Tampax as teacher: The corporatization of sex ed in schools

I’m beginning the third and final week of my initial teaching placement tomorrow, and I’m going to be teaching a unit on sexual and reproductive health to a Grade 9 girls phys ed class. Sex and sexuality — particularly as it pertains to women — has always been a pet topic of mine, so I’m really looking forward to getting to teach this for the first time.

In addition to the textbook the school uses for the health units (written by a teacher from the Toronto District School Board) my associate teacher gave me a copy of the Vibrant Faces Co-Ed student guide, published by the Ontario Physical and Health Educators Association (OPHEA) and Physical and Health Education Canada. Though it’s intended for Grade 7-8 students, we will give a copy of this guide to the Grade 9s and, says my AT, it’s almost guaranteed they’ll read it cover to cover.

Vibrant Faces includes some solid information. The first third of the booklet is on the importance of being physically active and fit, eating a healthy, balanced diet, and dealing with stress, emotions, cyber-bullying and body image issues. Most of the remaining two-thirds of the booklet is on puberty and sexual and reproductive health, divided into separate sections for males and females. The stages of puberty are covered, and the male and female reproductive systems are well diagrammed and explained.

The six pages on the male reproductive system include the stages of puberty, the reproductive organs, facts about sperm, myth-busting about penis size, info on testicular cancer and doing TSEs, and some general male Q&A (I think I’m growing breasts; what if someone notices your erection; one of my testicles hangs lower than the other, etc.). Students with additional questions are directed to www.teengrowth.com (an apparently independent website whose medical advisory team and editorial staff are composed of 15 MDs) and www.kidshealth.org (a website featuring physician-directed content hosted by an American chain of pediatric health clinics and hospitals).

So far, so good.

Now let’s compare this with 26 pages on the female reproductive system and genital health. (Yup, you read that right — 26 pages. Granted, the female body is a little more complex and arguably deserving of a heftier owner’s manual, but a difference of 20 pages is pretty significant. The reason why starts to become apparent as you read on.)

In addition to the stages of puberty, reproductive organs, facts about ova, general Q&A and common infections (HPV is mentioned here in the context of cervical cancer, though not on the boys’ side, despite its link with colon and rectal cancers in both men and women) — similar territory to what was covered for the boys — the female section has four pages specifically on menstruation (plus a two-page menstrual calendar) and 10 pages on “Feminine Protection.” This includes a pad sizing chart, information on how to change a pad, instructions on how to insert and remove a tampon (basically the same diagrams and information you’ll find on a tampon box insert), and a page on pantiliners. Even though I’d already seen a few product plugs (er, no pun intended) that had me wondering, it was the page on pantiliners (“Use a pantiliner everyday. Take a shower, brush your teeth, put on your deodorant and a pantiliner for an everyday fresh feeling!”) that made me flip to the back of the booklet to find out who was really behind the messaging. By this point, I wasn’t surprised to see that Always, Tampax, Gilette, Venus, Old Spice and Secret — all of them brands owned by Procter & Gamble — were listed as sponsors, with their logos and websites printed on the second last page.

Girls also get an additional page in the “Female Reproductive System” that has no equivalent in the male section. The subheads are: Body Growth; Breasts; Discharge; Sweat and Body Odour; Body Hair; and Pimples and Greasy Hair. I find it a little disturbing that that this information is directed exclusively at girls, since most of if would apply equally to both boys and girls (not to mention that most of these topics are associated with secondary sex characteristics rather than directly related to the reproductive system). The only explanation, then, is that its inclusion is a marketing tactic, preying on the socially-induced self-consciousness that begets a lifetime of hygiene and beauty product purchases. The problem, besides girls being advertised to subversively through pseudo-educational materials, is that this type of marketing rests on the public shaming of women’s bodies in order to have them buy products and, despite messages about self-esteem elsewhere in Vibrant Faces, reinforces the social messages that lead to personal insecurities about our bodies, and particularly our vaginas, as being stinky, dirty, secret and shameful. 

