Ditching the Douche BY SYLVIE AUGUST Is it time to ditch the douche? Summer’s Eve, Vagisil and other intimate wash brands give off the impression that their products will not only make you feel clean but also help you smell like a rose — it’s perfectly natural to not smell like a rose. What began as a misconception about birth control became a misconception about cleanliness. According to the United States’ Office on Women’s Health, “Douching is washing or cleaning out the inside of the vagina with water or other mixtures of fluids.” Douching began as a technique for women to prevent pregnancy by cleaning with honey or olive oil. As time progressed, Lysol became the most popular brand for it. Advertisers exploited insecurities about vaginal cleanliness with little regard to actual vaginal health. According to an Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, “This messaging is typically conveyed using terms like ‘clean’ and ‘fresh’ in product names and descriptions.” Feminie hygiene is also an intersectional issue. Michelle Ferranti, an advertising researcher and American history professor, wrote a review essay on this issue titled, “An Odor of Racism: Vaginal Deodorants in African-American Beauty Culture and Advertising.” Ferranti writes, “The lens of gender cannot satisfactorily explain the racial disparity in rates of vaginal deodorization, nor can feminist activism alone remedy the historical inequalities that underlay the practice among African-American women.” According to Ferranti, “Data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth showed that 59% of Black women douche in comparison to just 27% of white women.” Within the academic essay, Ferranti explains how the phenomena of Black women douching much more frequently than white women came to be. Ferranti describes the history behind the deeply racist and false belief that Black women’s bodies have an odor that needs cleansing. Racists used the “smell” of Black people to justify segregation in many cases. Furthermore, the sexual violence that Black women endured during slavery and during segregation contributed to the stereotype that Black women are hypersexual. Consequently, many Black women felt the need to reclaim their health and bodies by wanting to feel clean. Thus, it became incredibly easy for feminie hygiene advertisers to exploit the insecurities that resulted from the horrific atrocities that Black women faced. Ferranti writes, “In short, the misuse of Black women’s bodies — and the misuse of images of Black women’s bodies — have coalesced to provide powerful enticements to douche.”
As douching grew out of trend due to its connections to health problems such as “bacterial vaginosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, STIs and vaginal irritation or dryness,” according to the United States’ Office of Women’s Health, feminine hygiene brands like Summer’s Eve needed to change up their products in order to stay in business. Thus, the external cleansers, such as wipes, deodorant sprays and washes, were born. According to the United Kingdom National Health Service, “[Scented wipes and vaginal deodorants] can disrupt the vagina’s healthy natural balance.” If you are questioning whether you are truly clean down there, it could be reassuring to realize that the vagina is self-cleaning. Healthy bacteria live inside that help maintain the pH balance and produce natural antibiotics to rid of any harmful bacteria that may enter. “If the balance of bacteria is disturbed, this can lead to infection and inflammation,” according to the United Kingdom National Health Service, which may explain why douching and cleansing inside the vagina can lead to irritation. Using unperfumed soap around the vagina can help wash away any sweat, dead skin or bacteria that may accumulate after a long day, but the inside will clean itself. If you find yourself worried about your health or notice any unusual odors or sensations, it is best to consult a doctor before a Summer’s Eve advertisement. For four years, Women’s Voices for the Earth campaigned against Summer’s Eve products with their “Summer’s Deceive” movement. In 2021, Summer’s Eve removed ten of the chemicals that Women’s Voices for the Earth cited as most harmful. According to Women’s Voices for the Earth, “[The products] still contain undisclosed fragrance ingredients and possibly Neutresse (a patented ‘odor controlling technology,’ we don’t actually know what’s in it.)” Despite the known harmful chemicals being removed, ambiguity about what is really in some of these products remains. Furthermore, the toxic marketing that allowed the products to rise in prominence in the first place is still at large. The marketing surrounding feminine hygiene encourages people who have vaginas to potentially damage their bodies in order to smell like “Blissful Escape” or “Island Splash,” but that is not what a body needs.
Women’s Voices for the Earth wrote, “[Summer’s Eve] needs to change the narrative that tells us that our bodies aren’t good enough as they are and need products like this to be clean.”
