American celebrity Kourtney Kardashian’s “vaginal wellness” range, which claims to “boost” your vagina’s health, is being called out by experts for its utterly unscientific and misogynistic nature.
Lemme Purr, as the product is called, has been made using pineapple, vitamin C, and “clinically-studied” probiotics, wrote Kardashian in an Instagram post.
In the same post, she went on to say,
“Vaginal health is such an important part of a woman’s overall well-being (and not talked about enough) which is why we are so excited to launch this! Give your vagina the sweet treat it deserves (and turn it into a sweet treat).”
Why It’s Problematic: Well, for starters, these vaginal gummies claim to change the taste of your vagina. But neither does the taste of the vagina, nor its smell, need any changing - and it is also not medically possible to actually alter them.
The vagina and its fluids thrive at a certain pH level and bringing any alien substance could harm the vaginal environment, affecting your hormones, hygiene, and possibly even causing infections, say experts.
Experts Are Not Happy: Maddy Dann, an accident and emergency doctor, told BBC Newsbeat,
“Every person with a vulva or vagina is going to have a different odour, it's going to have a different scent, a different taste, and a different amount of discharge. And so what this product suggests is that every woman needs to have the same tasting, the same smelling, vagina or discharge - and that's just not realistic.”
But unrealistic expectations of your genital organs looking or feeling a certain way isn’t the only problem or unnecessary insecurity that these vaginal gummies pose. The bigger problem is that tampering with the self-cleaning vagina isn’t the best idea.
The added concern also is that a weird smell in your vagina could be the sign of an infection, but instead of going to a gynaecologist to get it treated, vulva-owners might just start using such products and not consult a doctor until the problem is too big to be solved.
Dr Shirin Lakhani, a UK based general physician, was also quoted by Marie Claire as saying,
“No vagina is odorless and they shouldn’t be and they could have a huge range of smells and it might change based on your diet or menstrual cycle. If the smell is unpleasant or pungent, contact your doctor.”
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