I cannot believe this is now a reasonable question, and look forward to the day it isn't any longer. But in the meantime....it seems to me that both tampons and pads would show up on a scan, so even if you went through the scan you'd be referred for a pat-down. And if you refuse the scan, you get the pat-down automatically. In both cases, they're now specifically suspicious and extra zealous, in which case, they will feel a pad for sure, and depending on exactly how zealous, a tampon string. So....then what? Do they require some sort of "proof" that you are in fact menstruating, and not just pretending so that you can instead blow up a plane?

Given that this is now a reasonable scenario, my other question is: it seems to me that it's easier to pull out an in-use pad than in in-use tampon in a public setting, should need be, but less likely that the tampon would be noticed in the first place. For those who plan to opt-out of being scanned, and would prefer to be assaulted and humiliated the least amount possible (while still insisting on public screening), which would be recommended: pads or tampons?

It boggles my mind that this is what the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, has come to.