Screenshot (Photo: Facebook)

"If my period looked like this I would go to the doctor"

If you have not come across advertisements for the Modi-Body cycle underwear in one of the media, it means that you have gone down to Sinai.

Also on the radio, also on TV, also on the net, and they are all commercials with the aftertaste of a little angry empowerment.

Hagar Eshtar explains why it is not "as it is"

Hagar Eshtar

29/06/2022

29/06/2022

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After digging into our brains wherever possible they came to TV, and if until now we have managed to ignore, now there is no choice must talk about the Modibody commercial.

For those who live under the rock, these are menstrual panties, which are supposed to be comfortable, thin and imperceptible, and still absorb menstrual blood, in a way that eliminates the need for a tampon or hygienic bandage, and is reusable and therefore ecological.

But in the commercial I saw now nothing of all these very good things was said.

I would like to pardon all of these, adding that they are made from the highest quality materials, and even that it pays me significantly more to invest in them financially than to continue to buy an infinity of bandages and tampons that will end up in the trash.

But I can not, because in this advertisement there is not, even a slight hint of the benefits of the product - there is very little information about the product, and the video left me with a relatively high pulse and a very unpleasant general feeling.

This is how it is when you hear strong breaths, dramatic music and narration in a general doomsday atmosphere.

I admit I did not connect to the artistic choice, but the real problem is precisely the failure to convey the right messages.

Have you noticed where are almost all the women photographed in the commercial?

At home.

They are all locked in a room, in the bathroom, and even specifically in bed.

And that does not represent what a cycle looks like.

True, not every girl who gets a cycle undergoes an immediate transformation and becomes an Ashram linoy in a tight and shiny leotard, picking up gold medals, right.

And yet, the reality is somewhere in the middle: it is probably in the office, or in other arrangements, perhaps at a social event, or at school.

You don't have to hide the blood, but you also don't have to sit next to it and stare at it (Photo: screenshot, Facebook)

The only girl who is not at home in this commercial is the empathetic soldier (not cynically, we were all there) sitting in the sun in a uniform so uncomfortable to sit and not comfortable at all (as mentioned, we were there), and yet, the soldier's presence only emphasizes The message: Are you circulating and out of the house?

Apparently you really had no choice in the matter.

This is often not true - we usually have a choice.

If I decide to stay home today because of menstruation, I prefer to think that I am comforting, pampering, or just allowing myself to rest, and not because "that's the way it is."

Also, if menstruation had affected me in such a way that prevented me from functioning on a daily basis, I would have turned to consulting a doctor.

Within all these possibilities there is also the possibility that a girl in menstruation takes a day off and rests at home in bed, but to show only this possibility and to put the final title "as it is" is a problematic and even dangerous choice, because she describes us as weak, and menstruation as a limitation.

So if I have to pick my favorite image for what a girl in a circle looks like - I choose Linoy Ashram.

Another message that the advertisement tries to convey is that menstruation is a normal thing and should not be ashamed of it and its products - the blood, and in the advertisement we see a lot of blood.

Blood on the sheet, which can indeed happen and even leave a stain, which is not terrible at all.

In principle, normalizing the existence of blood and living in harmony with it is a legitimate aspiration, but the advertisement takes that too far too.

There is blood, no need to be ashamed of it, but most of the time not in such quantities as we see in the scene in the sink and bath - blood is washed down the leg, blood is squeezed from the panties soaked in the sink - instead of normalizing the blood, it does just the opposite.

The scenes are crunchy and unpleasant to watch, and the message is distorted: the cycle is a horror movie that takes place in a slaughterhouse, blood is dirt that flows in the gutters, it has to be washed, cleaned, and if so, it makes you want to shower with a tampon, and the rest of the time You will need to squeeze a liter of blood into your sink.

I was convinced.

Next time a bandage (Photo: Screenshot, Facebook)

If you want to normalize the presence of menstrual blood in public space it would make more sense to convey it in a scene that happened to every woman / girl at some point.

For example, a university lecturer who turns around to write on the board and a red stain is discovered on her pants.

Then quiet.

A silence of lack of drama, not of horror.

It is clear that no brand that sells menstrual hygiene products will direct such a video to sell a product designed to collect the blood, hide it and control it.

And this is not a critique - it is indeed a legitimate, convenient and hygienic choice to deal with menstrual blood.

But the attempt to "normalize" the blood is hypocrisy.

Because in the end, the purpose of the product they sell is not to let the blood "escape".

Lastly, there are a great many expectations, restrictions and criticisms that women experience due to prejudices about their behavior during menstruation.

Phrases like "You're probably reacting like that because you're in a cycle", "A cycle is not an excuse", "Do not come if you are in a cycle" Every woman has ever heard.

And yet, not every issue related to women or female struggles can and should be resolved in an in-your-face "empowering" message.

Precisely in this case, in my opinion and the opinion of many women, true freedom is actually the option to hide the blood.

"We are allowed to feel the way we want to feel" is a statement that should resonate aloud outside the realm of menstruation.

Every day every month and every year we are allowed to feel what we want to feel.

And here is the message that we must expose the cycle, ostensibly to justify the feelings, choices and actions we have done because we are in the cycle - out of lack of choice and not out of choice.

Because "that's how it is."

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To the full article

People do not have to know that I am in a cycle (Photo: Screenshot, Facebook)

Each one should feel as she pleases and do what suits her every day, regardless of menstruation.

What can help us get there, and free us from various criticisms and expectations are two things.

The first is assertiveness, and the central one is the possibility of hiding the blood, and thus conducting ourselves as we please.

If I want to say that I'm in a cycle - it's under my control, and if I'm offended by something and someone finds it appropriate to underestimate it and say "you're only offended because you're in a cycle, you're exaggerating,

No one will tell me how to feel during menstruation because I have the freedom to act as I wish - people do not have to know I am menstruating, and this freedom is made possible by products that help me regulate blood, catch it in place, control it, and conduct my life the way I want.

Of course this product can also be ecological, convenient and economically viable and insanely fashionable.

Too bad I did not hear of such a product in an advertisement.

I would buy.

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Tags

• cycle

• Menses

• women

• Advertising

• Female empowerment