Gender: Menstruation Product Analysis - Essay Example

Gender: Menstruation Product Analysis The of the product is “Always ultra thin”, the proponent found it at CVS. It is somewhere at the right corner inside the store. The product is there because there are feminine items such as vaginal moisturizer and urinary pain relief (tablets). In addition, there are also pantyhose and women’s underwear (briefs) nearby. On the front side of the product’s packaging, there are some stars and moon. This indicates that girls/women are dreamy and not being realistic because we socially think about men being more realistic in their goals than women.

So, the moon and stars are described as feminine here. In addition, on the same part of product’s packaging, there are six pink flowers. Here we have two gendered characteristics: pink always represent a girly color. Also, the flower represents a feminine symbol because flowers are known to be delicate in the same way as how we think women in society. On the left side of product’s packaging, there is a green woman’s underwear (a brief with a ribbon attached to it). On the other hand, there is a text from the packaging which reads “Enjoy being a woman…everyday”.

The text could simply imply that menstruation is not part of productive womanhood. One is not a fulfilled woman if she has menstruation. Thus, a woman who has menstruation is not enjoying her normal life. Additionally, in a practical sense the text implies that menstruation is something negative and it will contradict/ruin a woman’s everyday life, employment, pleasure and etc. So, menstruation is something a woman needs to hide and to be embarrassed and ashamed of. It is therefore undesirable.

To support this point of view, the external packaging of “Always ultra thin” if critically considered provides a good illustration of the idea of Emily Martin. Martin starts her argument by presenting the woman’s reproductive system as structurally analogous to man’s reproductive system; both not equal though (Martin 27). Along her discussion, it is apparent that she is emphasizing the design of woman’s reproductive system and trying to epitomize it through employing the machine metaphor (Martin 43-44).

This eventually leaves the point that nature must have substantially orchestrated special function or purpose for the woman’s reproductive system as a machine designed towards the perpetuation of life. Regarding this, to strengthen her argument Martin does not contest the point of evolutionary development in which it postulates that for the preservation of life, woman’s reproductive system should be able to reproduce. In fact, she substantially added that menstruation has relevant connection with this entire evolutionary process (Martin 45).

For her, menstrual blood flow could substantially represent a failure production of the ovary making it to qualify as an idle machine (Martin 44). Even though woman’s reproductive system produces blood during menstrual cycle, this does not connote productivity, as Martin tries to imply based on her substantial arguments that nature designs the womb to produce a baby. Clearly, it is evident that the external packaging of “Always ultra thin” supports Martin’s argument about menstruation.

The text from the packaging which says, “Enjoy being a woman … everyday” promotes the idea that menstruation is something a woman needs to hide or be embarrassed of. As menstrual flow is unhygienic, a woman should do something about it and so it would make sense to use a feminine hygiene product designed to deal with menstrual flow. In this case, menstrual flow is viewed to be undesirable. This is also how Martin views menstrual flow. It is unhygienic, but more than that, it is totally undesirable for a woman.

The issue about hygiene might be superficial, but Martin strongly emphasizes that a woman’s life must only be fulfilled if the womb accomplishes its main function, to produce a baby rather than blood. The production of blood in the womb instead of a baby is a sign of living unproductive life on the part of the woman, which is something undesirable (Martin 44). Hence, menstrual flow is undesirable so it should be stopped to make woman enjoys her life everyday, as “Always ultra thin” promotional tagline puts it.

Placing pictures of stars and moon on the product’s external packaging, which reveals that woman loves to dream of happy things in life supports the point that the promotional tagline is just appropriate for the product. So the promotional tagline on the external packaging of the product totally makes sense. On the contrary, it is important to consider that “Always ultra thin” is promoting feminine hygiene to deal with menstrual flow. However, what exactly would make a woman enjoy everyday is the thought of fulfilling the function based on how the nature designs the womb and should fulfill its purpose.

Its promotional tagline is therefore a sort of contradiction on the part of “Always ultra thin” for its promotional strategy. However, this totally agrees with the argument of Martin. Understanding the idea of Martin on menstruation and applying it in the context of “Always ultra thin” would create a message to stop using hygiene product to deal with menstrual flow in order to ultimately enjoy life everyday on the part of the woman. Therefore, based on the idea of Martin, there is a hidden message of fulfillment and enjoyment not on using feminine hygiene product dealing with menstrual flow for undesirable monthly cycle, but on becoming a woman fulfilling the duty for the preservation of life.

This is how a woman should enjoy life everyday. Martin’s idea encompasses substantial issue in womanhood and even in certain hygiene product dealing with menstrual flow such as “Always ultra thin”. This product might have other meaning which it tries to showcase to the public. However, it is clear that when the principle of Martin is applied to it, there is a remarkable contradiction. As critically observed, the product substantially talks against its external packaging. On the contrary, this proves the point of Martin.

This is just an indication that “Always ultra thin”, the products packaging supports Martin’s ideas about menstruation.