A Washington Post columnist suggested boys could “be king stud” if they gave tampons to their female friends like those provided to boys’ restrooms by Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn.
Walz became a national figure this week after Vice President Kamala Harris selected him as her 2024 running mate to challenge former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance. Walz, who is credited for coining the “weird” line of attack that is being widely used to criticize Republicans, has found his own social policies in the spotlight. One prominent example is having signed a bill that provides free menstrual products in Minnesota school boys’ restrooms as a way to accommodate transgender students.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt blasted Walz over that law. “As a woman, I think there is no greater threat to our health than leaders who support gender transition surgeries for young minors, who support putting tampons in men’s bathrooms in public schools,” Leavitt said on Fox News. “Those are radical policies that Tim Walz supports.”
Since then, the moniker of “Tampon Tim” has been used to highlight his socially progressive views. Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse, who has previously defended drag queen story hours for children, argued that boys should be checking in with female classmates about their menstrual cycles.
“Since #TamponTim is trending I’ll point out that in high school, any boy who casually was like ‘Oh you got ur period? I stashed a pad from the bathroom in my backpack in case one of my friends needed it’ — that boy would be king stud,” she wrote. “That boy would be drowning in prom invites.”
The columnist doubled-down on her suggestion, arguing in a following post, “Some of these responses are really ‘tell me you’ve never had close female friends without telling me you’ve never had close female friends.’”
When one commentator expressed skepticism that a heterosexual boy would ever carry tampons with him, Hesse replied, “You never thought to carry anything just because a buddy might need it, even if you didn’t need it yourself? Huh.”
When another account argued that such a hypothetical boy would more likely get bullied for carrying tampons, Hesse argued that he instead would be seen as admirable by his female peers.
“…I dunno, guy. Seems like, ‘Girls actually want to be around me because they can trust me to have their back’ is a better place for a high school boy to be in than ‘Girl bodies are gross.’”
Other commentators on social media skewered Hesse.
“It’s true. Asking a girl if she’s on her period is an immediate recipe for success with the ladies,” program director for the National Journalism Center T. Becket Adams wrote. “Double points if you casually mention you carry around menstrual products. Chicks love that sh–.”
“I feel qualified to speak on this as the mother of three teenage sons and this might be the most inaccurate, yet hilarious, tweet I’ve ever seen…” Parents Defending Education director of outreach Erika Sanzi said.
Daily Wire AI consultant Frank J. Fleming wrote, “Wow you have to twist yourself in knots to pretend tampons in the boys’ restroom is not a bizarre weirdo thing.”
“There’s The Friend Zone and then there’s The Tampon Zone,” author and podcaster Lou Perez joked.
Conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey marveled at the gall of Hesse’s statements, “The levels of delusion here are impossible to grasp.”
“Periods are a private matter,” Independent Women’s Forum center for energy and conservation director Gabrielle Hoffman declared. “Any politician who boasts about putting tampons in boys’ bathrooms is hella weird.”
