Two teen girls have created a game called "Tampon Run" and it is here to save you from your anti-menstrual stigma. It's a newly-released mobile app that you, as well as your children, can now download onto your devices. It is being touted as a brilliant, stigma-shattering testament to feminism in the form of an addictive game.
The game was authored by teens Andrea Gonzales and Sophie Houser who met at a summer immersion program hosted by a nonprofit organization called Girls Who Code. Girls Who Code's goal is to educate young women so that they can better pursue careers in technical fields.
They hope to "combat the menstrual taboo through humor." as Houser told Buzzfeed News.
"We joked about it for a while, but decided to look into it more and quickly realized that the menstrual taboo is a global issue that needs to be addressed,” said Gonzales. “Women are taught throughout their lives that their periods are embarrassing and crude, something to feel ashamed of. As a result, Tampon Run was born.”
"When I was first telling people what I was doing, [I said] it was a video game because I myself wasn’t quite comfortable talking about it,” says Gonzales. “The video game makes me more comfortable.”
"Although the concept of the video game may be strange, it’s stranger that our society has accepted and normalized guns and violence through video games, yet we still find tampons and menstruation unspeakable,"
The girls and their game have found plenty of outspoken allies across the internet who lay a plethora of laurels upon them. For example, Today.com wrote an article last September (when the game was released for PC) with the headline "Why this tampon-themed video game is what the world needs right now." There were plenty of other voices on the internet saying things like:
"Tampon Run is also pretty brave. And if you’re into eight-bit nostalgia (or fighting the patriarchy), it’s also fun as hell"
"Real talk: We live in a world where it's totally cool to run over prostitutes for fun in video games like Grand Theft Auto, but women talking about their periods is still a cultural taboo. Luckily, we also live in a world where girls are demanding more from the gaming industry and society at large—and they're taking matters into their own hands."
Take a look at the teens giving a demonstration at a TED Talk below: