Questioning Advertisement

 

Looking at this ad, a few things pop out to me:

a. The female vs. female aspect of the ad.

Why do I continuously see messages of women pinned against women as in a duel?  Messages for women to fight against EACH OTHER are running rampant in popular culture, whether we are fighting 85-1 for a man on television or reading about Sarah Palin v Hillary Clinton in the newspaper.  Coming across an advertisement for tampons - whose sole consumer base is female -   that blatantly divides and conquers our gender, is very disappointing. 

b. "Mother nature has met her match." 

Not only are women fighting each other, we are fighting ourselves--our bodies!! Forget the curse, our periods are not the enemy.  Periods are our natural and innate gift that, if we chose to, enables us to give life.  It represents a healthy female.

I see this as a way to disconnect women from their bodies and the built in strength that we have,  purely because we are women.  Having a period gives us the ability to have children and bear life.  The vigor and power that it takes to perform such a miracle, whether you choose to or not, is unparalleled by few miracles in the world.  Separating women from this force and making it our enemy keeps us from tapping into our innate abilities and thus keeping us tightly concealed under patriarchy's thumb.

On the flip side....