Clean sex on your period?!!!!!!!!!?
I had heard of these things before, so I decided to do some research. Holy crap! There are all kinds of these things on the market. My findings:
They come in both re-usable and disposable varieties.
Its as versatile as a tampon, but without the risk of TSS. Apparently there is little or no possiblity of infections, plus, it collects more blood than tampons, so you can leave them in for up to 12 hours. Apparentely, they eliminate the entire "smell" factor, too, because the blood isn't exposed to air. They reduce waste by a huge amount, and they're pretty affordable.
The two most popular products I found are "The Keeper," a reusable product that costs around $40 and lasts around 10 YEARS and "Instead," a disposable variety runs around 6 for $3.
The cons, as I learned, are few, but potentially far worse than tampons or pads. They can be pretty tough to insert, especially since some people don't like putting their fingers in their vagina in the first place. They are pretty similar to a diaphragm, and are inserted in the same way. From what I read, they are really messy. Leakage doesn't seem to be too much of a problem, except as this test runnner explains (
http://www.mum.org/stalling.htm): that if you "bear down on it," as in intentionally flex your muscles against it, you will achieve complete disaster: a huge flood of blood, as she explains, eight hours worth of blood and a total calamity if you're not in a position to change your clothes right away.
Maybe something to try out.