When I tell people that I keep a box of tampons on my desk at work, they are either surprised or they want to know why. As if keeping a box of tampons on my desk is any different than the box of Scooby-Doo Band-Aids or the bulk candy I keep on there as well. I present to you a countdown of the 12 reasons why I keep a box of tampons on my desk at work:
12. Easy access. I don’t have to search around in my purse or buy them for the ridiculous price of $0.50 from the bathroom tampon/pad machine.
11. I always know when I’m running low and need to stock up. No more forgetting to buy more because I didn’t bother to check what my feminine hygiene stock situation was.
10. Lighter purse. I’m always paranoid about getting a “leak” when out in public so I carry a bunch of feminine hygiene products in my purse. But knowing I have a full box sitting on my desk at work means I don’t have to carry as many with me.
9. My desk at work has no drawers or cubbies — at all.
8. I like making my coworkers uncomfortable by seeing a box of tampons so openly displayed in the hopes that they'll obsess over it and then start to wonder just why they’re so troubled by it.
7. It reminds me that "menstruation is a dirty little secret that women need to keep hidden away" is a bullshit patriarchal idea that needs to die.
6. My menstruating coworkers always know where to score free tampons.
5. Instead of finding creative ways to hide my pads and tampons when walking to the bathroom, I don’t bother hiding them at all.
4. They come in a colorful box that brightens up my workspace.
3. I want to break down the shameful stigma behind menstruation, and desensitization to menstruation will help.
2. I shouldn’t hide or be ashamed of the fact that my body is healthy, happy, and doing exactly what it biologically should, and I keep the supplies I need to help it.
1. I am a grown-ass woman of nearly 30 years with a uterus that needs to shed its lining ever 28-32 days, so no one should be surprised that I keep tampons on my desk.
