Ads for menstrual products have been notoriously evasive, avoiding the dreaded ‘v word’ (vagina) and using blue liquid as a stand-in for the blood that is markedly absent in both linguistic and visual representation. Words conveying the reality of menstruation – blood, clots, cramping, etc – are absent, as are visual depictions of what actually happens during a period – or the fact that females bleed, often copiously, from that most dreaded “down there” (a euphemism that, as Feministing points out, “two out of three network censors still feel icky” about).
Yet, a more realistic (and humorous) representation of periods seems to be slowly seeping into popular culture. An example is the recent U by Kotex ad, the transcript of which is as follows:
How do I feel about my period? We’re like this [crosses fingers]. I love it. I want to hold really soft things, like my cat. It makes me feel really pure. Sometimes I just want to run on the beach. I like to twirl, maybe in slow motion. And I do it in my white Spandex. And usually, by the third day, I really just want to dance. The ads on TV are really helpful, because they use that blue liquid, and I’m like, Oh! That’s what’s supposed to happen!
(To see the video clip of the ad, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRf35wCmzWw)
Though this ad avoids the v word as well any specific reference to the product itself or why one should use Kotex (as pointed out here), it’s self-mocking tone pleasantly parodies the way menstruation has been characterized in the majority of ads. Periods, it reveals, are not a time one tends to want to dance joyously in a tight-fitting sheer dress or frolic along the beach in a white bikini. While the ad does play on the idea of menstruation as “the curse,” and thus perpetuates a negative rather than a positive (or neutral) view of this female biological process, it at least admits that periods often involve pain and inconvenience (not to mention no blue liquid whatsoever).
Though the NYTimes documents that three networks rejected the original ad, which did use the v word, even this de-vaginized version uses humor to mock our cultural shock and horror surrounding menstruation, moving away from ridiculous suggestions that bleeding, bloating, cramping, and/or menstrual headaches really make women want to dance, shop, or exercise (what else, after all, do women ever want to do?). And, though we have no specific references to female genitalia, at least there is an acknowledgment that periods for many (most?) are not all that fun.
Moreover, as reported in the NYTimes, “Visitors to the Web site, UbyKotex.com, designed by the New York office of Organic, part of the Omnicom Group, are urged to sign a ‘Declaration of Real Talk,’ vowing to defy societal pressures that discourage women from speaking out about their bodies and health. …For every signer, Kotex will donate $1 to Girls for a Change, a national nonprofit based in San Jose, Calif., that pairs urban middle school and high school girls with professional women to encourage social change.”
And, while the ad had to be “sanitized” for television (or, in other words no real mention of what a sanitary napkin or tampon is for, let alone a mention of where they go, was approved), the accompanying website is far more explicit in its anatomical and functional details, including a section entitled “challenging the norm” that aims to “start a new, healthier conversation about periods and vaginal care.” Thus, not only is Kotex partnering with a organization aimed at empowering girls and women, it is actually offering REAL information about menstruation and menstrual products – what a concept!
While the tv ad’s self mockery is certainly a fun and refreshing approach to a bloody subject, I wonder when/if the mainstream media will allow ads that admit – horror of horrors – that females have vaginas and this bodily reality is not disgusting, not a curse, not even a reason to boogey-down in celebration but rather nothing more or less than a bodily reality.
I am not saying that having a vagina is not cause for celebration (I personally rather like mine), but I feel whenever the body (or part of it) is showcased as something to uncritically celebrate, the flipside – where the body is denigrated and denied – is not far behind. Instead, I would like to see wider recognition and acceptance of the fact that menstruation happens, and does so often (for too often for my taste, in fact), that the body is not all pleasure and desire but also pain, inconvenience, and monotony.
As I am currently attending the National Popular Culture Association conference where I am presenting on a panel with three other women who are also menstruating, such concerns have been foremost in my mind. After seeing each other face to face for the first time after months of email organization and discovering are bloody synchronization, one of us joked “I know women are often in sync, but are we now so technologically advanced that we can sync via email?”
Our running joke was that we would announce our panel, a feminist analysis of Twilight, via sharing “You are about to hear an analysis of male, heteronormative, white privilege from four menstruating feminists.” In our banter, Robert Pattinson’s now rather infamous claim that he is “allergic to vagina” was a recurring point of reference as well. Though I feel Pattinson meant this as a joke and is likely not the misogynist some have suggested, I feel in contrast that US culture more broadly is allergic to vagina – to the word vagina – let alone to the fleshy, bloody, and yes, toothless, bodily reality.
Alas, as Gloria Steinem wrote in her 1978 piece, if males menstruated it would likely be a sort of bragging right, a competition over who could bleed the most. Yet, as it is female’s bodies that require the use of pads, tampons, and diva cups no such celebratory bragging rituals occur. Rather, even within the self-aware mockery of the way menstruation is rendered invisible and monstrous (such as in the above Kotex tv ad) it is still something that cannot be named, let alone visually represented. This, indeed, makes me blue.
Comments 5
Adina Nack — April 5, 2010
Excellent points, Natalie! I look forward to a day when "vagina" and "menstruation" are not dirty words and when, as inconvenient and messy as some periods might be, we take a more celebratory attitude about this female bodily function. For those interested in a sociological perspective, I recommend Dr. Laura Fingerson's book Girls in Power: Gender, Body, And Menstruation in Adolescence.
Julie — April 8, 2010
Thanks so much for the article! I'll have to read it more in-depth outisde or work.
If you want to check out more resources on menstruation, there's a fantastic documentary entitled, "The Moon Inside You." The title is a bit hoaky (as is the website) but the documentary itself is a humorous but compelling piece about the attitudes we have around periods (such as its status as a "taboo subject").
Martina Goulden — April 11, 2010
Hi Natalie
My name is Martina Goulden. I live in Sydney, Australia.
Saw the Kotex ad recently. I guess I came it at from a different perspective, as I know women who literally do feel "like that" (fingers X'd) about their periods. I couldn't believe what I was hearing in the ad' at first and thought "Ya-Hoo" - finally, someone was telling the other side of menstruation, rather than the negative, painful, awful one. Was only as the ad' went on that I realised it was tongue-in-cheek.
You know, many many women don't hate their periods. When we go deeper into the psycho-spiritual aspect of menstruation, it can be an extraordinary time, not merely a physical occurence. Have you checked out Alexandra Pope's website ? www.wildgenie.com Alexandra's life work is menstruation. Her workshops & books are life-changing. Worth tapping into if you can. Thanks for your article. Am glad I read it. Yours, in (bloody) good health :) Martina/.
Maggy — April 12, 2010
Natalie,
Thanks for writing this. Like Martina commented earlier, I was disappointed when I viewed the commercial. I am tired of how the negativity around this topic is used to make obscene amounts of money. Saying that my period can be a positive experience for me is very taboo--women get as freaked out as some men do when they see "feminine hygiene" commercials so I do not talk about this much. I like Laura Owen's book "Her Blood Is Gold."
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