Erik, please do not make assumptions about my wife, she is far less bothered by ick than me or many people I know. Smell can be caused by bacteria, can be different than scent you refer to, and bacteria are a real concern so to clean the cup well and to have clean hands and area there are in fact very important. She used cup for years (due to heavy flow - cup easily contains more than tampon/pad absorbs well in practice - a pro of cup), then after we had all our children she had IUD for contraceptive and at that point her ob/gyn said the two are not supposed to be used in concert, so she stopped using cup. The IUD also lessened her flows so the reason for using the cup for her was removed as well. I thought I was completely polite and simply listed some reasons why a cup may not be appropriate in India where just washing and drying rags well in comparison is a concern according to the BBC article.