When Çiğdem Mater, a Turkish film producer jailed last year during a government crackdown, asked for an alternative to the menstrual pads on sale at her prison shop, she received a blunt response.
“A Turkish woman doesn’t use tampons,” wrote a male gynaecologist in a medical report dismissing the request.
Mater’s experience, which was reported in Turkish media this summer, touched on a sensitive subject in Turkey. Many women experience difficulty obtaining tampons, and the story prompted others to share their experiences on social media.
Unlike other period products such as sanitary towels, tampons are used internally and some people regard their use as a sign that a woman is sexually active, leading to questions about her virginity or marital status.
Several women told Inside Turkey about being shamed and discouraged from using tampons by pharmacists and doctors.
“The pharmacist made a sour expression and said, ‘You won’t find that sort of thing here,’” said 18-year-old Sevim Yıldız of a recent experience in the Anatolian town of Kütahya. “I know that tampon use is often associated with being sexually active and hence marriage, so I was prepared to be asked if I was married and to receive judgmental looks … But I didn’t expect to be treated like I had asked for an illegal product.”
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Like other women, Yıldız has developed a few tricks to make sure she can get the period products she prefers.
“I try to buy tampons at groceries or cosmetics shops rather than at the pharmacy, because I prefer to not have to interact with someone behind a counter. I feel more comfortable this way,” she said, adding that she would travel longer distances just to do this.
“When you have to ask a vendor, you can immediately tell what they’re thinking by their facial expression,” Yıldız said.
İlayda Eskitaşçıoğlu of Konuşmamız Gerek (We Need to Talk), which campaigns for better access to period products, said that the stigmatisation of tampons was widespread in Turkey.
Menstrual products placed in the vagina often prompt fears that a woman’s virginity will be ‘ruined’ if her hymen is broken, she said.
“This is a question that’s drummed into teenagers’ heads, and we hear it from them often,” Eskitaşçıoğlu continued. “The perception that Turkish women don’t use tampons is completely unrelated to biology and purely based on pre-marital sex being deemed unacceptable for women.”
“One of my friends’ mothers threatened to take her to get a ‘virginity test’ when she found out my friend was using tampons,” Yıldız recalled. “I have a lot of friends who refrain from using tampons for this exact reason. People I know who do use tampons will often hide it from their families, unfortunately.”
Gizem Melisa Maşalacı, an unmarried 24-year-old teacher from Ordu, has experienced dismissive attitudes from doctors as well as pharmacists, she told Inside Turkey.
When Maşalacı visited her gynaecologist, suspecting she had a tampon lost inside her, he told her that “only married women use these” and asked why she was using them.
“I told them that I was single but that I used tampons out of my own free will,” Maşalacı said. “The doctor’s assistant backed him up, so I told them to just focus on my discomfort and to stop questioning me on this topic.”
As a result of these prejudices, Eskitaşçıoğlu noted, shops often carried a smaller range of tampon brands than of sanitary towels, narrowing women’s access to products.
“I definitely can’t reach them when I want to. I can only get them at a few spots,” said Yıldız. “The product variety is definitely lacking in comparison to sanitary towels. There are usually only two brands of tampons available and I personally often struggle to find the size I want. The prices are also inflated in comparison to sanitary towels.”
According to Eskitaşçıoğlu, the way Turkey classifies period products also makes it harder for consumers to plan ahead and keep an eye on costs.
“It’s really difficult to figure out consumer tax hikes for period products in official statements,” she said. While other items, such as cleaning products, are listed by name, period products are listed only by their tax identification numbers. “So you’ll need to compare these numbers to customs guidelines to figure out whether menstrual products are included in any tax hikes. Menstrual products don’t even have names, even though every single household purchases them.”
Eskitaşçıoğlu explained that these various obstacles made it harder for women to afford the products they need, contributing to a form of inequality known as period poverty.
“As part of the right to access menstrual products, people who get their periods have the right to use whichever product is most comfortable for them, whichever one they prefer,” Eskitaşçıoğlu said.
What’s more, she continued, the prejudice against tampons helped sustain a taboo around periods that leaves women and girls uninformed.
“Unless a highly idealistic and attentive teacher takes the initiative and the time, unfortunately there’s no comprehensive sex education or education about periods in Turkish schools,” she said. “Children badly lack access to persons they can talk to for clear and correct information about how to use tampons and pads, how to dispose of them, how to pick the right product and the social implications of menstruation.”
Yıldız feels she lost out from the taboo around periods.
“I learned about the existence of tampons through foreign TV shows I watched in high school,” she said. “We were taught about this stuff in middle school but nobody mentioned any period products except sanitary towels. I learned about menstrual cups first, on Instagram, and then I heard about a thing called tampons. Thankfully I had the tools and resources to learn more about the topic but I know that a lot of women aren’t this fortunate.”
Maşalacı recalled a similar experience at school.
“It was all secretive, they put all the female students in one room without a word to the male students. There was no mention of tampons or menstrual cups, it was just about sanitary towels,” she said.
But for Maşalacı, at least, her experiences have ended up making her more confident about using tampons.
“I used to be worried about carrying them around – not any more,” she says. “All these ridiculous judgements made me more persistent. I don’t even feel the need to put them in a bag anymore, I just carry them in my hand, I don’t get shy about asking vendors.
“Tampon use is absolutely not shameful,” she concluded. “I really want to stress that this is one of our basic needs. Everyone should be able to access this product anywhere, any time, without being judged.”