Tampax will protect you from sharks!

In the annuals of tampon adverts, this one for Tampax in France and found on AdsoftheWorld.com is, at least, a bit funny.

Swimming in shark infested waters is, I suppose, one of those occasions where a super efficient tampon really would be useful.

Yet, my feelings about it are mixed – not because of the ad itself, but because it recalls film after film after film – Pitch Black was a perfect example – in which women put ‘the group’ at risk with their pesky bleeding.

These films share an undercurrent of unresolved misogyny, in my view. Most clearly because women’s weird, leaky bodies betray the (likely male) rest of the cast. But perhaps they also carry the message “look what happens when you bring women along”.