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We need to talk about menstrual cups


If we counted all the times a woman has said “I can’t, I have my period,” we’d have a number as big as the waste generated from said period, assuming the woman in question uses disposable feminine hygiene products. 

Personally, I’ve always hated how napkins just felt like glorified diapers, adding moisture and rashes to the long list of period pains, right up there with bloating and dysmenorrhea. I was relieved when I discovered tampons because it felt like there was nothing there at all. I could move freely and wear anything without worrying about a visible napkin line but at some point, using tampons started to feel extravagant. 

I wondered if having your period had to mean spending and wasting so much at the same time. And then I learned about menstrual cups.

This tiny cup can make a big change. Photo: Jica Lapeña
This tiny cup can make a big change. Photo: Jica Lapeña

Neither napkin nor tampon

A menstrual cup is a reusable feminine hygiene product usually made of flexible medical-grade silicone that captures menstrual blood when inserted into the vagina. It’s similar to a tampon because it allows you to move freely without being felt but unlike a tampon, it collects the blood instead of absorbing it. 

This nifty feminine hygiene product has actually been around since the 1930s but because of many different hesitations, from having to handle one’s own blood to the question of virginity, cups have not grown quite as popular as napkins or tampons. 

One of the first distributors of menstrual cups in the Philippines was Mama.Baby.Love, an online shop established in 2008 by Jenny Ong of Chronicles of a Nursing Mom. 

According to Ong, “The biggest challenge in the acceptance of menstrual cups is the negativity that we associate with menstruation. A lot of women are grossed out when they have to handle their blood… Because there is a learning curve in the use of the menstrual cup, women are not as open to switching.”

There is also a lack of discussion around the topic. For something that’s experienced by so many people all over the world, menstruation isn’t talked about enough; what more the nitty-gritty of how different women keep it from seeping through their underwear and staining their clothes?

SckoonCup is a menstrual cup brand from the US available in Mamaway for P1,800. Photo: Jica Lapeña
SckoonCup is a menstrual cup brand from the US, available at Mamaway at Shangri-La Plaza. Photo: Jica Lapeña

The bloody truth

If there’s anything you will learn from using a cup it’s that blood is blood—your blood—and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having to see it, smell it and maybe get a little of it on your hands. 

Jowein San Jose, an organizer and figure model for Dr. Sketchy’s Philippines, has been using the cup for almost two years. She has found that the only setback in using a cup is that “it takes a certain knowledge of your body,” but she doesn’t actually consider that a setback at all.

“You build a healthier relationship with your body," she said, adding that she can go the whole day without having to empty her cup, which makes her one of the lucky ones who has never had to change in a public restroom. 

Others like high school teacher Aj Villar are not as lucky, having to change three to four times a day. Villar, who has been a regular cup user for nine years now, sometimes has to bring a bottle of water to rinse the cup since not all public restrooms have bidets. Other than this minor inconvenience, she has found that the pros of using a cup still outweigh the cons.

“Oks lang,” she said in an online interview. “Just [use] tissue and water bottle to rinse. The cup lets me do more things… than when I was using pads… when I switched to the cup, I could go and do practically anything I want.”

"'Yung mga typical commercials ng menstrual pad... na naka white dress... you can do all those things with a cup," joked San Jose, who had similar sentiments.

For retail buyer and swimmer Issa Caparas, the cup seems like a more “convenient way of having your period.” She hasn’t tried it yet, but it looks like she will soon.

Strength in numbers

It seems that the cup attracts women who are active, open-minded, and also environmentally conscious. According to Ong, “the woman who uses a menstrual cup is conscious of the environment and open to changes.”  

A testament to this is San Jose, who made the switch when she joined the UP Mountaineers and decided that there had to be “an alternative” to the tampons she was using at the time. 

“I think of the waste that pads and tampons produce and you have to live with that," she said.

In an infographic prepared by the four-month old social enterprise Sinaya Cup, it is estimated that women throw away approximately 5,400 tampons or 4,800 napkins in three decades, which are huge numbers compared to the 30 or so cups you would go through in the same period. 

 

 

Sinaya Cup founder Audrey Tangonan explained how she is “an advocate of reducing waste” and educating people about the menstrual cup. Their brand is working on a “buy one, give one” program where for every cup purchased, one is given to another woman who could not afford it otherwise. 

The whole idea of the menstrual cup is so empowering and Tangonan believes that there is “a new breed of Filipinas” and her product is “just a tool for them to reach that."

It doesn’t hurt that using a cup actually comes out cheaper as well.

“Ranging from P1,000 to P2,000, you have to admit that it is steeper than having to buy disposable pads. But the cups become more economical in the long run. I've been using my cup for almost 3 years now,” shared Ong.

You have the details, now spill 

Apart from the many hesitations that surround menstruation is the fact that many women don’t even know about menstrual cups in the first place. I asked five OB-GYNs from different medical circles and none of them were familiar with the menstrual cup. 

Personally, and even after this article, I only know eight women who use the cup. Two of them told me about it and in turn, I converted two. I feel like a bit of a missionary, spreading the good word every chance I get, but if we don’t talk about it, how else will anyone know?   

"Once you talk about the benefits, people are less reluctant," said Tangonan. She envisions "a world where women are able to maximize their potential" and she, having introduced the first homegrown menstrual cup brand in the Philippines, believes we are ready. — AT/KG GMA News

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