She Looks Like An Old Bald Headed Man
May 31, 2014 10:14 AM   Subscribe

Someone posted an ad on Craigslist seeking women who for one reason or another had never seen their own vagina and then set them up with a mirror in the Vagina Booth to film their reaction.
posted by gman (26 comments total) 19 users marked this as a favorite


 
This was hilarious, moving and sweet ie really well done.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:28 AM on May 31, 2014 [3 favorites]


My one complaint: the thing these women hadn't ever seen was their vulva, not their vagina.

But other than that -

Favorite reactions: a tossup between, "....Awwww!" and "....It sort of looks like an apple turnover."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:34 AM on May 31, 2014 [7 favorites]


I appreciated the junior high science fair-meets-kissing booth aesthetic.
posted by roger ackroyd at 10:35 AM on May 31, 2014 [6 favorites]


I expected it that to be a lot less sweet and empowering!
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 10:36 AM on May 31, 2014 [1 favorite]


My one complaint: the thing these women hadn't ever seen was their vulva, not their vagina.

It's kind of like asking why more men haven't seen their own urethra.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:37 AM on May 31, 2014 [13 favorites]


Aww. That's a nice mix of stories, too. Nice pacing between humor and more serious. Some of them seem so very relieved...
posted by rmd1023 at 10:56 AM on May 31, 2014


"... and I don't have eyes at the bottom of my stomach."
Wow, I didn't need to hear that right at a moment when I'd already breathed all the way out.

If there were to be a channel devoted to that woman's random observations as she goes about her daily life ...... I'd get even less done than I do now.
posted by jamjam at 11:16 AM on May 31, 2014 [2 favorites]


If there were to be a channel devoted to that woman's random observations as she goes about her daily life ...... I'd get even less done than I do now.

Especially when she does the real open eyes thing, she looks a lot like Retta of Parks and Rec fame.
posted by Bovine Love at 11:48 AM on May 31, 2014


I would really love to read some of the correspondence resulting from this "ad on Craigslist seeking women who for one reason or another had never seen their own vagina". I can't even begin to imagine who responds to an ad like that.
posted by tew at 11:50 AM on May 31, 2014 [10 favorites]


I can always count on Metafilter to be super-pedantic about pussy.
posted by graventy at 12:08 PM on May 31, 2014 [10 favorites]


I don't... get it? Why would you answer a craigslist ad for that instead of just reading the ad and saying to yourself, huh. I guess I am curious. I should get a mirror.

I'd think someone wanted to take photos or something. What did the ad actually say?
posted by ctmf at 12:49 PM on May 31, 2014 [7 favorites]


i was somewhat surprised, and feel kinda weird that it's a guy who was doing this. i wonder how many women replied, realized it was a guy, and just noped out thinking it wasn't something entirely on the up and up? even ignoring that though, that's just kinda... weird to me. Changes the whole dynamic.
posted by emptythought at 1:11 PM on May 31, 2014 [3 favorites]


When I read about projects like this I am consistently surprised at just what people will respond to posts on Craigslist about, apparently in good faith that the results won't be horrible and creeptastic and/or involve someone telling you where it puts the lotion or it gets the hose again.

I don't know if I have the faith in humanity that would be required to do that, but cheers to everyone involved I guess. Yay not-creepy people.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:19 PM on May 31, 2014 [2 favorites]


i was somewhat surprised, and feel kinda weird that it's a guy who was doing this. i wonder how many women replied, realized it was a guy, and just noped out thinking it wasn't something entirely on the up and up? even ignoring that though, that's just kinda... weird to me. Changes the whole dynamic.

I understand why one might think that, but based on the footage shown, the women were there of their own free will and nothing terrible happened to them. That it was a guy who initiated the process that lead to these hilarious, touching and moving moments shouldn't matter, other than to assure us that humanity can be alright.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:32 PM on May 31, 2014


I instantly fell in love with the woman who popped up, went "Awwww!" and then dipped back down for another look. Like she'd discovered a baby duck down there.
posted by middleclasstool at 2:45 PM on May 31, 2014 [12 favorites]


When I read about projects like this I am consistently surprised at just what people will respond to posts on Craigslist about, apparently in good faith that the results won't be horrible and creeptastic and/or involve someone telling you where it puts the lotion or it gets the hose again.

Years back, a friend and I would send each other the freakiest stuff Hannibal Lecter type personal ads we could find on Craigslist. As an experiment, we reposted one of the worst to a different city, just to see who actually responded to the damn things. We got two spam responses, and one from someone who seemed... perfectly nice. She said she had basketball tickets for that Friday, and suggested that we go to the basketball game first, and then do the Hannibal Lecter thing after. (And then we felt bad about having gotten her hopes up!)
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 3:01 PM on May 31, 2014 [4 favorites]


i was somewhat surprised, and feel kinda weird that it's a guy who was doing this. i wonder how many women replied, realized it was a guy, and just noped out thinking it wasn't something entirely on the up and up? even ignoring that though, that's just kinda... weird to me. Changes the whole dynamic.

