Dear marketers, young girls, young boys and anyone else who's confused... vaginas are not dirty. Women do not need special soap or wipes
for their intimate bits and quite frankly I’m offended that the products even
exist.
What the fuck is going on?
I’m worried for our latest generation of girls and young
women. It bothers me that the conversation they are involved in talks about
hairless vaginas and intimate cleansing. It infuriates me that our latest
generation of boys and young men are eavesdropping on that conversation. The
conversation which carries, far and wide, this message.
Vaginas are unclean.
Remember early high school? I do. I remember lots of
disgusting jokes about fishy smelling girls and snail trails and the grossness
of periods. It was a tough time for a developing girl. It was shameful. We
noticed that ‘down there’ did smell a bit. We noticed that there was that
discharge that we couldn’t control. We were already embarrassed. We were
already uncomfortable. But advertising wasn’t what it is today. There wasn’t
social media. There wasn’t a life online. You copped the ribbing at school and
went home and tried to forget about it.
Girls and boys are still the same today. Boys still joke
about that stuff and girls are still uncomfortable. But now, they’re being told
that the boys aren’t actually joking. Now, they’re being told they should be
embarrassed. Not in those actual words of course. No it’s far more insidious
than that. Today’s conversation is wrapped up in fancy packaging and words like
Femfresh Intimate Wash and Libra Get Fresh Wipes. Make sure that dirty area is
fresh. ALL.THE.TIME. And, while you’re at it, make sure you get rid of all that
hideous pubic hair. You know, the stuff that differentiates your grown up
vagina from that of a child. Eeewwww can you imagine it? A woman who smells
like a woman with a hairy vagina??? #wouldntfuckherwithyourdick
Seriously, I’m mad. I can’t even articulate it without
swearing. Profusely. The ads on tv offend me. The bottles of feminine hygiene I
find in my ‘ladies lunch’ gift bag offend me. The entire fucking message
offends me. I’m livid that girls my sister’s age are not only uncomfortable
being a woman but have no idea how to celebrate it. They're waxing their vaginas to hairless peril just in case they hook up with a guy. A
guy that’s probably only ever seen hairless vaginas.
You know what I don’t get? Men stink. Their arses smell and
their balls sweat. Is there a ‘Manfresh Intimate Sack Wash’ for them? Do they
have ‘Lynx Get Fresh Arse Wipes’ in their gym bags? Are they waxing their balls
and their crack? Nope. Not a chance. Why?
I want to change the conversation, I just don't know how. I'm no activist but I am pissed off. And I do truly believe there's something wrong here.
Don't you??
