Everybody Poops: A More Subtle Attack on the Female Body

So it begins…

I was watching TV over the long holiday weekends and was struck by something that disturbed me: the targeted advertising on channels geared towards female audiences. I couldn’t tell you for certain which channel it was because it happened on a numerous channels, but it did happen during programs that tend to have a female demographic. I probably would not have been as bothered had the advertising been for products that women specifically need to use more than men, but it wasn’t.

The first thing I noticed every commercial break was an ad for either NutriSystem featuring Marie Osmond or Weight Watchers featuring Oprah. I definitely understand that around the holidays people tend to worry more about weight gain, but these ads seemed to be specifically targeting women. Don’t get me wrong, obesity is a major health concern. However, these ads seemed to focus solely on women and weight loss goals. There was little discussion of what weight loss might mean for health. The focus was on getting rid of that (in the cases of the women shown) little bit of excess belly fat. The women shown may not be thin or have a higher BMI (a calculation that most health professionals will tell you is not an accurate way to measure body fat or determine health risks), but they certainly didn’t seem to be at great health risk. 

There is so much more that goes into a healthy lifestyle than weight. I could certainly stand to lose some weight, but I am also not what you would call unhealthy because my cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure are well within the normal range. I exercise regularly and eat a balanced healthy diet for the most part. With all of the problems with body image that we have in today’s society, ads like this tend to exacerbate the situation. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to lose weight and feel good about your body, but it shouldn’t be the only thing. With these ads playing every commercial break in the hour or so that I watched the station, it seemed to be spreading the message that women are only as good as they look on the outside in terms of weight.

The other commercial I saw every commercial break was for a product called V.I.Poo from the makers of Air Wick. This product is designed to keep the toilet from smelling after pooping. The commercial feature a tall, skinny pretty blonde woman at a movie premiere of some kind. She identified herself as a hot new starlet that sometimes had to go poo but was afraid of embarrassing herself by appearing unladylike in front of her male director because of the odor of her feces. This is where V.I.Poo came into play. The thing that bothered me so much about this commercial is that it unfairly targets women. Everybody poops. And guess what poop smells. Why do we need to perpetuate the myth that women are somehow immune to this? This idea that the female body is pristine in its functions in a way that is different from men is a dangerous ideal. I might feel different about this commercial if men were treated in the same way, but there was no expectation that the male director might use the product as well. It was advertised as something meant for women only.

I mean let’s look back at something that Donald Trump said about Hillary Clinton’s extended bathroom break during the primary debates when she was facing Bernie Sanders. He called it disgusting that she would take so long in the bathroom. It’s a subtle form of bodily control when men denigrate women for engaging in natural bodily functions such as using the bathroom. With our President-elect, it unfortunately didn’t stop there. His comments about that Megyn Kelly had blood coming out of her “whatever” because she asked him tough questions in a primary debate is yet another instance where a woman is reduced to her body’s natural functions which are disgusting to men. 

While the battle over women’s bodies is nothing new, this trend is a more subtle attack. By undermining how women feel about everyday bodily functions, it can become easier to begin to control the agency women exercise over their own bodies. It seems to be a return to the “values” of the 1940s and 1950s where ladylike behavior was the norm, and this behavior meant restricting what women should and shouldn’t do with their bodies. As we continue to deal with issues about body image that lead to self-injurious behavior, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, slut-shaming, etc., we don’t need to add this to the pile.