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One woman’s Tampax parody commercial has caused quite the discussion online. In it, she shows two men convincing a young woman to let her boyfriend go down on her while she’s on her period.
Don’t believe me, just watch.
In response to the inevitable conversation her commercial started, Jessie Kahnweiler said she made the commercial in response to her own trepidation about having oral sex on her period. In an interview with Refinery 29, Kahnweiler said she was trying to combat the “wow I feel gross” feelings that many women experience during their periods, feelings that often prevent them from engaging in sexual activity.
In fact, Kahnweiler said that in one of her previous relationships, a man shamed her simply for having a vagina. Whether she was bleeding or not, he would make her wash it before they had sex. (No word about whether or not he had to wash before.) As you can imagine, it created a lot of shame around her body. Later, she had a partner who was willing to go down on her while she was on her period.
At first, Kahnweiler said she was like, “no way” but he explained that since she was going to be using a tampon, he wouldn’t have to interact with any blood. She described it as a Eureka moment. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, what have I been doing the past 32 years of my life not getting head on my period? That’s crazy.”
I’m sure most of us had the same reaction. Nah that’s a bit much. Still, the more I think about it the more I realize that all of the reasons not to do it, have a lot to do with our own conceptions and perceptions about our body. Even with the thought of menstrual blood being removed from the equation, I’m sure some of us thought about potential smell and whether our partner would be okay with that. Some of us are concerned about being perceived as unclean. Really, the issue isn’t whether or not we’d actually want to have sex. Many women can tell you after the hellacious first/second day of her period, with hormones raging, sex sounds like a great idea. But if we’re being honest, we don’t really like or appreciate our vaginas when we’re on our period— or generally—so the thought that someone else might seems odd, foreign, gross even.
I’m not saying I’m going to start getting head on my period—because honestly I don’t generally use tampons—(A menstrual cup could also work in this situation.) but it is interesting to think about what we would be open to if we didn’t associate shame and embarrassment with the natural functions and life-giving forces of our body.