As opposed to the fairly independent, non-commercial websites the boys are directed to, at the end of the female section readers are directed to BeingGirl.com, a website maintained by Procter & Gamble, and which contains five logos or product images on the homepage alone (for Always and Tampax products).

But wait, there’s more.

In addition to promoting unnecessary daily use of a product like pantiliners, the co-ed information on shaving advises girls to use a moisturizing shaving gel, never just soap, and the section on skin care recommends washing twice daily “with soap or a gentle cleanser” and deep cleaning with a cleanser containing salicylic acid. The underlying message is: if you’re not already using a commercial skin cleanser, get thee to a drug store (given that P&G owns Olay, it’s surprising they don’t recommend any specific products here). 

While the advertising messages stand out pretty boldly, what’s harder to recognize is what’s missing from this guide.

For example: the “Feminine Protection” section includes a page on Toxic Shock Syndrome, which simply says it “can occur with tampon use.” Tampon companies have an interest in downplaying the risks of TSS, of course, and Vibrant Faces doesn’t explain how it occurs.

(TSS is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria; superabsorbent tampons left in the vagina for a long time become a good breeding ground for the bacteria. Tampon makers removed their hyperabsorbent tampons from the market in the 1980s after a run of tampon-related TSS deaths, and began including FDA-mandated TSS-related labeling on the packaging. Women are now advised to keep a tampon in the vagina for no more than 8 hours, and to intersperse tampon use with pads. But a 2005 article suggested TSS was making a comeback thanks to younger onset of menstruation and a return to higher absorbency tampons.

There is also debate on the safety of tampons based on dioxin content, chemical residues left after bleaching the wood pulp that most commercial tampons contain. The FDA and the pulp industry claim that tampons do not contain enough dioxin to be harmful, but others question this assertion.

The history of the regulation of menstrual tampons is pretty fascinating, as it turns out. It wasn’t until 1990 that we had standardized absorbency labeling across brands. At the same time, despite public concerns about tampon ingredients, the FDA still does not require ingredient labeling, saying they don’t have enough data showing an association between any ingredients and health risks to mandate the labelling).

But back to Vibrant Faces. What else is missing? How about alternatives to commercial tampons and pads? They aren’t mentioned anywhere in the student handbook, despite their abundance:

• reusable cloth pads (Luna Pads and Glad Rags are just two makers, but you can also download patterns to make your own on the cheap out of flannel, terry cloth and cotton)
• sea sponges (Jam Sponge and Sea Pearls are two sellers, but you can also buy a large sea sponge and cut it down to size, just be sure to boil it to disinfect it before using it for the first time)
• disposable menstrual cups
• a wide and growing field of reusable silicone or rubber menstrual cups
• organic cotton applicator-free tampons and fragrance-free pads

Most of these products are available at your local health food store or community health unit; if not, they can be easily purchased online. Yet not one of these alternatives gets so much as a mention in Vibrant Faces, since none are sold by the sponsor brands. What’s more, my (awesome!) associate teacher, who has been teaching sexual and reproductive to high school students for 17 years, was completely unaware of alternative menstrual products until I told her about them last week. Which takes me back to the notion of knowledge as socially constructed.

Is there a conflict of interest in having a guide on hygiene and reproductive health paid for by the very hygiene products and brands who profit from our bodies? To what degree has it turned this otherwise useful guide into another advertising vehicle? What’s more, is it appropriate to allow our youngest adults to be advertised to in such a subversive way, particularly when it’s related to a topic that leaves many youth feeling vulnerable and unsure, at a time in their lives when they could be considered easy targets? Even if they have the analytical skills that a critical reading of this guide requires, how questioning are young teens likely to be about the content?

Despite Canadians' strong support for public education, our schools and teaching resources are being privately funded more than ever. Since this isn’t likely to stop, we need to become more aware as educators about the ways that corporate messaging finds its way into our schools, and equip students to be aware of it, too — to look at where the knowledge they are being taught comes from, why it’s being emphasized, and whom it benefits. We all need to critically examine and question everything we teach and learn — including what we don’t learn. So, while I'll be using Vibrant Faces in the classroom next week and talking a lot about what's in it, I'll also be taking time to talk about what's not in it.