Apparently that's what some folks on the left think. Folks on the right rush to defend a product which may very well be toxic.
This is just another example of the dog and pony show which is modern politics. You are presented with a choice: either be a feminist and blame everything on the mythical "patriarchy" or be a consumerist and support woke corporations. Of course, it's a false choice, because you don't have to be either of these things, that is, you can freely reject both.
Here I'm going to make a confession. I don't use a deodorant. Haven't used it for like 10 years or longer. I don't stink. I shower and change my clothes regularly. Shaving your arm pits, especially in summer, helps, too. BTW, I recently switched to showering with warm water only (no shower gel or soap, just like cavemen regimen suggests) and I haven't noticed any difference. Warm enough water and some scrubbing do wonders, unless you work in a coal mine.
So no, deodorant isn't a tool of patriarchy. The US of America isn't patriarchy by any long stretch. In fact, it's like the ground zero of feminism. But, it's also the ground zero of consumerism. And corporations don't really care about your well-being, they only care about making money. I'm quite proud that I'm cheating them out of some of it:)
It's well known that most leftist were filthy stinking pigs. Karl Marx, Mao, Castro and others were known for their lack of bathing.
ReplyDeleteWhen you read articles like that, you have to wonder what the editors of The Onion have to write about these days. How do you satirize that?
Honk honk:) Seriously, the other side isn't much better nowadays.
ReplyDeleteThat dualism, or labeling everything, is something that really bothers me nowadays. If you do not use product X, you are a stinky hippie. If you do use it, you are brainwashed with consumerist ideology or something. It is like all choises are political nowadays, starting from wearing innocent scarfs...
ReplyDeleteIt is like people have forgotten that different things work for different people.
I know other ladies who never use deodorant and they are as fresh as anybody. I think stinky people usually do not wash their clothes often enough or well.
I also believe that reducing the amount of chemicals we use is a good idea, just to be on the safe side. But if one feels one needs something, she should use it. Wether it is deodorant, lippy or whatever.
I also think it is important to talk about -well, everything. Because often people would like to seize doing something but they feel compelled to do it, because they are afraid people will think they are disgusting and if you want to be good member of society, you MUST do everything ladie's magazines tell you to.
What I'm getting at, is that modern politics, especially in the USA where there are only 2 parties, presents people with a false choice. It's like there are two football teams and you are either Team A or Team B, there is no in between. It's perfectly ridiculous to claim that the non-existing "patriarchy"" forces women to use a deo, but there is nothing wrong with asking yourself whether we do need all these beauty products in such amounts. Yet, there appears to be no middle way. You have to pick your team (progressives vs conservatives) and keep cheering for it.
ReplyDeleteIn Europe it's more complicated, because there are so many parties, but they can be roughly divided into the same camps. Neither of which has any interest in restoring our traditions and promoting the interests of indigenous folks.
I'm well aware of this for a long time now. Both parties are inherently awful and self serving.
DeleteAs for deodorant or perfume, I would like some femininity. No man wants to be around a woman with hairy armpits and smells. I would guess most expect some level of sanitation from a man as well.
Great minds think alike:) Agree about sanitation, but as I said, if you shower, change your clothes and shave regularly, you'll probably smell quite fresh. Very few people have really dirty jobs nowadays. In fact, perfume originally came into wide use because in the late Middle Ages Europeans stopped washing regularly. I read that the reason for it was the epidemics they got after the return of the crusaders. They noticed that the diseases were spread through bath houses and stopped taking baths:)
ReplyDeleteAlso, Vikings were popular with ladies because the washed themselves at least once a week.
And also, we usually find the (clean) odor of our spouse attractive. Remember Napoleon, who wrote to his wife Josephine: "I'll be home in two weeks, don't wash." I know this is propably urban legend but it tells us something. And science tells us all sort of interesting stuff about pheromones...
ReplyDeleteAnd I suggest Lab Manager stops speaking for all men: many people, including men, get migraine from scents. And for example my husband always complains about his female co-workers and their parfumes. He does not get headaches but he just does not like artificial scents.
And if Lab Manager goes to France, he will find out many men find armpit hair sexy on women.
In general I have noticed we europians are much more relaxed when it comes to sweat and bodily hair.
I don't know about France (when I was there I didn't really study armpits or at least, it didn't attract my attention) but my mom taught me to shave when I was a teenager, at least in summer when you wear a swimming suit and sundresses:) But I guess to each his own:)
ReplyDeleteYes, Americans probably overdo it a bit, hence articles like the one they were discussing in the first link.
Evil: aluminium in American deodorants, which you can easily avoid.
ReplyDeleteMore Evil: aluminium in American baking powder, which is not always disclosed within product labels, let alone at a specific concentration.
Pure Condensed Evil: aluminium as an "adjuvant" in American vaccine formulas.
Hobson's Choice Evil, American Edition: choose your fizzy drink in an aluminium "can" or a plastic PET bottle manufactured with antimony.
Oh, did I say fizzy drink?
They also package tea, coffee, and fruit juice drinks with the same packaging options.
But definitely go with the antimony plastic bottles: maybe it'll react with that sugar water so some exposure to tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside could reduce the harmful effects of being exposed to all of that aluminium. :-)
Interesting about baking powder, I wonder if it's the same over here?
ReplyDeleteFizzy drinks are more unhealthy than plain old sugar, btw.