[This story involves body functions and spanking. All characters are over 18. If you are offended by these topics, please do not read further.]
I was surprised when I happened to find a soiled maxipad in the trash container in our bathroom. The only person who could have placed it there was my 19-year-old daughter, Deborah. While I was pleased she hadn't thrown it in the toilet to be flushed away, and possibly to block the toilet, I started to wonder why she would be using pads when there are more comfortable and convenient methods of period protection available for girls and women these days.
I still wear tampons during my periods, although I suspect that I will be hitting menopause before too long. For most of my adult life, I've used Tampax slender regulars, as I found them easier to insert vaginally than other brands or styles. I've grown aware over time as to how long I can rely on these tampons to absorb my menstrual flow before leaking when they become too fully soaked.
My friends have been mentioning that they have been trying the new menstrual panties that have been appearing lately, especially on Internet sites like Facebook. I decided to ask Deborah why she was using pads rather than either tampons or the new period panties.
I expected that she might be annoyed that I would bring up such a personal matter as this with her. However, instead of berating me for interfering with her personal life when it isn't warranted, she grinned and said that all of her friends were limiting their reliance on tampons.
"We still don't think they are very good for us, because they sit in our vaginas absorbing the blood which may serve to transmit any of the toxic stuff in tampons into our bodies," Deborah responded quite plainly, without any defensiveness or annoyance. "As for the period panties, I really don't relish wearing panties where I will feel the wetness for any period of time, until, as they claim, the flow is absorbed into the layers ostensibly there to draw it away from the service and also diminish the odor, which no one wants to have emanating from their panty gusset during their period."
When we discussed this some more, Deborah admitted that when she was playing sports or swimming, she would definitely use a tampon.
"Mom," she told me, "I have a heavy flow on several of the days I'm having my period. So, when I need to wear a tampon for sports or swimming, I need to use quite a large absorbency one, like Super or even SuperPlus."
I sheepishly responded that my flow rarely required me to use anything more absorbent than a slender regular tampon.
"You are truly lucky, Mom," Deb remonstrated but with a smile. "We all have more than one heavy flow day during our periods. We even need to use the high absorbency pons then as well as a backup maxi in our panties. I think you would find that the pads today are probably a lot more comfy than when you were our age."
She then asked me if I wanted to come into the bathroom with her as she now needed to change her pad. "I'd like you to see what I mean," Deb told me.
When we got into the bathroom, Deb unbuttoned and unzipped her twill slacks and pulled down her very cute shiny white bikini panties. I noticed that my daughter did not shave her mons like I gather so many girls do these days. She had a nice, full bush of reddish pubic hair that matched the hair on her head, which she wore in a stylish coup savage.
She had a maxipad in the gusset of her panties, which was well-stained with her flow and had made dark red stains that covered much of the pad but had not leaked over the sides. As with most pads today this one had wings that Deb tucked over the sides and had pressed together underneath the pad. She undid the wings and pulled the pad off her panty gusset where it been affixed with the sticky side facing down.
I now noticed a white tampon string hanging out of her vaginal opening. "Today was a heavy day when I needed a backup," she informed me. Then she tugged the string so that it slid out of her vagina, and I could notice that it was thoroughly soaked and obviously, she had needed the maxipad to absorb all the flow that passed through or around the tampon.
"Are boys any more informed or considerate when you have your period now?" I decided to ask her, not knowing if she would snap back some annoyed response or let me in on how the sexes dealt with girls' periods today.
"Jack," she answered, referring to her current boyfriend, with whom she had been going out for more than a year, "has become very considerate of how I feel when I'm menstruating," she observed. "I'm not too embarrassed to discuss stuff like this if you aren't put out by it?"
I assured her that I was only thinking of how she would feel best during what I always have regarded as a problematic week each month.
"He and I are actually happy when I get my period," Deb confided. "First, even though I'm on the pill, it's nice to know I'm not pregnant. Second, and I'm not talking out of school, but I do hope you'll keep all this to yourself, and not tell any of your friends or anyone in our family, Jack and I really enjoy sex during my period. I'm incredibly horny and he actually likes the messiness that accompanies any sex we have when I'm on."
She grinned and asked me if my experience had been anything like hers.
I felt embarrassed when my daughter took up the subject of my sex life, which wasn't as good as it might be. My husband and I hadn't been having a lot of sex of late, and he had never been interested in doing it during my period. I also regarded it as messy then and wasn't especially turned on by the prospect of our engaging in intercourse.
"We've never been very interested in sex then," I answered her question. "I guess we're sort of old-fashioned, although I don't like the idea of being an old fogy even at my still vibrant age." I smiled as she had.
"Mom," she replied with a very warm tone, "I'm not here to cast aspersions about your sex life, but I guess I'm just trying to explain how different girls are today. We don't want to take those pills that limit your periods to a few times or less a year, because most of us eventually want to start families, and it seems that taking those pills might limit your fertility for a good deal of time after your stopped taking them. Going off the regular birth-control pill is quite common and hasn't shown any bad results, at least not yet."
I told her I truly appreciated her willingness to explain her feelings so directly to me. "I really feel that I've learned a lot from our conversation," I said heartily.
"Glad we spoke, Mom," Deb smiled. "I know this must be challenging for you because I bet from what you've said about her that Granny was not exactly forthcoming about any of this?"