When the #BloodNormal campaign by Bodyform, advocating for more frank discussion of periods, won two top prizes at the Cannes Lions last week, it seemed to mark a cultural turning point in terms of the stigmas and taboos around women’s reproductive health.
And sure enough, just days later, Thinx—the company that engineered period-proof underwear—is getting widespread attention for using unapologetic frankness to address another social stigma: period sex.
Thinx’s new product is a seemingly luxurious $369 blanket infused with the same four-layer technology as in the company’s signature underwear. One side of the blanket is quilted satin; when the mood strikes, you flip it over to the cotton, absorbent side. The blanket (billed on the Thinx site as the “sex blanket for people with periods”) is the first sexual wellness product for the Thinx company and was created to initiate a new kind of conversation about sex.
“The idea for our period sex blanket actually originated with a customer suggestion we received through our support line,” Thinx CEO Maria Molland Selby tells Fast Company. “Dismantling stigmas about menstruation and reproductive health is what Thinx is all about.”
The product listing is blunt about its purpose being largely to start candid conversations around period sex—or as the site copy puts it, “arouse a new kinda convo.” The brand says stigmas around periods are another cause of the “pleasure gap:”
“Women are 4x more likely to consider sex less pleasurable than men,” the Thinx product description says. “Why? Because sex often begins and ends with one person’s pleasure. All partners deserve to have their needs met, and *nobody* should be feel ashamed or embarrassed for who they are and what they like (including period sex).”
