January 21st, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
The latest magazine ads for Always “Infinity” maxi pads remind me of this old joke:
Two young boys walk into a pharmacy one day, pick out a box of Tampax and proceed to the checkout counter.
The man at the counter asks the older boy, “Son, how old are you?”
“Eight,” the boy replies.
The man continues, “Do you know what these are used for?”
“Not exactly,” the boy says. “But they aren’t for me. They’re for him. He’s my brother. He’s four. We saw on TV that if you use these you would be able to swim and ride a bike. Right now he can’t do either one.”
So if I use Always, will I be able to be a contortionist like the acrobat in the picture? Because right now, I’m pretty sure I can’t do that.
Tags: advertising, boys/men, FemCare advertising, Humor, pads, Procter & Gamble, Tampax, tampons
Posted in Advertising, Disposable menstrual products, FemCare, Humor, magazines | 4 Comments »
January 10th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling
This advert for Tampax appears in the February 2010 issue of Marie Claire, and probably other ladymags as well. It shows tennis star Serena Williams posing in a victory stance with clenched fist in the foreground, while security guards cart off Mother Nature, who is bearing a red-wrapped gift for Serena. The legend printed across the picture reads, “Serena shuts out Mother Nature’s monthly gift”.
As I said previously, I have some ambivalence about these ads. In today’s period-hating cultural climate, it takes some courage for a celebrity to appear in advertisement for a menstrual product. And it’s great to see acknowledgement that an athlete can win contests at any phase of her menstrual cycle (even the Boston Marathon).
But look closely at this ad, and read the copy. What’s missing?
That’s right – there’s no mention of blood or menstruation. The word period, itself a euphemism, isn’t even used. Only the flowery, secretive euphemism “Mother Nature’s monthly gift” represents menses.
And Mother Nature is reduced from the clever, wise-cracking Aunt Flo portrayed here to a kooky sitcom aunt reminiscent of Gladys Kravitz. Who wants to receive her gift?
Tags: advertising, blood, Celebrities, Communication, FemCare advertising, Procter & Gamble, sports, Tampax, tampons
Posted in Advertising, Celebrities, Disposable menstrual products, FemCare, Language, Menstruation, magazines | 7 Comments »
December 22nd, 2009 by Laura Wershler
In a December 21, 2009 news release the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) proclaimed that “hormonal contraceptives offer benefits beyond pregnancy prevention“.
You’d have to be an ostrich with her head in the sand not to have heard this message before. Just open any woman’s magazine to any ad for the pill, or any of the myriad varieties of drug-based birth control, and you’ll find the litany (a prolonged and tedious account) of non-contraceptive benefits used as marketing messages to “sell” birth control to girls and women. So the news release begs the question: why now?
Maybe the pharmaceutical companies are putting pressure on the gynies to protect their funding and the drug companies profits. Maybe this news release is damage control. A recent article in Maclean’s magazine proclaimed a trend towards ”ditching the pill for good“.
[O]ral contraceptive prescriptions in Canada levelled off in 2008, reports pharmaceutical industry analyst IMS Health Canada. Health care workers are seeing a growing demand for non-hormonal methods. Spurred by concerns about their health, the environment, or even frustration with family doctors, who sometimes seem to push the pill as a modern-day cure-all, Canadian women are looking for other options.
Are declining prescriptions for hormonal contraceptives a growing trend in North America? Is there a backlash brewing against the pill, the patch and the ring? One can only hope that the days when your gynecologist could convince you that taking the pill is a panacea for everything that, supposedly, is “wrong” with women’s bodies are coming to an end.
Hormonal contraceptives are drugs that disrupt a woman’s normally functioning endocrine system with synthetic versions of estrogen (ethinyl estradiol) and progesterone (progestin) to induce infertility. [Do not be fooled by the language used in the press release.] These drugs have a time and place. But precribing the pill must never become the “standard of care” for being a girl. Mothers everywhere, take note.
