Vaginaland
It’s the end of the world,” said my cousin, who is in no way an extremist.
“Why?” I asked.
She had just seen the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Bernadette Peters was the musical guest. She sang a clever song about masturbation. My cousin was shocked that the song made it through the censors.
This was the time when there were television censors whose work was to insure that the watching and listening public was not assaulted by obscenity.
state the following:
Obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and cannot be broadcast at any time. The Supreme Court has established that, to be obscene, material must meet a three-pronged test:
•An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;
•The material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and
•The material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
These regulations represent a huge change from my teen years.There are far fewer censors, to be sure.More importantly, community standards have changed.Cable television allowed nudity, simulated sex, and creative swearing from the poetic to the crude. On the original television stations – ABC, NBC, and CBS - as well as some competitors in the lower portion of the dial, dramatic shows have increasingly showed more skin.The explosion made possible by reality shows, and many of those drawn to being their “stars,” has certainly pushed the limit of what can be considered “literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” Swearing is simply bleeped out.
It is no surprise that some of our youth, many of whom find these shows fascinating, have filthy mouths.Gordon Ramsey, a world-class chef, has several shows in which he trains other chefs who can win restaurants or money to start them.He has a foul temper and an even fouler mouth.Even the seven-second delay for swear words cannot mask the fact that he consistently implying that contestants on his shows have had carnal knowledge of their mothers.Certainly, one could ask why people are willing to publicly humiliate themselves for money.Or why television stations would flout the FCC rules to broadcast these shows. Or why the FCC does not fine this or other shows for clear violations of their rules.
Back to the world ending.
Summer’s Eve feminine products line has recently begun a campaign called “Hail to the ‘V’.”V=vagina.I was raised to be proud of my vagina.I never learned any cute words for it. In the past tense of the new vernacular, “it was what it was.”I also learned from my doctors that the vagina was “a self-cleaning oven” that takes care of itself unless there is a medical problem.So, in my eyes, using vagina worship to sell products that imply that the world’s vaginas require wholesale cleansing with floral scents is the opposite of celebratory.Instead it is surprising, insulting and in some of its permutations, truly offensive.
Summer’s Eve recently offended many by creative ethnic versions of their “Hail” ads for the African American and Latino markets.Hearing a stylized “black” female voice call out “Hey, girl!” from a nappy head with a hand representing a vulva and vagina was absolutely the end of the world for me. When I say "talk to the hand!" I do NOT mean my vajayjay! Hounded by a Facebook frenzy of negative responses, the ad is now off the air.The new advertisement, shown in movie theaters, looks like a film trailer - multicultural women from days of yore watch as sword-twirling men fight for "it." The scene then shifts to a modern woman walking through a grocery store's feminine product aisle, while a voice-over asks her to demonstrate her love for "it." She smiles and settles on Summer's Eve products.
Marshall McLuhan was a media pundit known for coining the term “global village” and for the phrase, “the medium is the message.”This latter phrase is not as obvious as we might think.Technology, in this case, television alone, has not created the problems about which I have noted concerns.Instead, McLuhan posits that technology changes the space and connections in human affairs.Technology can impact definitions of what is or isn’t obscene or community standards.Technology can also be used to connect people in protests about what is offensive according to community standards.
McLuhan and his son, Eric, published the 4 Laws of Media.They stated that every technology:
Amplifies our culture;
2. Obsolesces aspects previously amplified
Retrieves elements previously obsolesced, and
Eventually reverses or “flips” into something else entirely.
From songs about masturbation to simulated masturbation, to tampons and vaginas as spanking clean as your lemon-scented dishes, the media have amplified our culture. The medium has also Community standards, too. It will be interesting to see how this “flips” into something else down the road. I pray that Summer’s Eve doesn’t find out.