# question for ladies (TMI) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 14, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483 "2010-03-14T22:54:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/21 "2010-03-15T15:51:14Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > Me too. Wanna go get a beer? > > (serious question, though: can a virgin use tampons? If so, how does it not, um, you know… tear things? Yes, I’m ignorant.) 1. The hymen isn’t completely closed, it has a hole. 2. Sometimes the hymen gets torn anyway during other activities (not necessarily sexual, just vigorous physical activity.) 3. … women, help me out here! (I suspect that sometimes it does tear things a little.) ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/22 "2010-03-15T15:51:24Z")
> [@Emmy2635](#): > > And how do you prevent it from falling out when pushing out a BM?? You must be dropping some magnificent deuces. My lady products stay in place, even during #2. Edit: **astrob** , yes they can. My cite is having used them when I was a virgin. ---
**Author:** ![aerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@aerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerie)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/23 "2010-03-15T16:10:06Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > 1. The hymen isn’t completely closed, it has a hole. > 2. Sometimes the hymen gets torn anyway during other activities (not necessarily sexual, just vigorous physical activity.) > 3. … women, help me out here! (I suspect that sometimes it does tear things a little.) The hymen is VERY over-rated. I find men are especially fascinated by it. It can be broken as a child, tampon insertion, scratching, whatever. It’s not some big bloody chasity skin flap waiting for ceremonious breaking open upon virginal sex. And it’s never closed entirely over the vag opening. Some people don’t even have one. Some may bleed a bit, some not at all. It’s really not that big of a deal. ---
**Author:** ![aerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@aerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerie)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/24 "2010-03-15T16:17:20Z")
Originally Posted by AClockworkMelon "I feel like a British zoologist observing another species with a pair of binoculars from the back of a jeep. " > [@Astroboy14](#): > > Me too. Wanna go get a beer? > > (serious question, though: can a virgin use tampons? If so, how does it not, um, you know… tear things? Yes, I’m ignorant.) Props to you guys for being genuinely interested. The lady parts are puzzling indeed. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/25 "2010-03-15T16:30:56Z")
Let me take this opportunity – because it’s come up before on this board – to remind those who need to know that the hymen is an external piece of tissue partly covering the opening to the vaginal canal. It is not inside the vagina. Okay, carry on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/26 "2010-03-15T16:45:21Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Let me take this opportunity – because it’s come up before on this board – to remind those who need to know that the hymen is an external piece of tissue partly covering the opening to the vaginal canal. It is not inside the vagina. Okay, carry on. 🙂 Not because I don’t know this, because of COURSE I know… but in case… you know… someone ELSE didn’t know… … so the vagina ISN’T what you call the entire thing down there? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/27 "2010-03-15T16:47:05Z")
The vagina is just the opening/canal. It’s internal. You refer to the whole thing as the vulva. ---
**Author:** ![dragoncat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@dragoncat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragoncat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/28 "2010-03-15T16:48:44Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > All this talk of cardboard tubes … do you all use tampons with applicators? I hated the waste (back when I used tampons), but even more I hated those applicator-less tampons which felt like dry sponges scraping up the sides of my vagina on insertion, and which I could pretty much always feel when they were in, unless I used a size that was not absorbent enough, in which case they didn’t do the job adequately. Now I used Glad Rags[sub]TM[/sub]! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/29 "2010-03-15T16:49:21Z")
The vagina is the internal, muscular passage leading from the cervix to the outside world. The correct term for the visible outside parts (both sets of labia, clitoris) is ‘vulva’. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/30 "2010-03-15T17:15:14Z")
> [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](#): > > so, due to circumstances beyond my control (aka, I was squeamish) I’ve gone my entire menstruating life without using tampons or anything similarly insertable. After some failed attempts, I finally worked up the nerve to try just one more time, and by golly I got the darn thing in. How do I know if it’s in properly? The string is dangling out, I can’t really feel it, and nothing hurts. Should I assume I’m good to go? Yep. You might want to keep a pad in place “just in case” as you get used to using the things… or even once you’re used to it, keep the pad in place for heavy days. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/31 "2010-03-15T17:19:45Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Yep. You might want to keep a pad in place “just in case” as you get used to using the things… or even once you’re used to it, keep the pad in place for heavy days. Yeah–I do that on my heavier days as well in case I leak through the tampon before I get a chance to change it. ---
**Author:** ![Heckity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Heckity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heckity)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/32 "2010-03-15T17:50:17Z")
I can push a tampon out most of the way just by pushing - yes, I have awesome lady bits 🙂 For our ‘zoologists’ and new tampon users - I didn’t learn for a really long time (and providing of course all tampons are labeled in a similar way) that junior, regular, and super plus means to address flow, not the size of your passage. Also, if you have a tipped uterus it can require a different angle than the pictures show. I also find trimming the string keeps it from migrating to less clean places down there and it doesn’t end up becoming a wick, if you know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/33 "2010-03-15T17:53:49Z")
> [@Heckity](#): > > Also, if you have a tipped uterus I’m almost afraid to ask… ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/34 "2010-03-15T18:04:02Z")
Sometimes they fall over? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/35 "2010-03-15T18:24:24Z")
Always be sure to tip your uterus. ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/36 "2010-03-15T18:28:05Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > Sometimes they fall over? :eek: Yes, but only if they’ve been drinking. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/37 "2010-03-15T18:31:47Z")
> [@lalenin](#): > > > [@Astroboy14](#): > > > > Sometimes they fall over? :eek: > > Yes, but only if they’ve been drinking. Maybe it should be called a _tipsy_ uterus. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/38 "2010-03-15T18:38:51Z")
> [@aerie](#): > > It’s not some big bloody chasity skin flap waiting for ceremonious breaking open upon virginal sex. And it’s never closed entirely over the vag opening. Some people don’t even have one. Some may bleed a bit, some not at all. I’ve heard that there is a medical condition where the hymen does indeed close off the whole vaginal canal. (I’m not googling for it at work.) This is bad because it’s just not supposed to be sealed up. So if a baby girl has that, they just open it up. > [@cmyk](#): > > Always be sure to tip your uterus. Try the veal flaps. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/39 "2010-03-15T18:46:26Z")
How, um, strong is the hymen? None of the girls I’ve dated have been virgins (or otherwise had intact hymens). How hard is it to break through? I’m aware that I probably sound like a complete 'tard in this thread, yes. Lol, I really am investigating from the back of a jeep. ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483/40 "2010-03-15T19:03:17Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I’m almost afraid to ask… Handy pic: [http://www.riversideonline.com/source/images/image\_popup/ans7\_tipped\_uterus.jpg](http://www.riversideonline.com/source/images/image_popup/ans7_tipped_uterus.jpg) About 20% of women have it. I had this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-ladies-tmi/532483.md?page=3)