Senile agitation
May 11, 2007 5:29 PM Subscribe
Lysol, the feminine hygiene aide. OK, I admit I find the more outlandish old ads hold a certain fascination, so to add to my past posts I offer the latest installment of my ad-tastic quest, and remember: "Smoking is believing"
This post was deleted for the following reason: seen it, regrettably. try the cooterwash tag. -- jessamyn
dupe
sorta-dupe
Dupe in comments
Next time try searching for "lysol" before posting.
posted by mrbill at 5:31 PM on May 11, 2007
sorta-dupe
Dupe in comments
Next time try searching for "lysol" before posting.
posted by mrbill at 5:31 PM on May 11, 2007
(that came across more prick-ish-sounding than I intended, sorry)
posted by mrbill at 5:32 PM on May 11, 2007
posted by mrbill at 5:32 PM on May 11, 2007
ok, the Lysol specific one is a dupe, but there is so much more as well, so....
posted by edgeways at 5:39 PM on May 11, 2007
posted by edgeways at 5:39 PM on May 11, 2007
That senile agitation one is my favorite image in the history of the web. It burns in my heart with the heat of a thousand lolcats.
posted by jonson at 6:01 PM on May 11, 2007
posted by jonson at 6:01 PM on May 11, 2007
Ah, douching: the triumph of marketing and low self-esteem over health and common sense.
It's true that back before World War II Lysol was used as a douche against yeast infections. They didn't have much else. It also worked, although the side effects could be pretty serious (see below) and the chemicals themselves could be irritating on their own.
When antifungals (such as Monistat) that treated yeast infections with fewer side effects were developed, the companies that made douches were stuck. They had dedicated manufacturing plants, but what to do if there was no medical reason to douche?
Easy. They took out ads that implied women who douched were "fresh" and "clean" - and by implication, women who didn't douche were dirty.
To this day there are women who are convinced - and no amount of evidence will dissuade them - that douching is necessary for cleanliness. There are also a lot of men who think women who don't douche are dirty.
The reality is that the vagina is self-cleaning and douching is unnecessary. Worse, not only does douching disturb the normal vaginal environment, causing more infections and consequent bad smells than you can imagine (and causing women to continue to douche, thinking their bodies are somehow "filthy"), the practice can also cause even more serious problems. A metastudy reported in Science News showed that women who douched regularly and became pregnant had significantly higher rates of ectopic pregnancies and low birth weight babies as women who douched rarely or never. Women who douched were also more likely to be infertile from pelvic infections - apparently douches have the ability to wash vaginal bacteria up into the uterus.
Interestingly, the lower the woman's education level, the more likely she is to douche. Douching is currently uncommon outside the United States.
posted by watsondog at 6:31 PM on May 11, 2007
It's true that back before World War II Lysol was used as a douche against yeast infections. They didn't have much else. It also worked, although the side effects could be pretty serious (see below) and the chemicals themselves could be irritating on their own.
When antifungals (such as Monistat) that treated yeast infections with fewer side effects were developed, the companies that made douches were stuck. They had dedicated manufacturing plants, but what to do if there was no medical reason to douche?
Easy. They took out ads that implied women who douched were "fresh" and "clean" - and by implication, women who didn't douche were dirty.
To this day there are women who are convinced - and no amount of evidence will dissuade them - that douching is necessary for cleanliness. There are also a lot of men who think women who don't douche are dirty.
The reality is that the vagina is self-cleaning and douching is unnecessary. Worse, not only does douching disturb the normal vaginal environment, causing more infections and consequent bad smells than you can imagine (and causing women to continue to douche, thinking their bodies are somehow "filthy"), the practice can also cause even more serious problems. A metastudy reported in Science News showed that women who douched regularly and became pregnant had significantly higher rates of ectopic pregnancies and low birth weight babies as women who douched rarely or never. Women who douched were also more likely to be infertile from pelvic infections - apparently douches have the ability to wash vaginal bacteria up into the uterus.
Interestingly, the lower the woman's education level, the more likely she is to douche. Douching is currently uncommon outside the United States.
posted by watsondog at 6:31 PM on May 11, 2007
Interesting. Where did you get those facts (besides the ones in Science News article)?
posted by found missing at 6:39 PM on May 11, 2007
posted by found missing at 6:39 PM on May 11, 2007
Intersesting, watsondog. I've never quite managed to forgive lysol for this rather disturbing bit of their history. You'd think they'd have changed their name, or something.
posted by Hildegarde at 6:39 PM on May 11, 2007
posted by Hildegarde at 6:39 PM on May 11, 2007
Metafilter: Next time try searching for "lysol" before posting.
posted by eriko at 6:48 PM on May 11, 2007
posted by eriko at 6:48 PM on May 11, 2007
if you look, a lot of the early ads for lysol douching appear to imply that it was a birth control method -- remember, this is back before griswold v ct, so it's not like you could get lots of info about birth control. particularly if you were a woman.
this and this (vintage ads hosted at the museum of menstruation) both sound to my (admittedly modern) woman's ear to be using "feminine hygiene" to be a bit more than "not smelling" but rather getting rid of that pesky sperm.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:48 PM on May 11, 2007
this and this (vintage ads hosted at the museum of menstruation) both sound to my (admittedly modern) woman's ear to be using "feminine hygiene" to be a bit more than "not smelling" but rather getting rid of that pesky sperm.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:48 PM on May 11, 2007
Love -in a macabre kind of way- those scary old ads on Weirdomatic.
Horrendous to think the damage done telling women to douche with Lysol.
Dettol is the Brit version of Lysol. Both have cresol, which gives it that creosote/phenol pong. Dettol is still used all over the world to bathe with, especially in the tropics.
Creolin is the seriously effective industrial version, incredibly cheap and effective for elimination of vermin such as bedbugs or lice in animal bedding, stables.
posted by nickyskye at 7:17 PM on May 11, 2007
Horrendous to think the damage done telling women to douche with Lysol.
Dettol is the Brit version of Lysol. Both have cresol, which gives it that creosote/phenol pong. Dettol is still used all over the world to bathe with, especially in the tropics.
Creolin is the seriously effective industrial version, incredibly cheap and effective for elimination of vermin such as bedbugs or lice in animal bedding, stables.
posted by nickyskye at 7:17 PM on May 11, 2007
Everything is new to someone somewhere.
posted by Dave Faris at 8:02 PM on May 11, 2007
posted by Dave Faris at 8:02 PM on May 11, 2007
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I expected that one to be sponsored by Smith & Wesson.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:31 PM on May 11, 2007