An Illegal Jesus vocabulary lesson: douche*

Word truncated so you can add your own ending. It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure for words! May I suggest: -hound, -nozzle, -hat, -razor.

Douche is a word laden with controversy. I know feminists who won’t use it because douches are Bad Things Used Against Women ™. I know non-feminists who won’t use it because it’s gross, or also Bad Things Used Against Women ™, or something that women do and therefore, anti-feminist.

We here at Illegal Jesus, cunty feminists the both of us, choose to use douche* as our prime descriptor. Here’s why: douching is a concept that is inherently anti-woman. It teaches us to put chemicals that are dangerous (Lysol at one point, ladies!) and not natural to the vagina so that it smells “nice” and is “appealing” and “inviting” and “not dirty”. To men. Society tells us, by suggesting (demanding) we assault our self-cleaning, full of good bacteria vaginas with harsh, unnatural and dangerous chemicals, that the vagina is gross. Douching is A Very Bad Thing and incredibly anti-woman, and by using douche* to describe disagreeable people, concepts, behaviors, statements, etc., we are not insulting women. We’re saying you’re a painful, harsh chemical that is a pain in our lovely, lovely cunts.