The Tampon

The tampon in “Jordan Convinced Me That Pads Are Disgusting” symbolizes the speaker’s anxieties in relation to her own body. As the speaker explains in the third stanza, it is not necessarily that tampon itself that she is afraid of, but rather “the undiscovered crater, the muscle that holds and pulls/and keeps and sheds” (3). Unlike the pads she had been using, the tampon forces her to confront this mysterious and confusing part of her body. This is emphasized by the fact that when Jordan applies the tampon for her, the speaker has an almost traumatic experience, blacking out and collapsing onto the bathroom floor.

The Blush

The blush that the speaker repeatedly describes in “Bubblegum or Bruise” symbolizes her desire to meet societal beauty standards and the inherent issues in doing so. She relates how she discovers the pink blush in a television...