"That's Vaginal!": Summer's Eve Goes Viral?

[Editor's Note: This post was written by Cindy Kok, IMOW's summer programs and exhibitions volunteer.]

How would you describe something that you think is cool, incredible, fun, interesting, or a combination of all of the above? Awesome, perhaps? What about vaginal?

Summer’s Eve, a company that sells vaginal cleansing products, launched their “That’s Vaginal!” spot along with their “Hail to the V!” campaign earlier this summer. This bid to replace the word “awesome” with “vaginal” is part of a rebrand effort done by the Richards’ Group for Summer’s Eve after their widely-criticized sexist 2010 ad instructing women to wash their vaginas before asking for a raise.

In this video, Carlton the Cat calls vaginas the greatest “natural wonder” and scorns the societal attitude that relegates all “synonyms and euphemisms” of vagina to “slurs, bleeped out on broadcast TV.” He goes on to encourage people to “state boldly and proudly” their appreciation for vaginas by using the world “vaginal” in lieu of “awesome” and asking the audience to share things they find “vaginal” at thatsvaginal.com.

However, Carlton’s enthusiasm for vaginas (which he claims to be “entirely academic” in the interest of clearing his species’ good name) doesn’t seem to be catching. The video has only had 375,650 hits since its lauch two months ago and there seem to be few submissions to the site. Personally, it’s hard for me to ignore the underlying fact that this is a calculated marketing ploy; the video’s humor reads like a weak imitation of the Old Spice Guy commercials and its ulterior motive undercuts its genuineness. More than anything else, this viral video campaign is confusing: why is Summer's Eve advocating a message that, if widely embraced, would not be likely to help boost their sales (considering that healthy, self-loving women should know that the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not advocate douching and other vaginal cleaning products)?

Despite their questionable intention, Summer’s Eve’s apparent effort to banish the shame associated with talking about vaginas is laudable. “Women tell us they’re ready to embrace talking about their bodies in an open, honest way…we wanted to invent an unexpected, fun way to give it a new, positive place in today's vernacular,” said Angela Bryant, director of U.S. marketing, feminine care for Summer’s Eve. And, if viewers choose to take it at face value, maybe this video—and the rest of Summer Eve’s campaign—actually will lead people to be more open-minded about this issue. The Summer’s Eve website seems to accurately reflect their wholehearted rebranding effort, including sections such as “V Power” and “V 101” to educate with expert articles and glossaries and spur further conversation. Overall, it may not be a "vaginal" advertising campaign, but at least the positive value in the message it presents is a step in the right direction.

Pussycat Puppet Tries to Make “That’s Vaginal” Happen [Jezebel]
“Hail to the V!”: Is Summer’s Eve’s new ad campaign empowering—or just crazy? [Salon]
“That’s Vaginal” is a Befuddling Stab at Viral Advertising [HyperVocal]

Why Mac McClelland's Piece About PTSD, Violent Sex, and Haiti Shouldn't Offend You

[Editor's Note: This post was written by Cindy Kok, IMOW's summer programs and exhibitions volunteer.]

Last week, reporter Mac McClelland wrote a piece for GOOD magazine about how violent sex helped her recover from post-traumatic stress disorder. McClelland describes how seeing the panic of a recovering rape victim in Haiti, compounded with years of witnessing other people’s trauma, triggered her own mental breakdown (after she found her usual coping methods unhelpful). When she returned to San Francisco, she was diagnosed with PTSD and recounts spending months “sobbing and heaving” at the slightest provocation.

Mac McClelland via Good Magazine

While still in Haiti, McClelland remembers constantly having “rape nightmares” and “daymares” and, when she returned to the states, “wincing when [she] thought about sex.” McClelland says that violent sex “wasn't a matter of recreation” for her but rather a way to recover and deal with “violence [she] controlled [rather] than the abominable nonconsensual things” she witnessed. With her “counterphobic approach,” as her therapist calls it, she eventually did begin to get well.

McClelland’s article has elicited a gamut of reactions from encouragement to empathy to revulsion. However, some took issue not with her self-prescribed method of recovery but rather with her portrayal of Haiti. In particular, a group of female journalists wrote an open letter on Jezebel condemning McClelland’s “sensationalist and irresponsible” use of Haiti as a backdrop. They accuse her of contributing to the “continual marginalization” of women in Haiti, where the threat of rape for them is “tragically high.”

Given the highly personal nature of McClelland’s story, it hardly seems fair for the letter writers to pit their own experiences of a safe and peaceful Haiti to the “ugly chaos” she experienced. As writer Roxane Gay, whose family is from Haiti, confirms with her mother, the guns and the disorder McClelland writes about are accurate. McClelland’s story may be accused of being one-sided, but as an example of a personal piece and not objective reporting, showing only one side—her side—is entirely reasonable.

McClelland breaks from the unspoken norm of silence for female journalists. Her unapologetic piece highlights the complexity of issues in Haiti and of sexuality in general. The reactions to her writing, however, may just encourage reporters, and all women, to maintain their silence on personal experiences of sexual violence.


I’m Gonna Need You to Fight Me on This: How Violent Sex Helped Ease My PTSD: Good Magazine
Female Journalists and Researchers Respond to Haiti PTSD Article: Jezebel
On Journalistic Malpractice, Mac McClelland and Haiti: Ansel Herz
Still With the Scarlet Letters: Roxane Gay

SlutWalks: Harming the Cause or Providing an Outlet?

[Editor's Note: This post was written by Cindy Kok, IMOW's summer programs and exhibitions volunteer.]

SlutWalk Chicago, June 4, 2011 from Wikimedia

“I'm not supposed to say this,” Michael Sanguinetti said to a group of students at an Osgoode Hall Law School safety forum on January 24, 2011. “[But] women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” Little did the Toronto police constable know, his misguided rape-prevention advice would incite a furious backlash that took form in international SlutWalks, still being organized almost half a year after his offhanded comment.

The first SlutWalk Toronto—founded by activist Heather Jarvis and York University alumna Sonya Barnett—marched on April 3. While the organizers were expecting perhaps 300 people to participate, more than 3,000 supporters showed up, dressed both provocatively and in “normal” daywear, carrying signs that read There is no such thing as an invitation for rape and Slut Pride. Although Sanguinetti had issued a written apology, the issue had outgrown the outrage that stemmed from a policeman’s careless words, and morphed into to a worldwide movement to end the practice of placing responsibility for sexual assault on the victim, as well as to reclaim the word “slut.”

So is it possible that this provocatively-monikered movement will shock new life into the cause well-respected groups like Take Back the Night are already fighting for? While most people can agree that a culture that blames victims (and their way of dressing) for rape is one that needs reform, SlutWalk’s second goal seems to have sparked even more debate and controversy than Sanguinetti’s original statement. As satellite SlutWalks mobilized, first in North America then spreading to other continents, so did commentators, offering everything from enthusiastic support to outright condemnation of the so-called “SlutWalkers.”