viz.

Image Credit: Politix

In the wake of the menstrual pad confiscation outside the Texas senate gallery, protesters made some highly creative and intentionally jarring visual statements using, primarily, unwrapped tampons. Sanitary napkin accessories, as far as I know, haven't made a big nationwide appearance yet, but the compactness of tampons, coupled with the built-in string, makes it a relatively easy object to manipulate in craftsy projects. I noticed some bold souls stringing them together to make impromptu necklaces at the state capitol the day of the outrage, but the country tuned in when Melissa Harris-Perry daringly donned some tampon earrings on her MSNBC Sunday show. You can see a brief video capturing her demonstration here.

So, what exactly is the message behind hanging tampons from your ears? Harris-Perry's own statements offer a clue. As she put on the homemade earrings, courtesy of her producer, she noted “...the Texas state legislature said that you couldn't bring tampons in when they were going. These women who, in fact, stand up for their own reproductive rights, weren't allowed to, initially, to bring tampons, so just in case that ever happens again, ladies, you can bring them on your earrings.” This observation implies that the legislature was intentionally targeting medical equipment specific to the female body on a singularly biological basis. This focus served to viscerally emphasize an apparently essential or innate distinction between the “uncontrollable” and “dangerous” female body and, by contrast, the “normal” male body that could move between the public and private sphere without having to surrender any threatening toolkits. Melissa Harris-Perry caught on to the implication: women, according to general expectations, are medically bound to their menstrual cycles and can be neatly subjected to prejudice based on that condition.

The chosen retaliatory method? “Bring them in on your earrings.” Instead of identifying tampons and, by extension, menstrual pads and cups, as the symbols of an irksome but necessary biological burden, Harris-Perry suggests embracing them as representations of the cultural experiences women can share. Inserting tampon earrings and displaying them as accessories suggests that inserting tampons during a menstrual cycle need not be considered an anatomical necessity but, rather, an aspect of female culture. While you can't perfectly control your physical states, the idea is that you can pick your jewelry, and that your necklaces, earrings, anklets, nose rings and bracelets say something about your personality. The rhetoric of the accessory brings personal style, individual flair, and, most importantly, an aspect of choice to an altercation previously about innate anatomical conditions. Pretty appropriate given the context.