Giving the Mooncup a Go

Mooncups. Scary looking, silicone and people everywhere seem to be gobsmacked about putting something so large up their fanny. If you’re way behind established society and can’t handle period talk, I’d skip this one while we’re ahead.

Along with its size, many other aspects of the cup freak people the fuck out. I asked a few students why they were hesitant to use a mooncup over other sanitary products:

“I would like to try them but I’m afraid because as a new tampon user the size of the cup and keeping it clean is SCARY!!” - Tinay

“It’s expensive and hard to find. If you could just go into a store and just buy one it would be better. If it was free then yeah!” - Kylie

“If I’m in a public bathroom I don’t want to tip a cup of my blood into the toilet and then sit there for ten minutes cleaning off my vagina mug before putting it back in, ya know?” - Madi

“That’s a no from me. I thought about it for a minute. Don’t you have to tip it out and look at the blood?” - Candice

“The suction. Bruh.” - Brittany

I decided to take it upon myself this year to give these not-so-terrible contraptions a try and report back for all of you people who’ve been so quick to turn away the idea. Let me start right off the bat with saying that unfortunately, y’all are severely uneducated on the benefits that mooncups provide.

I found out that AUTSA’s very own Foodie Godmother offers free mooncups for students, courtesy of Mycup.co.nz. This company donates one mooncup for every one that AUTSA buys, so you should definitely go and grab one for yourself to try out. Other popular brands of mooncups include Oi4me, Nappy Needz, and Environmenstruals.

I must admit it was a bit of a fiddle to fold the cup and get it in at first, but I followed an online tutorial and squeezing the silicone into a ‘C’ fold makes for easy application. It lasted eight hours, no problem at all (this is recommended). When it came time to tip it, all I had to do was pinch the bottom to remove the suction and whip that baby out. I was surprised at how little blood was in the cup. Over 12 hours I would have usually changed a tampon 4-5 times over a day and let me tell ya, that made me think I had a heavy flow!

Once I tipped it down the toilet, gave it a quick wipe, and reinserted it I was out. At home, you can place the cup in a bowl of boiling water for five minutes to sterilise it and voila, you’re good to go.

And the money saved? Honestly, you only need one mooncup and if you can get your hands on a free one from Foodie Godmother; imagine the extra dollars you’ll have to spend on cup noodles each month. Pun intended.

The average woman uses around 9,600 tampons in their life. With a mooncup the amount of waste you produce is SIGNIFICANTLY lessened.

Think about the Earth guys and think about making your own life a whole heckload easier, cheaper, and no stress about choosing the white pants on your flow!