"Survivor" Feminine Hygiene

[want2know]

I don't know if this has been addressed before; actually, I hadn't even thought about it until reading a comment on this thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=401746):Quoting one of the Spanish presenters: "me, a contestant? No way man, I like having tampax!"

So, since a female Survivor contestant could potentially be in the game for 39 days, how are their...umm...monthly hygienic needs addressed? Are they provided with the necessary products? Can they bring their own? Or do they have to improvise?

[GingerOfTheNorth]

I'm thinking that they may have a Depo-Provera shot, which apparently will stop your period altogether. That's what I would do.

[Ethilrist]

I would wager that feminine hygiene and the products necessary to manage it are not conducive to good reality show entertainment, not in the U.S., at least.

There is also the possibility that even without Depo Provera, these women are being so starved they're not feeling the need...

[hajario]

This has been asked a few times in the past. As I recall, feminine hygiene products are provided for the players. I think that it's even in a FAQ on the CBS website.

[Leaffan]

Or there's also the possibility that all of this stuff is just edited out. I mean come on. They reduce one week into 40 something minutes and you're curious about menstruation. Do they show anyone taking a dump? Urinating? OK, maybe they do, I don't know because I don't watch them. It's mostly all just a cleverly edited charade presented to you to sell Tampax products, and others.

[CaerieD]

I read the FAQ (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor_application/faq.shtml) for potential contestants and saw nothing on this topic. My money really is on them simply providing feminine hygiene products to the women, though. True, it's more than they're supposed to have, but there's absolutely no entertainment value to making the female contestants deal without them.

Well, okay, there might be some entertainment value in seeing the horror of some of the other contestants...

[Septima]

In the danish version of "survivor", the female contestants are allowed one pack of tampons etc. each. Never mentioned on the show, but they did a "behind the scenes" thing where they went through each contestants bags.

[friedo]

Some anthropologists believe that there was once a time before tampons, and that human females were somehow able to survive menstruation for thousands of years without them.

I have my doubts, but you never know.

[outlierrn]

Some anthropologists believe that there was once a time before tampons, and that human females were somehow able to survive menstruation for thousands of years without them.

I have my doubts, but you never know.


yeah, but I hear there is no evidence in the fossil record to support that claim

[Ethilrist]

It's mostly all just a cleverly edited charade presented to you to sell Tampax products, and others.
The season before this last one, there was a challenge, the prize for which was: an outhouse, fully stocked with Charmin.

[John Mace]

yeah, but I hear there is no evidence in the fossil record to support that claim
You mean there are never human fossils found w/o tampons somewhere in the site? :)

[PunditLisa]

Contestants are supplied with basic Rx needs, including tampax, prescription medicine, and condoms. (Though unless they supplied a toothbrush, soap and a razor (and a quickie divorce), you could count me out on the condoms.)

Cite (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6293777)

[CaerieD]

Contestants are supplied with basic Rx needs, including tampax, prescription medicine, and condoms.

Interesting that they mention banning any use of the products in unintended ways. If pressed, I could probably come up with a list of fifty ways of using tampons or condoms other than their intended uses, so I can see why that would be a concern.

friedo, chances are if they weren't given tampons or pads most of the women would figure something out. Probably, they'd roll up some cloth or something and wash it out when necessary. But, I'd be worried one of them would go the Richard Hatch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hatch_(reality_TV)) route and freak people out by going without.

[aruvqan]

deva cup.

my luxury would probably be one of the shopping clubs oh my freaking god size tubs of baby wipes.

I would probably take at least 1 heavy sari as it can be clothing, bedding, shade and luggage=)

[PunditLisa]

my luxury would probably be one of the shopping clubs oh my freaking god size tubs of baby wipes.

I would probably take at least 1 heavy sari as it can be clothing, bedding, shade and luggage=)

I don't think they've done the luxury thing since Season 4 or so. (The last one I recall was when Colby (?) brought the Texas flag.)

[Quiddity Glomfuster]

Before the days of manufacured products, women used cloths that they washed out.
I've seen suggestions that sea sponges and sphagnum moss can be/have been used but nothing definitive about that.
Here's some other (http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/alternative_menstrual.html) possibilities.

[Savannah]

Women probably didn't menstruate the way modern women in the developed/first world do these days. They would have been pregnant or lactating a lot of the time, which diminishes menstruation (especially breastfeeding on demand), undernourished a lot of the time, and then dead by a time we consider early middle age.

[Green Bean]

Some anthropologists believe that there was once a time before tampons, and that human females were somehow able to survive menstruation for thousands of years without them.Those women weren't expected to perform remarkable feats of athleticism clad in string bikinis.

[Nava]

According to that same interview with the Spanish presenter, they get tampons but they're doled out... at least in the editions she worked in. So basically everybody and his Mum knows that you're on the rag.

[Johnny L.A.]

Tampax. The official tampon of Survivor.

Now there's a commercial plug.

[Chanteuse]

Tampax. The official tampon of Survivor.

Now there's a commercial plug.

And a plug commercial.


*d&r*

[singular1]

I seem to recall someone on the first Survivor used a tampon for fire somehow. Sorry, no cite, just remember it from an interview. I'm sure they changed up a lot of rules after seeing how creative people could be when left to their own devices.

[Mahaloth]

I think the women are also given razors to shave their legs/armpits so as to maintain their "beauty".

Isn't that right as well?

[PunditLisa]

I think the women are also given razors to shave their legs/armpits so as to maintain their "beauty".

Isn't that right as well?

Nope. There have been a few women who've had visible pit hair. (Stephenie?) I believe that the reason we don't see more of it is that the women contestants have gotten wiser and have gone in for a good waxing prior to the show.

[Gfactor]

Before the days of manufacured products, women used cloths that they washed out.
I've seen suggestions that sea sponges and sphagnum moss can be/have been used but nothing definitive about that.
Here's some other (http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/alternative_menstrual.html) possibilities.
Women have crafted tampons and pads for their own use for thousands of years. In her book Everything You Must Know About Tampons (1981), Nancy Friedman says:

[T]here is evidence of tampon use throughout history in a multitude of cultures. The oldest printed medical document, papyrus ebers, refers to the use of soft papyrus tampons by Egyptian women in the fifteenth century B.C. Roman women used wool tampons. Women in ancient Japan fashioned tampons out of paper, held them in place with a bandage, and changed them 10 to 12 times a day. Traditional Hawaiian women used the furry part of a native fern called hapu'u; and grasses, mosses and other plants are still used by women in parts of Asia and Africa. http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtampons.html

OTOH

Those women weren't expected to perform remarkable feats of athleticism clad in string bikinis. This seems to go to the heart of the matter, so to speak.

OTOOH, after the first week or so of starvation, it's probably not much of an issue.

Some of the causes of primary amenorrhea can also cause secondary amenorrhea -- strenuous physical activity, excessive weight loss https://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/amenorrhea.jsp

OTOOOH, some of the women are menstruating when they arrive.

As the site indicates, the unintended use rule was developed after the Survivors unrolled tampons and used them for toilet paper.

[Gfactor]

Do they show anyone taking a dump? Urinating? OK, maybe they do, I don't know because I don't watch them.

They did more of this in the earlier seasons. They also show puking (especially after someone wins a decadent feast). Once a contestant brought razors as his comfort item. The camera followed him to the spot where he had buried them so we could all watch him shave his chest.

[Leaffan]

... If pressed, I could probably come up with a list of fifty ways of using tampons .....

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free....

There must be 50 ways to use a tampon.... la la la....