Shopping for tampons for the first time in Ghana went a lil something like this:
I said I needed to go to the store for something personal and my brother Frank offered to go for me. But I was like, “you didn’t grow up with sisters so maybe not?” To which he responded, “but I have one now, so anything you need.” I know, so sweet🤗
But I was still a little hesitant about sending him out there alone...y’all know what the womxn’s aisle looks like in the U. S. Endless options. I was afraid for him! In the end we decided to go together.
So we arrive at the store. It’s called Melcom and it’s kinda like Target in that it has a little of everything—oh how I miss thee Target!—, but it’s probably closer to Wal-Mart in terms of the range of quality of items. Melcom’s slogan is “Where Ghana shops.” Apt slogan. Department-like stores are not super common so everyone knows Melcom and shops there.
Ok, ok back to the story. I’m walking up and down aisles, throwing things in my lil cart and I stop and double back to these 4 little skimpy shelves of pads. Both the shelves and the pads were skimpy. If I had been blinking, I would have missed them altogether. Not only was the section tiny, the pads were basically all the same—same size, capacity, and so on. Very limited.
Yes, the inequity and injustice of access to feminine care was very apparent. And, that’s a story for another day.
So I’m looking at these little pads making sure I’m not overlooking tampons and other options. At this point, Frank pops into the aisle and asks if I’ve found what I’m looking for. I tell him “no,” so he asks what it is I’m looking for.
And this is where I take a stand for women everywhere and decide that I won’t shy away from talking about the reality that is my period.
So I say , “well, these are pads and I am looking for tampons or a cup.”
Even behind his mask I could see the puzzle pieces of confusing taking over his cute little face. So, naturally, in the feminine products section of Melcom, my third week in Ghana, through my mask, I start to describe what a tampon is: “it’s long, like a stick and it goes inside.” (Please also imagine my hand motions and me repeating myself because my accent with the mask is adding additional confusion).
Frank doesn’t flinch or think twice. He just says, “I’m not sure, let’s ask.”
We walk a few aisles and find a group of store employees, two womxn and one dude. The dude is like, “yes how can I help?” I say, “I wanna talk to them, this is a girl thing.” So one of the girls shoos him away and we all laugh.
“I’m looking for tampons,” I say. “I saw pads but I need tampons.”
One of the ladies gives me a puzzled look (yes behind her mask) and asks me if I’m saying, “pants” or “pads.”🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
[At this point I’m giving up on the cup. Ladies, can you imagine describing the cup. I’m just tryna get better at talking about tampons for today. One feminine product at a time!]
There are so many words that sound the same in Ghana to my virgin ears. So my ignorant behind is like, “um, I don’t hear a difference in what you’re saying.” So she starts to spell, “p-a-d-s” or “p-a-n-t-s,” only to be interrupted by the dude we shooed away, “it’s not pants!” He offers. In collective girl power we all look at him and say, “eyyy, we told you to go away!!”
This situation is so humorous to me at this point and I did not what to admit he was right, but he was right. So I say and spell, “pads, p-a-d-s.”
So we go to the aisle where I saw the pads and I proceed to describe tampons again. “I see these,” I say gesturing to the p-a-d-s. “They go in your underwear. I need the stick, you push it inside.”
“Oh!” She says, clearly uncomfortable and maybe still confused. “No, we don’t we have.“
Finally, a woman in the aisle who was being nosey comes over and asks if I’m looking for tampons. She says they can be found in certain pharmacies and American stores.
Ahhhhh. Who knew my privilege would come smacking me in the face through a funny encounter with tampons?!