Thank you to everyone who came last night to our fabulous DoubleX event at Housing Works, a panel discussion called ” That Not-So-Fresh Feeling: Marketing Embarrassing Products to Women .” For those of you who couldn’t make the discussion among Target Women creator Sarah Haskins, former Colbert Report executive producer Allison Silverman, and Flow author Susan Kim, here are a few charmingly amateurish videos I took with a flip cam. The lovely panelists spoke hilariously about the ways “fem care” is sold to women-mostly by making us feel ashamed of our natural biological functions. The first video is of Susan Kim, the second is of Sarah Haskins, and the third is of moderator Hanna Rosin chatting with Susan, Sarah, and Allison.
Susan Kim on the history of fem care: “They use rags, they use grass, they use sticks, they use nothing-that’s what petticoats were for!”
Sarah Haskins on commercials selling products to women: “Ever since we were borne of Adam’s rib we have been flawed, and the only things that will fix us will be sold to us as we watch Project Runway .”
Allison Silverman on aspirational tampon ads: “I was struck by all the horseback riding. Things I would never, ever want to do when I was menstruating. I was surprised there was no person comfortably reading a book.”
