ellen@ucla-cs.UUCP (12/05/84)
i guess that true feminine protection will have pink lace along with the
double layered delicate weave, or whatever blarfle the ad-folk say.
i agree with Evelyn about protection at the sides, etc. i never had any
mentrual blood leak through the middle/center of even the OLD UNimproved
kind 23 years ago, when adolescents and pre-adolescents didn't wear such
things as tampons (menstrual pontoons?)(i started when i was 10-1/2).
but, Sophie, there IS something to protect, one's clothes. but why don't
the ad-folk just come right out and say it! of course, at least now menstrual
pads and tampons are things that can be advertised, even on TV. if you look
at advertisements for the same products a decade or 3 ago, the attitude was
QUITE different. ads for pads (wow! what rhythm!) in the late fifties and
early sixties merely included the name of the company and a picture of an
elegant more-than-middle-class woman. i'm thinking especially of the
MODESS ads which featured crowds of stately models in designer gowns posed
of curving marble stairways, and the "copy" was only one word: MODESS.
i'm not embarassed to menstruate, but i must say that permanent red-brown
blood stains do not enhance ANYONE'S appearance, male or female, when
positioned prominently on their garments. it's not just a question of
teaching women to think that their natural bodily fluids are somehow
noxious, 'though i definitely agree with you that this is something that
many cultures foist on their women, and definitely unfairly.
after all, semen is considered to be great and healthy and wonderful and
marvelous and something to be proud to produce, or even to show off.
but the "by-product" of the ability of a woman to produce children is "dirty,"
and "icky," something to be ashamed of and hide, a reason to send women out
of the village, or of the religious community (in Judaism and Balinese Hinduism,
for example), a cause to call women "unclean," when it is something so
wholesome. and necessary and important to the continuation of life:
woman: she who bleeds but does not die.
i do think, though, that a professional male would be considered less than
well-groomed if HE had large &/or persistant blood stains on his clothes.
do you LIKE to have large indelible stains on YOUR clothes? (except, maybe
for grass stains on the knees of jeans)
so, why don't the ad-folk just call menstrual pads and tampons, if they feel
the absolute necessity to call them something other than what they are,
feminine clothing protectors or mentrual fluid absorbers.
in the name of the Goddess in her infinite guises.
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''' ``` chabot@amber.DEC (L S Chabot) (12/07/84)
About boycotting products with sexist overtones in the selection in the voiceovers: well, good luck to those who are qualified--that is, those who watch and listen to tv. I can't anymore. If I sit and watch for a couple of minutes, I begin hooting derisively at all the wild stereotypes in the programs and commercials, and I'll admit that I find the commercials pack more nonsense into 30 seconds than *any* Monty Python skit, but it's such annoying nonsense, and when I stomp out not to return, it's always during a commercial. When I still could stand it, we had a failing color tv. The only way you could get good flesh tones was to get all the green out, and screw around until red and blue were sort of reversed. Worked okay for people, but things like the sky or the sea were weird. Consequently, late at night, when Brenda Vacarro would proselytize about her brand of tampons...remember the ones with the teenage girls at the backyard pool...well, on our tv they were splashing about in lots of pink-red water. Didn't inspire any confidence in the product in me! I'd chortle and enjoy myself; it worked well to embarrass into silence the loud groaning from my five male roommates about how late at night the ~disgusting~ commercials came on. (hey, what's so disgusting about paper?) Maybe they don't advertise masculine protection products on tv, but I've seen billboards for Cruex (Get the itch out!), and never for bras or tampons. Women watch tv, and men drive, right? Except during football season. Why doesn't the man who feels like speaking about women's products speak about something he's qualified for. L S Chabot UUCP: ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-amber!chabot ARPA: ...chabot%amber.DEC@decwrl.ARPA shadow: [ISSN 0018-9162 v17 #10 p7, bottom vt100, col3, next to next to last]
jss@brunix.UUCP (Judith Schrier) (12/09/84)
Ellen says: "I do think, though, that a professional male would be considered less than well-groomed if HE had large &/or persistant blood stains on his clothes." He wouldn't want to march around with those semen stains on the front of his trousers, either. Incidently, the 'panty shields' or 'panty liners' are excellent for any person who has trouble with bleeding hemorrhoids staining clothes. judith brunix!jss