Not everyone backs Paltrow’s ‘science’
It’s Gwyneth Paltrow’s world and we’re just living in it. If her lifestyle brand Goop has taught us anything beyond this, it’s that you can put an assortment of things inside your vagina, whether that’s jade eggs or spa steam, and be better for it.
But here’s a news flash: you really shouldn’t be putting anything in your vagina that isn’t meant to go inside it. It is not a sliding door like Paltrow might think — there is only one outcome and it is not good.
Take, for example, “Passion Dust.” The tellingly named company Pretty Women Inc. is behind the product, which supposedly adds “sparkle and flavour to your natural vaginal fluids to make the experience of lovemaking that much more fun and enjoyable for you and your partner.” It promises consumers a product that is “just enough to make your lover feel that your Yara (water- lady or l i ttle butterfly) is what all vaginas are supposed to look, feel and taste like; soft, sweet and magical!”
As a side note: if a company is marketing a product for your vagina but is incapable of using the actual word and instead opts for adorkable monikers like “water-lady,” steer clear. (And please never refer to any inch of your vaginal area as “adorkable.”)
Here’s the thing: The vagina has a habit of being able to take care of itself. It has its own balance of good bacteria and it self-cleans. So inserting anything inside it that could disturb that balance can lead to infection, inflammation, scratches and/or vaginal discharge.
Canadian gynecologist Jen Gunter, who has made it her mission to tear down Paltrow’s “science,” recently blogged about Passion Dust, warning women: “Just because something is safe for your lips, for example glitter lip gloss, doesn’t mean it is safe for the vagina... If isn’t plastic and it’s sugar, well, depositing sugar in the vagina lets the bad bacteria go wild. Studies looking at treating bacterial vaginosis with vaginally administered probiotics were halted because the glucose keeping the probiotics alive made the bad bacteria go wild.”
The Pretty Women website, of course, goes as far as warning buyers not to listen to their doctors and opt for their sage advice instead: “Any gynaecologist would tell you that NOTHING should go in your vagina! ... People have opinions and love to share them.” Because “if you’ve ever had vaginal issues you had them before you used Passion Dust anyway. If you’ve ever had a yeast infection, I’m sure it wasn’t caused by glitter, it just happens sometimes (Oh, the joys of being a girl!).”
If that is the sort of backwards logic that can sway you because girls!, by all means, go forth and enter the sparkly void (or let it enter you), but don’t be surprised when it ends in glittery chaos — which is not as cute as it sounds.