Tags: ACOG, birth control pill, Health Care, oral contraceptive pills
Posted in Activism, Advertising, Birth Control, Girls, Health Care, Language, Menstruation, Pharmaceutical, magazines | 2 Comments »
December 19th, 2009 by Elizabeth Kissling
Guest Post by Therese Shechter, filmmaker (Trixie Films)
Alert: Links are Not Safe for Work
German teen magazine Bravo, known for it’s explicit information on sexuality and sexual health has done it again with their feature: Vulva-Galerie: Schau, welche Unterschiede es gibt! which according to my Google translator means”Vulva Gallery: Look, what are the differences?”
The text says: The vulva is the externally visible part of the vagina. Do you want to finally know what it looks like on other girls? We show you the variations! If you click on Hier siehst du, welche Vulva-Variationen es gibt! (Here are the vulva variations!), you get a gallery of photographs of female genitals, photographed from the front. Some are pierced, some are hairy, some are shaved, some have larger labia…but unfortunately, they’re all white and none of the women seem to be on the larger side.
That’s too bad, because the underlying message is a good one: Stop comparing your ladyparts to women in mainstream porn. This is what we look like when we’re not being seen through the male gaze. Every vulva is different and special in its own way. Again, I wish there had been some diversity in race and size. Is Germany really such a homogeneous society? I don’t think so. The photo series ends with a more explicit photo of the inner vulva, complete with labels. Continue reading...
Tags: Girls, guest post, magazines, sex education, vulva
Posted in Communication, Girls, magazines | 8 Comments »
November 25th, 2009 by Elizabeth Kissling
re:Cycling readers may be interested in this story in the current issue of Macleans about the declining interest in oral contraceptives among Canadian women, particularly among women in their 20s who’ve been using The Pill for a decade.
[O]ral contraceptive prescriptions in Canada levelled off in 2008, reports pharmaceutical industry analyst IMS Health Canada. Health care workers are seeing a growing demand for non-hormonal methods. Spurred by concerns about their health, the environment, or even frustration with family doctors, who sometimes seem to push the pill as a modern-day cure-all, Canadian women are looking for other options.
The report echoes a couple of recent discussions here at re:Cycling, such as our guest post from Holly Grigg-Spall and Laura Wershler’s response, guest post from Moira Howe about the quiescent uterus, and discussion of risks of YAZ.
And Dr. Jerilynn Prior, scientific director of the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (and past president of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research) is quoted in the article: “There’s an emotional identity attached to achieving your own menstrual cycle, and being able to read your body,” she says. “When you’re on the pill, it’s the doctor who’s controlling your cycle. You don’t own it.”
It’s good to see this issue getting some attention in mainstream media.
[via Sexual Health Access Alberta]
Tags: big pharma, birth control pill, hormones
Posted in Birth Control, Menstruation, Pharmaceutical, magazines, ovulation | 2 Comments »
October 30th, 2009 by Chris Bobel
Them was fightin’ words.
re:Cycling readers (thanks!) already know about Redbook’s dimwitted “snub” of the soon-to-be released FLOW: The Cultural History of Menstruation:
You welcome it, bemoan it, or just live with it. However you feel about your period, we’re pretty sure most of you would rather spend your cash on a three- to five-day supply of Ben & Jerry’s than this 250-plus-page tome that teaches you about menstruation in the animal kingdom and the origin of tampons.
Menstrual activists Chella Quint and Sarah Thomasin sprung into comedic action and put together this oh-so-clever response ’cause they know a knee-jerk reaction to the big M when they see it.
Luckily, Redbook readers can and do think for themselves! Quint remembers her ahead-of-her-time Grandma who knew a thing or two about our favorite topic IN SPITE of her subscription to a particular ladymag.
Way to give it back, gals!
Tags: advertising, culture jamming, Humor, Redbook, shame
Posted in Activism, Humor, Media, Menstruation, magazines | 1 Comment »
Readers should note that statements published in re: Cycling are those of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Society as a whole.
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