From Duke University’s Ad*Access, a digital collection of many ads from the 20th century, comes a 1950 ad for Zonite vaginal douche. Playing directly on fears of ostracism, the ad warns that dire consequences will befall those women who do not douche: “homes broken up, few social invitations, the feeling of being shunned without knowing WHY!” Beware, ladies — heterosexual HELL will be yours unless you harass your vaginal canals with a liquid that removes the self-cleaning mucous secretions of the canal walls themselves and leaves you susceptible to infections. Your husband won’t want to have sex with you; no one will even want to talk to you; society will collapse, and it will all be YOUR FAULT.
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Heh – there are some really scary ER nurse blogs out there, one post I found was about this patient who was told to douche with Betadine. Nobody ever told her to stop, so she kept on doing it and wound up in a very bad way.
I was going to link you to http://www.mimisgrotto.com/kitschkorner/ but she took down the section featuring a similar ad, with the husband’s head in a block of ice.
“Positively non-poisonous” — just the thing I want to stick up my — er, expletive deleted. GAH.
— A (apparently non-dainty. How can I live with myself?)
Causes more problems than not
If only more women realized how unnecessary douching REALLY is!!!
I’ve been telling other women since I was 17 not to do it! My husband’s grandmother was told as a young woman that douching after sex prevented pregnancy!