Note to feminists: trying to call pro-lifers crazy doesn’t work so well while also pulling stunts like this.
A Washington state-based Etsy shop, Cute Fruit Undies, recently began selling period underwear (self-explanatory) with printed pictures of pro-life politicians on the inside lining “for YOU to bleed all over!” Some of the proceeds from the “Bloody Marys Period Panties” (sporting the faces of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and others) help support Planned Parenthood. The idea won the admiration of the feminist media, which called the panties “genius” for making “your privates political.”
(Ironically something that abortion supporters usually insist they don’t want.)
The panties feature the faces of nine politicians or “blood dumpsters”: Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Tom Emmer, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum and Donald Trump.
The product description elaborated on the “blood dumpster” terminology:
“What’s a Blood Dumpster?! Just a U.S. politician who has tried in the past or who is currently trying to pass legislation that hinders women’s reproductive rights, and in so doing has had his or her face wind up in the crotch of a pair of Bloody Mary undies, for YOU to bleed all over!”
Each pair costs $29.99, with $3 of that donated to Planned Parenthood.
The feminist media, predictably, praised the whole project.
Vice’s feminist site, Broadly, announced in its headline, “Finally, You Can Menstruate All Over Ted Cruz's Face.”
For the piece, executive editor Callie Beusman interviewed the “intrepid designer,” Sarah Palatnik, who created the underwear “[i]n response to the heavy flow of abortion regulations.”
"I think it's just so powerful to take that thing [anti-abortion politicians] are trying so hard to oppress, and also to take something that we, as a society, consider shameful and give it some power—just bleed on these guys' faces," Paletnik told Beusman.
“In other words,” Beusman translated, “if someone won't figuratively stay out of your uterus, you might as well literally spew some discarded uterine lining on his or her likeness.”
Beusman pointed to Trump as a “bestseller”:
“Predictably, Trump is by far the bestselling option—although Palatnik says that ‘there have been a lot of comments from people who like the idea but don't want Donald Trump's face near their vagina,’ which she sees as understandable. ‘I knew this wasn't going to be a product that everyone was going to get on board with,’ she added cheerfully.”
According to Palatnik, she designed the underwear with light-colored fabric because "the blood, in this case, is supposed to be visible. It's supposed to be on these guys' faces."
Despite their popularity, Beusman admitted that “some have criticized [Palatnik] for being disrespectful towards the unfortunate candidates chosen as blood dumpsters.”
Palatnik responded, "I'm like, 'It's actually kind of a little more disrespectful to try to control other people's bodies.'"
Huffington Post’s women’s editor Alanna Vagianos applauded, “Well done, Sarah. Well freaking done.”
“Totally genius,” wrote Seventeen’s web editor Elizabeth Denton. “All of this awesome-ness WITH a politicians [sic] face sewn right onto the crotch.”
“Sometimes dreams DO become a reality - so if you've ever dreamed of bleeding on Donald Trump, you should be praising Cute Fruit Undies right now,” added Cosmopolitan UK’s digital fashion editor.
“Would You Wear Political Period Panties?” asked Refinery29’s headline.
Senior fashion news editor Alexandra Ilyashov recognized, “Hey, it's certainly an innovative (albeit private) way to express your political leanings.”
Bustle writer Kat George also highlighted the panties that “absorb your period and feature the faces of some of the countries [sic] most prominent anti-abortion advocating politicians.”
“If you've ever wanted to put your reproductive rights in the face of a right wing politician,” she hyped, “these period panties with anti-abortion politicians' faces on them are for you.”
But she warned of a backorder on the new commodity.
“[Y]ou'll have to wait four to six weeks for your order because apparently what the consumer market didn't know it needed was blood absorbent underwear with Donald Trump's face on them,” she wrote. “Even better is the faces of politicians like Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are printed right on the inside lining, so they'll get well acquainted with the party ~downstairs~.”
She described them as “something working and practical as well as something that allows you to make your privates political.”
But not everyone was so excited.
“But here's the thing: I'm not so sure I want to get my period all over Donald Trump's (illustrated) face,” wrote Glamour contributor Hillary Kelly.
“[I]t lets anti-choice lawmakers, who are hard at work attempting to shut down virtually every abortion clinic across the country, even closer to my reproductive organs than they already are,” she complained. “Frankly, I don't want to look down and see Ted Cruz's smirk peering up at me, even if it's coated in uterine lining.”
But she still expressed “love” for the brand – and identified with wearers.
“[A] lot of women might get a real kick out of the image of their least-favorite reproductive rights denier splashed with a dose of their latest moon's blood,” she concluded. “To those ladies, I raise my tampon box in solidarity, even if I won't be donning the Donald.”
Feminist media have championed other bizarre causes in the past, from armpit hair dyeing to “abortion drone armies.”
