped containers made of silicone, latex or rubber. A woman needs to insert it in her vagina and it collects the period blood and can be used for as long as 12 hours before being emptied out.
Most of you might think that this is a fairly new concept but the menstrual cup has actually been around for quite a few decades actually. The cups don't come cheap, one famous brand costs about 40$, but the shelf life of these cups is 10 years. However, due to multiple reasons like religion and culture, these cups have been looked at like a taboo object.
"People say that they are not safe, they are taboo, that women aren't going to use it because it's invasive and not culturally accepted," says Penelope Phillips-Howard of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the report's senior author. "We are able to put to rest some of those concerns." Another study was also able to find that menstrual cups were just as good as tampons and pads in preventing leakage and in fact, they might be even better than tampons and pads. "Leaking is like social suicide. People don't want the embarrassment of having a menstrual stain on their clothes. Or the discomfort of it," said an expert.
"People in [nonprofits] assume that [the cups are] not suitable," said one expert. "That's based on presumptions about these women's preferences. That they wouldn't like them because they have to be inserted or because they don't want to touch their own menstrual blood." But it was also found that most girls and women who used menstrual cups were more likely to use it again and even preferred using it over tampons and pads.
"Some people said that it would be unsafe to use them [in low- and middle-income countries] because of lack of water and sanitation," said one expert. "Even in situations where there was less water available, like in refugee camps, [people] figured out how to [clean] menstrual cups with less water," he added.
"Everyone's physiology and anatomy is different. There will be people who will try it and they just can't use it," an expert said. Other people might just find it too uncomfortable or icky to use.
Most of you might think that this is a fairly new concept but the menstrual cup has actually been around for quite a few decades actually. The cups don't come cheap, one famous brand costs about 40$, but the shelf life of these cups is 10 years. However, due to multiple reasons like religion and culture, these cups have been looked at like a taboo object.
"People say that they are not safe, they are taboo, that women aren't going to use it because it's invasive and not culturally accepted," says Penelope Phillips-Howard of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the report's senior author. "We are able to put to rest some of those concerns." Another study was also able to find that menstrual cups were just as good as tampons and pads in preventing leakage and in fact, they might be even better than tampons and pads. "Leaking is like social suicide. People don't want the embarrassment of having a menstrual stain on their clothes. Or the discomfort of it," said an expert.
"People in [nonprofits] assume that [the cups are] not suitable," said one expert. "That's based on presumptions about these women's preferences. That they wouldn't like them because they have to be inserted or because they don't want to touch their own menstrual blood." But it was also found that most girls and women who used menstrual cups were more likely to use it again and even preferred using it over tampons and pads.
"Some people said that it would be unsafe to use them [in low- and middle-income countries] because of lack of water and sanitation," said one expert. "Even in situations where there was less water available, like in refugee camps, [people] figured out how to [clean] menstrual cups with less water," he added.
"Everyone's physiology and anatomy is different. There will be people who will try it and they just can't use it," an expert said. Other people might just find it too uncomfortable or icky to use.