Swedish parents wanting to teach their children about menstruation can simply sit them in front of the telly, thanks to a new video starring…singing tampons.
Public service kids channel Barnkanalen will air “The Period Song” on Friday after achieving viral fame with its dancing genitals clip earlier this year.
The aim is to get young people talking about subjects commonly thought of as taboo, in a bid to stop stigmatisation.
Presenter Alex Hermansson, 23, has a starring role, singing, rapping and pulling on tampon strings to make them dance. Dressed as kings and pirates, they are then plopped into red-coloured water to show children how they absorb menstrual blood.
The lyrics are really quite something, too. Here’s the first verse:
“It's a thing that happens to girls sometimes
They don't want to talk about it
Maybe they're a bit ashamed
They don't want us to know anything at all
But we know, that it, it's something totally normal
We just need to be a little extra nice to them
Show a little patience
It's just a little blood”
…and go on then, you can have the chorus as well:
“Period, period, hip hip hooray for period!
The body's working as it should
And that is really, really good, hooray!”
Hermansson told The Local that it is “ fun and cool to talk about periods”. “The only thing that was a little awkward was to sing in public, just because I am really not an experienced singer. The more knowledge and transparency [there is] the less of a stigma that many girls carry.“
Viewers are likely to be divided in their reactions, after the genitals video was criticised by many for being too sexual and realistic. Nevertheless, it was watched more than 6.4 million times on YouTube.
