by Ness Fraser

As a general rule, I tend to be weary of companies that try to tell me that my body is not good enough — just by nature of being a body. Companies that promote hair removal products, anti-wrinkle creams, and cellulite reducing balms tend to be among the legions of corporations to which I remain distrustful. But recently, Summer’s Eve has proved itself the clear winner of  the scummiest company of the year award.

In their newest ad campaign titled “Hail to the V” the company — which seeks to tell people that they need to wash their vaginas — has sunk to a new low and is now spreading the message that that they need to wash their smelly vaginas because men worship them (so they should smell like flowers).

Their new extended cut, minute-long commercial totes that women are all-powerful beings in our society—or rather, that our vaginas are. The ad calls the vagina (while of course never referring to it as a “vagina”) as the “centre of civilization” and goes on to claim that “men have fought  for it, battled for it, and died for it.”

In their print campaign, they claim that “it was more than [Helen of Troy’s] face that launched a thousand ships.” Continuing down the path of disgusting body policing misogyny, the same ad says that if her vagina wasn’t stinky and gross (like normal vaginas are, according to Summer’s Eve) then she wouldn’t have had even more sex and inspired even more things to be done in her name — or rather, in the name of her vagina.

They’ve kindly also released three short commercials that feature hands-as-vaginas that talk to the audience and tell them that they need Summer’s Eve in order to be clean. While they tried to be sort of inclusive, featuring a white hand-as-vagina, a black hand-as-vagina, and a Latina hand-as-vagina, the ridiculous amount of racial stereotyping alone is enough to turn one’s stomach. In fact, they garnered so much controversy that Summer’s Eve has pulled the ads from its website and YouTube page and issued an apology for any offense caused.

What they haven’t apologized for—ever–is reducing people to parts of their body. Ironic how they claim it was Helen of Troy’s vagina that inspired change, and not her intelligence, personality, or her own hard work and sacrifice. To Summer’s Eve, the only way a person can get anything done is by using their vagina. It is the vagina that they claim is the “centre of civilization”, not the people they belong to. They say men have fought and died for the vagina, but completely ignore the entire human being they are attached to.

While I believe the vagina is a wonderful and powerful thing, it is preposterous to act like it is the only thing about a person that has any value. Ironically, the Summer’s Eve people can hardly even bring themselves to call it a vagina (or the vulva, to be precise) and prefer to call it things like the “special friend from down under.” It seems to me that this is a whole lot of body shaming bull crap wrapped up in a pretty “we’ll help you pretend you’re empowered” package.

I am more than just my vagina. And my vagina—along with the rest of my body— is perfectly fine the way it is. To quote the Vagina Monologues: “My vagina doesn’t need to be cleaned up. It smells good already. Don’t try to decorate. Don’t believe him when he tells you it smells like rose petals when it’s supposed to smell like pussy.”