The decision depends on the woman when she has her periods. Some women like pads and they feel comfortable in being able to change them every couple of hours or so. Some women prefer tampons as they allow you to still do all the exercise that you normally would, such as swimming etc and it keeps blood away from the body, whilst allowing for less frequent changing. I personally am not a fan of pads as I don’t like having to clean blood off myself and prefer to keep it neat and clean. Some women are not keen on inserting a tampon or cup into their body, and that’s perfectly fine too. There is also the option of a menstrual cup which can be reused and collect the blood from your body, to be disposed of at a later date. Women generally have preferences for comfort, personal feels of hygiene, affordability, convenience and even environmental factors as throwing away pads and tampons can have an impact on the amount of rubbish produced by a home and society.