Tampon means just some cotton-like material that acts as a plug in your vagina. It works by absorbing period blood from your uterus before it leaves the body.
Women have been using tampons for CENTURIES – using stuff like paper, cloth, and moss for their periods. The tampons we have now are much more absorbent and recently there’s even organic/biodegradable ones (if you’re worried about the environment!)
FYI: people sometimes soak tampons in things (meaning: alcohol) and stick them up their vaginas to get drunk quicker. Don’t do that. Just don’t. If you’re going to try to get drunk (and the official stance is to make sure you’re drinking alcohol responsibly, safely, and legally), there are better ways of drinking than sticking it up your vagina. You can cause infections and no one wants an itchy vagina.
Here’s a list of tampon brands, tampon sizes, tampon types, and where to get them!