In life we are presented with an endless, brutal smörgåsbord of decisions we must make. One recurring experience most women don't exactly get the luxury of considering: blasting blood from our bodies each month for about three decades of our lives. It's a decidedly un-chill reality. After such a burden is thrust upon us, we next get to plan how to deal with our periods. There are, as we all know a lot of options for taming the monthly mess: tampons, pads, and the mega awesome, Cool Girl option, menstrual cups.
For no real reason I can determine, a lot of people find menstrual cups mysterious or downright off-putting. First, a little reminder on the background of these wonder items: They are little bell-shaped silicone cups that get inserted into your vagina, resting against your cervix, catching all the stuff your baby-free oven expels. When it's full, you remove it via the stem at the bottom of the cup. Unlike tampons or pads, the cup collects the flow as opposed to absorbing it. If you're still morbidly curious about how this works, peep this instructional video. It's pretty interesting stuff.
As you are likely already aware, there are a heap of awesome benefits to using cups over other products: They're much more Earth-friendly than disposable options, they're reusable and save money, for starters, and most importantly, they have the potential to dramatically improve the overall quality of your sex life. Seriously, hear me out. Here are seven completely valid reasons why people who use a menstrual cup end up being infinitely better in bed:
They're comfortable with their own body
Jamming a tamp' doesn't demand much in the way of getting all up in your own business. You can kinda shoot it into place without even much leaning involved. Point being, other period products don't necessitate a women getting up close and personal with their bodies. Many of the women I talk with about menstrual cups find the insertion the most troubling aspect... but why? Assuming you're sexually active (currently or ever), other folks have become acquainted with your crotch. If you have an active solo sex life, you've possibly been all up in there. Women who regularly cup it up know this isn't a big deal, and as a result, probably feel more in touch with all her parts.
No matter what experience gives someone a greater degree of comfort with their own body, they are undoubtedly going to be more open and fun to have sex with.
Their vaginal muscles are most definitely toned
To even keep the cup in your body and doing its dang thing, you need decent vaginal muscles. Essentially, menstrual cup users get down with five days' worth of kegels a month. Without even really trying/noticing. There are decidedly positive consequences for your pelvic muscles.
They have more control over their vaginal muscles
For insertion, you have to chill. As in, actually relax your vaginal muscles to fold the cup into a C-shape and get into your vagina. Once it's in, wearers must simultaneously tighten muscles and pull the cup's stem to get the adequate suction going so it can do its job. For many, it takes a lot of practice to nail this kind of command. But once you know, you know.
They're more likely to reach orgasm
Women traditionally have a tougher time hitting their climax. But for those who have those buff muff muscles, the contractions that make you orgasm are more intense and getting there is a helluva lot easier. (Not to mention, those contractions can feel pretty effing great if your partner happens to have a penis and that penis happens to be inside of you when you orgasm.)
They're less likely to experience dryness
This applies mostly to sex during their cycle. As a rule, the cotton in tampons can cancel out the vagina's naturally-occurring lubrication as you prepare to get down. Since cups collect as opposed to absorb one's flow, an arid Area 51 isn't an issue. (Side note: If vaginal dryness is a persistent problem for you, know that it's common and there's hope in finding a remedy that works.)
They're actual adults
Did you know a significant number of real human adults are afraid to use the word vagina? VAGINA!!! That wasn't hard. It isn't Voldemort. It's so weird how society throws mad shade at a woman who is in touch with her body and unafraid to discuss it. Since cup users are used to interacting with their own equipment intimately each month, I can't see how they'd have a problem calling it what it is. Nothing is sexy about a partner who can't refer to their own sex parts by their proper name without giggling. Not saying this needs to enter the actual bedroom vernacular (vagina isn't the hottest type of dirty talk), but, um, we're grown-ups. Yeah?
They're probably up for an adventure
The most primitive version of the bell-shaped cup was patented way the hell back in the '30s. Even though the most recent iteration of cups have been on pharmacy shelves since 1987, tampons still reign monarch over the menstrual product industry (with pads as runner-up) for women under 41. I don't know why cups remain an "alternative" product or whatever. They're clearly the best. Regardless, those who opt for this less-popular option have a true pioneer, adventurous spirit — and that translates into other areas of life too. They're not afraid... are you?
Images: Mateus Lunardi Dutra/Flickr; Giphy (7)