It looks like the guy's done a whole bunch of videos, including "people react to..." videos. The ad could've linked to those and the rest of his work—it doesn't seem like the kind of thing where people show up to the shoot not knowing why they're there and then he's like "surprise, I'm a guy and also I have a vagina booth that I will film you in!"

Also, the whole video is heartwarming. I'm curious about the people he apparently brought in whose stories didn't make it into the video, though.
posted by chrominance at 3:18 PM on May 31, 2014


I was a bit put-off by dude's little shirtless pic hanging in the upper right. A bit of creepy that didn't need to be there.

That said, I was all ready to be "wtf!" and now it's more "wtf?" Us hoomans may need to inspect our nethers now and again and since I don't have my cat's awesome plunk on the front-walk and have at skillz, yeah, a hand-mirror will suffice.

It is actually a nice video and I appreciated the reactions, but the whole red-satin booth thing... I don't know.
posted by wallabear at 3:44 PM on May 31, 2014


I am consistently surprised at just what people will respond to posts on Craigslist Metafilter about, apparently in good faith that the results won't be horrible and creeptastic and/or involve someone telling you where it puts the lotion or it gets the hose again.
posted by 445supermag at 5:20 PM on May 31, 2014


She said she had basketball tickets for that Friday, and suggested that we go to the basketball game first, and then do the Hannibal Lecter thing after.

It kind of had to be in that order, no?
posted by axiom at 9:10 PM on May 31, 2014 [5 favorites]


I'm super charmed by the idea, and the women who did this were amazing and wonderful, but I feel like the execution could've been so much better. Standing up in a tight space with a mirror is literally the worst possible way I can think of to look at cunts. I mean, I suppose that it'd work well for men, but (generally) protusive genitalia!

I really wish, for the sake of the women involved, that he'd, say, curtained off the lower half of a sofa, and had them lie down with a hand mirror. It could be almost exactly the same setup, turned 90 degrees, but it would be a much more physically comfortable thing to do, and give a much better view.
posted by MeghanC at 11:03 PM on May 31, 2014


tew: "I would really love to read some of the correspondence resulting from this "ad on Craigslist seeking women who for one reason or another had never seen their own vagina". I can't even begin to imagine who responds to an ad like that."

I'm trying to work up the nerve to advertise for models for completely mundane, come as you are, keep all your street clothes on photography and I can't even imagine placing the ad in the first place without feeling skin crawlingly creepy.
posted by Mitheral at 12:36 AM on June 1, 2014


i was somewhat surprised, and feel kinda weird that it's a guy who was doing this.

Would you feel better if it were a gay guy? Does the weirdness go away with heterosexuality or is it attached to the penis? Would a vagina-focused lesbian be better?

Of course! Haha! There may be no place more politically fraught than a woman's body. It'd be interesting to see what the creepyplot would look like. We are far from our aspirational world of persiontype neutrality.

The Craigslist angle sounds so snopes-y. THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T ANSWER CRAIGSLIST ADS, YOUR MOTHER WILL DIE OF EMBARASSMENT AND YOUR HAIR WILL INSTANTLY TURN WHITE AND YOU WILL WEAR A SACK FOR CLOTHING IF YOU ANSWER CRAIGSLIST AND LOOK AT YOUR VULVA.

Mitheral: I'd expect, like dating, the people who respond would be looking for that sort of thing and not embarassed or overly nervous about the overture. This being the 21st century, there are numerous marketplaces for both models and photgraphers that might grease the wheels. Good luck!
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:05 PM on June 1, 2014


As a person who has posted and responded to 100s of CL ads, I can say that the vast majority are posted by basically nice people who are being honest and clear about what they want. And there are lots of ways to increase the margin of safety.

As to why would people respond to this? Because it seems fun and/or interesting to them? Sometimes a project like this is what people need to frame doing something they've never done before, even though they easily could have at any time.

I always find it confusing when people expect all other people to be motivated by and interested in the same things they are.
posted by rosa at 5:20 AM on June 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


I once responded (mostly with curiosity, but with an open mind) to a CL ad looking for "a host body," or offering to confer if the reader was "looking for a host body".

It's just email.

(I didn't get a reply. I guess they found one.)
posted by Drexen at 5:38 AM on June 2, 2014


Of note this wasn't just 'someone' posting an ad. It was Davey Wavey who has done hundreds of videos. He has a way of getting people to talk about body parts and such. [Potentially NSFW link].
posted by Rashomon at 1:37 PM on June 2, 2014


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