# tampons and anuses?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936 "2003-10-06T21:58:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ExpiringMind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ExpiringMind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExpiringMind)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/21 "2003-10-07T18:37:09Z")
I have heard of tampons being used analy in the Amazon, and such places, to keep assorted beasties from invading said orifice. Of course, this would not apply to gay men, unless they are kicking it in the Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/22 "2003-10-07T18:37:31Z")
The link Washte posted suggests that this has nothing to do with the traditional use of tampons. It says “Many men…who are “fem” like to use tampons,” which suggests they’re doing it because women do, not to absorb fluids. Kind of like wearing women’s underwear, carried to an extreme. I suspect that this is either an urban legend or a joke on the part of the assistant, since I can’t imagine that the practice is so widespread that _most_ of the people buying tampons were men. (Even if the store was in a large gay area, I’d think there’d be enough lesbians to make up for the tampon-buying men.) ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/23 "2003-10-07T21:23:12Z")
I’ve always heard that men used tampons the same way women do - to soak up blood. I’ve heard that anal sex causes minor rips/tears and bleeding. I seem to remember hearing that this ‘fact’ increases the AIDS transmission risk for anal vs vaginal sex (though I remember hearing about this back in the early AIDS days - so it could be bs). ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/25 "2022-07-21T03:34:16Z")
Another aspect of this is what the local women buy… which could sway the “who buys the most” statistics… London has quite a large population of recent immigrants, and do they concentrate as Soho ? eg Asians might not use tampons ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/26 "2022-07-21T05:49:44Z")
I can’t imagine what series of events took place to cause you to search this out and bump the thread with additional information ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/27 "2022-07-21T05:53:07Z")
Do you use specially made nasal tampons? I’ve never seen a vaginal tampon that would fit into even Jimmy Durante’s nostrils. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/28 "2022-07-21T05:57:37Z")
And then I found out that this is a 19-year-old zombie thread. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/29 "2022-07-21T13:16:13Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I can’t imagine what series of events took place to cause you to search this out and bump the thread with additional information One of the charming “features” of Discourse is that when a spammer bumps a thread and then gets banned, the thread stays bumped. Which is totally the desired behavior for a good web forum and not a bug because… um… reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/30 "2022-07-21T13:20:10Z")
Well, as far as I’m concerned, your thread title should win an Emmy for the category, “Grossest Yet Most Fascinating”. LOL ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/31 "2022-07-21T14:48:43Z")
@nearwildheaven they make special tampons for things like gunshot wounds and epistaxis, obviously not vaginal tampons. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/32 "2022-07-21T15:11:05Z")
The nasal packing I got in the ER was roughly the same dimensions as a vaginal tampon. There were other differences , so I wouldn’t use one instead of going to the ER but a vaginal tampon would probably be effective for the trip to the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/33 "2022-07-21T15:15:47Z")
Here is one brand; looks like it comes in 8 different sizes: > **[Rhino Rocket® Nasal Packing - Summit Medical, An Innovia Medical Company](https://summitmedicalusa.com/rhinology/rhinorocket-nasal-packing/)** > > Sterile PVA Expandacell® foam. Epistaxis management after trauma, nasal or sinus surgery. Designed to take 30 seconds to position. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/34 "2022-07-21T18:38:26Z")
> [@Herge](#): > > Well, they are designed to soak up and retain lots of blood, so I can see how that would make sense. It just so happens, nearly 20 years later, that I was researching the origin of Kotex (an ancestor of tampons) for a book. It turned out that a cheaper substitute for cotton was used in WW I for soaking up the blood of soldiers in hospitals. The nurses figured out that the same material could be used as a sanitary napkin. When the war ended there was a surplus of this material, thanks to no more wounded soldiers. Kimberley Clark bought it up and created Kotex. It took them a while to figure out how to sell it. The first ads were in the early 1920s. And since most clerks at stores were men in those days, and women needing them were not comfortable about asking men for such an intimate item, they’d put the Kotex on the counter next to a basket where the woman could put the money for them without ever talking to anyone. The first self-checkout, I suppose. That gets us back to FQ. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/35 "2022-07-21T19:32:51Z")
Surely, before Kotex, there was something else that was used for the same purpose? How were menstrual supplies sold prior to Kotex, and why couldn’t Kotex use the same channels? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/36 "2022-07-21T20:51:40Z")
Mostly the supplies weren’t sold- there were no doubt some store-bought pads but most women made their own from rags. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/37 "2022-07-21T20:53:42Z")
> tampons and anuses?? I’m sorry, but it needs to be said: Band name. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/38 "2022-07-21T22:54:22Z")
It brings new meaning to the term “T & A”. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/39 "2022-07-22T02:12:16Z")
Hence the phrase “on the rag.” Some women who lived in tropical areas also used hollowed-out citrus fruit as a menstrual cup, and for that matter, some women also had their diaphragms do double duty when those were a more popular method of birth control. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/40 "2022-07-22T10:35:53Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Another aspect of this is what the local women buy… which could sway the “who buys the most” statistics… London has quite a large population of recent immigrants, and do they concentrate as Soho ? eg Asians might not use tampons Soho (right in the heart of London) would be WAAAY out of the price bracket of most recent immigrants. It is, however, the centre of London’s LGBTQ+ scene. I imagine the shop referenced all those years ago by the OP is a shop mainly selling lube, chaps, dodgy magazines, rainbow flags and poppers. There are a number of such shops in the area. If it was a normal corner shop then I’d be amazed if their main tampon customers were men, as there’s still plenty of women (straight and gay) working and socialising in Soho. It’s not a gay man ghetto. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936/41 "2022-07-22T10:40:08Z")
Best Nando’s in London. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tampons-and-anuses/205936.md?page=1)