barricades and the lady with heart trouble

“Women were taught how to be good consumers by buying the best products for the best price, just as any factory purchaser would do for his business. This disciplinary logic of the household made for an immediate association between protection of the home from an invasion of anything inferior or impure, and fear of the consequences of failure. Not only would an inability to stem the invasive tide of germs have a physical consequence for the health of the family, it would also cause a collapse of identity and social position.” (Critical Art Ensemble in Tactical Biopolitics 2008: 418)

In speaking to the discussion of fear and bodily boundaries presented in Bioparanoia and the Culture of Control, I would like to draw your attention to an ad that appeared in the June 1934 edition of McCall’s magazine.

The enlarged text can be read here

This ad, which features a forlorn woman puzzling over her marital woes, is framed as thirteenth in a series of “frank talks by eminent women physicians.” This makes it appear as though it is an authoritative health discussion rather than a product advertisement, obscuring the financial motives behind it. Indeed, as the above quote highlights, there appears to have been a conflation between consumerism and cleanliness, and keeping up with the Jones’ was both a monetary competition and a moral act. Failing to heed one’s mandate of maintaining medical-grade hygiene in all spheres of life (including the euphemistic “marital hygiene”) could lead to a “wretched marriage”, and all the social stigma that came attached.

In discussing the germ frenzy, CAE argue that growth of the disinfectant industry relies on “wasted activity – cleaning that which no longer needs cleaning” (419). Not just that which no longer requires it, but that which never did require such efforts also must fall under the industry’s advertising domain. Areas of the body that are now referred to as self-cleaning, often using metaphors of ecological balance wherein various species of bacteria and yeast coexist in unending competition (including this one  which refers to it as a life-long relationship we have with our “sea of microorganisms”) became the target of a series of ads for products such as lysol, or marvel hygiene spray . For such ads to be effective, however, fear must be instilled. The vagina has “hidden folds” where germs lurk threatening to turn marriages sour. The fear of gossip threatening ones social standing is used in this ad, which ironically frames douche use as a sign that “prudishness is as obsolete as the hoop skirt.” Happiness is a disinfected vagina.

Or a sterile one, which leads me to an aside about how Lysol was also used as a spermicide to regulate timing of pregnancies. Interesting how at a time when having kids was expected, semen was likened (through practical necessity I’m sure) to germs….

In the quest to achieve a new standard of purity, the inner folds of the body were subject to increasing standards of cosmetic attention (Lysterine was developed originally as a general antiseptic and became marketed as a mouthwash just after the first World War). That was then…

While douching is no longer recommended by doctors, the antiseptic push continues. Lysterine, for example, has continued to find ways to embed its fight against halitosis into a variety of products. And for that nasty bacteria that grows in our sticky sweaty armpits? First there were deodorants, then antiperspirants and now we are starting to see clinical strength treatments against perspiration appear on the shelves of drugstores (for ladies who don’t just glisten, they sweat!). No longer can we simply mask our stink with other stinks as the increase in chemical sensitivities pushes more and more places to instill rules against chemical scents (a trend I will not be fighting against!).  We can no longer mask our stink.  We must fight it.  We are forming barricades. Antiseptics keep germs out as we block our pores to keep sweat in.

In discussing this history, CAE argues that “eventually the antiseptic era of medicine gave way to the aseptic era, in which bacterial contamination was intentionally and actively avoided, and antiseptics were used as a second line of defense. This was the upside” (417). While avoiding infectious disease is most certainly a laudable goal, I question whether avoidance of the dirt and grime that makes us human is being circumvented a little too much. In addition to the immune defense argument provided briefly in the text, I would like to put forward another trend:  the increasing use of birth control methods among women that sharply reduce menstruation, such as depo provera.  By beginning this post discussing the history of Lysol in vaginas and ending it with a discussion of how menstruation is increasingly becoming optional I am not trying to argue that women are still afraid of losing social standing due to a lack of feminine hygiene.  I do, however, think that these barricades are becoming a bit intense, and I fear the next norm of personal hygiene.  It worries me when our own bodily processes become a choice and keeping up with ideals becomes more expensive and exclusive.  That being said, when I see you all on Thursday, I will be wearing deodorant.