"There is difference and there is power. And who holds the power decides the meaning of the difference." --June Jordan

Friday, November 7, 2008

The Implications of Gendered Lube

Have you seen those commercials for KY Yours and Mine, the new "his" and "hers" lube? Here they are, all on one convenient YouTube video:



Now, read what Rachel from Women's Health News has to say about it:
Earlier this week, I was waiting around the drug store for a prescription, and was able to take a good long look at the crotch aisle (condoms, lube, and pregnancy tests) as the products were actually on the aisle rather than locked up in a case.

Now, I’ve recently been seeing commercials for KY Yours & Mine, and was curious enough to read the package. The “Yours” is supposed to be “for him” and the “Mine” is supposed to be “for her,” so I will now refer to them as “his” and “hers.”We’re going to leave aside for now the obviously problematic nature of assuming all sex takes place between “him” and “her.”

Get this: his has sweeteners - honey and sucralose (which is Splenda!) - while hers has “fragrance.” Seriously. Hers does not have sweeteners, and his does not have “fragrance.”

Now, I suppose it’s possible that the other ingredients in his just taste terrible and need some help, and the other ingredients in hers smell bad and also need a boost. The message I’m going to walk away with, though, because I think it’s more likely, is that his (and only his) body is for tasting while hers is naturally stinky.

Harumph.
Harumph is right.

I know those commercials go on and on about how the "sensations" these lubes give are somehow gender-specific (whatever that means), but this flavor/fragrance ridiculousness is maddening.

And sucralose? Seriously? I could make so many jokes about Diet Cock right now...

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know what? If there's a penis in my mouth, it's not the time to be concerned about my health. I want chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallows, and graham crackers surrounding that thing.

Tracey said...

Agreed. But shouldn't men have the same flavor incentives to get down there and please us? And why don't the menz need fragrance just as much as the laydeez?

Anonymous said...

@plumpdumpling penis smores? :)

Anonymous said...

There's this. I think it's over the counter.

http://omggel.com/

Enjoy.....

http://tiny.cc/janeyruth793

habladora said...

Yes, please do make some more Diet Cock jokes... I need a good laugh.

Anonymous said...

Now, maybe this is just me, but, most of the time, if I'm using lube, it's not only on my genitals. So the whole idea of his and yours/mine and yours goes out the window, cause it's doing its thing for both of us.

Maybe I'm the only one who uses lube for PiV sex, though.

Anonymous said...

Very strange. Given the hetero* dominated world we live in you would think that the 'hers' version would taste like beer and hot dogs. Maybe steak.

* fyi: that would be me.

Cola said...

Ewww... You see, to me, penises don't smell that great because they're generally locked up in pants and men can't be bathing every hour. In my experience, putting febreeze on stinky couch cushions just makes them smell ten times worse, and I can only assume the same principle applies. If it tastes bad, all the sugar in the world is just going to make it taste worse and ruin sugar for you.

Fake sugar is just awful to begin with.

OTOH, it's my strong personal opinion that my vagina smells and tastes awesome all by itself, and all my lovers, past and present, tend to agree. The only conclusion I can draw from all this is that we're not supposed to like vaginas because women have them and women suck, whereas the almighty penis should be treated like an idol and annointed with oils and crap.

That's just how this makes me feel.

Anonymous said...

And let's not forget that sweeteners encourage yeast infections...

Jess said...

Weird. At least as far as I'm concerned, lube is more useful for PiV, where it gets on both people, rather than for oral, where you would care about smell or taste. So apart from being offensively gendered, the differences seem sort of useless..

P said...

I'm pretty sure sucralose can't be fermented. Yeast like the real thing.

Lauren O said...

The commercial seems to market it based on different sensations, but I don't really get what those could possibly be. Are they supposed to produce slightly different tingling sensations, one of which always feels better to men and one of which always feels better to women? That seems...nonsensical.

If the only difference is that one has fragrance and the other has flavor, that's even more useless, because that implies that you should be using lube during oral sex, which is pretty much the time where you definitely don't need lube.

I think the commercial is a little too blatant about what their actual goal is with the whole "two products" line. Yes, thank you, KY, I get that you want me to spend twice as much money by buying two products instead of one. I get it.

Tracey said...

I haven't checked the prices in comparison to other types of KY, but I think that lauren o is onto something with the two-products=twice-as-expensive problem.

Anonymous said...

You make a very good point.

To be honest, the last thing I want to do is taste lube. Seems kind of superfluous, anyway, if my mouth is going to be down there anyway.

LadyYucky said...

I am just really happy with the attitude everyone here has. Really nice to read different, intelligent opinions where no one is attacking any others for any reason. It feels good to know there are people genuinely interested in ideas and conversation and opinion more than asserting theirs. Thanks for making my day!

LadyYucky said...

I am just really happy with the attitude everyone here has. Really nice to read different, intelligent opinions where no one is attacking any others for any reason. It feels good to know there are people genuinely interested in ideas and conversation and opinion more than asserting theirs. Thanks for making my day!

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