How Society Twists the Truth of Vaginal Healthcare

From a young age, we are all are bombarded with ads featuring "feminine" hygiene products promising to keep vaginas "fresh," "odor-free," and "clean." While being influenced by this messaging, people move through puberty thinking that their vaginas should have no smell, and if it does, should smell of florals or vanilla.

Our society says we are "empowering women" with self-care through these vaginal fad-products but in reality, companies are preying on people's insecurities as a backward way of promoting "medical" approval or using homeopathy therapies.

Because of this, many people grow ashamed of the normal discharge and smell that comes with a balanced vagina, leading to overuse of these same harmful "hygiene" products and encouraging a lack of communication with their healthcare provider.

To understand the reason behind these fads and this way of thinking that is instilled in people from a young age, it's helpful to dive into the history of gynecological care.

In ancient Greek and Roman times, the vulva was worshipped, studied, and admired. The vulva and vagina (yoni) were believed to have miraculous powers and the menses were seen as a cleansing event. Vaginal discharge and the smell of female genitals were also seen as sacred. Over time, however, it was thought that women had too much power and eventually the "yoni" culture was pushed down while the male-oriented phallic culture rose, leading to the society that we are all too familiar with today. Due to this shift, many writings on the vulva were not passed down generation to generation because that information was not seen as "important."

With the rise of masculine power, came the focus on phallic pleasure and male anatomy, especially the penis, and the once highly-researched female genitalia started fading from medical literature. Often, general public information mirrors that of the medical community, so if the medical community was not actively learning and focusing on gynecological anatomy, neither was everyone else. This ultimately leads us to the mystery of the vulva and vagina, aka a lack of accurate information.

Another reason that these feminine hygiene fad-products exist is due to the lack of cumulative and accurate information on gynecological anatomy and physiology. Just like with many other areas in our society, when we don't know enough about something, we get "scared" and begin to inaccurately label and make assumptions. This includes making menstruating people feel embarrassed and ashamed when they have their monthly period, calling the smell (which actually stems from naturally-occurring pheromones that have biological roots in attraction to a mate) of the vagina "gross, disgusting, and abnormal."

Fad products that promise to "detox" or "cleanse" are incredibly harmful to this carefully balanced microbiome inside of the vagina.

Our society molds us to want to fit in and be "normal" and this culture has spilled over into vaginal health. Because of this desire to be "normal" and hide these natural body functions, came the rise of products to cover up or clean up those "disgusting" or "gross" functions. This misinformation and stereotyping, a toxic environment has been created leading women and people with vaginas to navigate their health without accurate information due to the shame culture associated with their genitals.

Not surprisingly, the vagina has its own ecosystem — the vaginal microbiome is the gateway to understanding many people's, particularly women's, overall health and immune system. Any disruption to this microbiome can lead to negative health outcomes and increased opportunities for disease.

Fad products that promise to "detox" or "cleanse" are incredibly harmful to this carefully balanced microbiome inside of the vagina. Even products that are advertised to "clean" in a natural, pure, or homeopathic way are falsely labeling vaginas to be seen as dirty with an inherent need to be cleaned when, in fact, the opposite is more accurate.

I've seen this need to be "clean" all the time lead many people with vaginas to take multiple showers daily, constantly change their underwear, and/or use fragrances and deodorants to cover up or mask their odor — all of which is doing incredible damage to their vaginal health.

Most recently, there was a company that marketed a vaginal cleansing brush to remove "debris" inside the vagina to help people feel cleaner and fresher. The issue here is that we (medical professionals and manufacturers) know better — we know that vaginas do not actually need these products, yet society has been programmed through messages in our culture telling us otherwise and manufacturers of fad feminine hygiene products are taking advantage of this opportunity.

Women and people with vaginas are often ashamed of their genitals because of long-term cultural messages and will oftentimes not seek medical attention when questions arise, and instead, look toward heavily marketed, harmful, over-the-counter products.

Our society says we are "empowering women" with self-care through these vaginal fad-products but in reality, companies are preying on people's insecurities as a backward way of promoting "medical" approval or using homeopathy therapies.

If there is one thing I want people to know, it is that when you come across products promising to clean your vagina, mask menses odor, etc…. walk away. There is no scientific evidence that supports these vaginal fad products and if anything, these will cause an imbalance of the normal bacteria in the vagina, causing negative health outcomes.

Think of the vagina as a self-cleaning oven. You do not need external products to clean the vagina, it will do it on its own. Never use soaps or anything fragranced in the vulvovaginal tissues and if you think something is going on outside of your normal vaginal health, talk to your OBGYN. As a healthcare provider, I often find that because they are embarrassed, women or people with vaginas will self-treat with over-the-counter products that create more harm than good. If there is a vaginal infection, your healthcare provider is able to diagnose and provide proper treatment.

Women and people with vaginas are often ashamed of their genitals because of long-term cultural messages and will oftentimes not seek medical attention when questions arise, and instead, look toward heavily marketed, harmful, over-the-counter products. This is where the fad industry is preying on both the "need immediate help" mentality and the taboo nature of these issues which encourages people to purchase these items — that are providing misleading and false claims — secretly. If anything, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, medicine is now looking at making telemedicine an option permanently, creating a more private opportunity for women or people with vaginas to seek appropriate medical information.

Your vulva and vagina are beautiful just the way they are and there is nothing you need to do to accessorize it or make it smell better.