Feminine hygiene is a 32 billion dollar industry, globally. While much of it goes to products for menstruation, a chunk also goes to products that help women keep their vaginas clean: douches, deodorants, and sprays. This, coupled with other treatments such as waxing, vajazzling, or even labiaplasty, gives vagina-havers around the world one message: Keep your vagina clean, pretty, and odor-free.
On this week’s Divided States of Women we talk to a gynecologist about whether vaginas need all these products to “stay clean.” We also tackle the question: Why are there no similar products to keep penises clean?