YOUR VAGINA DESERVES A GIANT AD TOO
Under his eye—one that wants you to see ads and images and products promoting his sexual health and pleasure, not yours.
I did not know but am not surprised that the aging and ailing NYC MTA’s advertising practices are as outdated as the subways themselves. While ads for erectile dysfunction are boldly plastered across platforms, alas, ads for the female equivalent are banned. And not just over at the F train.
Facebook and its’ sister companies notoriously ban ads promoting products and services that empower women’s sexual wellness, ranging from products designed to prevent painful sex in women with endometriosis to lubricants that help menopausal women and cancer patients. This is not anecdotal: this is fact.
Similarly, 21st century payment processors such as Stripe are pandering to very Victorian-era ideas about sexuality when defending their choice not to provide payment services for items and services deemed “profane,” items ranging from female condoms to companies that dare to educate women, and men, about sexual health and pleasure at all. This is a ban to process the actual payments, something one would think is a straightforward and private transaction.
This illuminating op-ed, via the New York Times, doesn’t advocate for a porn free-for-all in public spaces but instead calls out yet another abhorrent double standard for women. Blessed be the fruit indeed when a woman’s “papaya” ad has permission to stand next to a man's.