As Kourtney Kardashian launches gummies to ‘enhance vaginal taste’, why are we still inciting shame around women’s bodies?

“Bought as soon as I could this morning! Can’t wait to try it,” one writes, with another replying: “I just bought three bottles yessss!”

The trope that vaginas smell or taste bad is one that has incited sexual shame in women for years. It’s medical fact that the vagina self regulates and cleans itself, and any marketing ploy that suggests otherwise is simply playing into insecurity and furthering harmful stereotypes about vulvas. Not to mention: if there is something abnormal (for you) about your body, your first port of call should be your doctor, not a Kardashian.

Kourtney Kardashian, as someone who is open and unapologetic about her sexuality, should know better. At the time of writing, she hasn’t responded to any of the backlash about the gummies.

“The idea that we can alter the taste of our vaginas is absurd. No validated clinical data suggests you can, or should, change the way your vagina tastes, and the idea that pineapple can improve the way our vaginas taste is untrue,” says Valentina Milanova, founder of Daye, a gynaecological research and development company.

She adds: “It’s also deeply misogynistic, as it implies that vaginas should taste a certain way to be pleasant or accepted.”

Psychosexual therapist and sex expert for sex toy brand LELO, Kate Moyle, tells GLAMOUR that these harmful marketing messages can cause problems when it comes to intimacy and self image.

“Telling people that their bodies are not okay as they are can create shame and embarrassment around the natural body. That shame can have a lot of impact on body confidence, how we feel about ourselves, and self-image in terms of genitals and factors like sex and intimacy,” she says.

“As a psychotherapist, I often hear women describing that they thought much to do with their bodies were dirty or something to be ashamed of – and we can carry these messages with us.”

“We need to normalise that bodies are like bodies – in ways that people will notice that their partners also have a certain smells, and that it isn’t something that should be ‘scented’ in a certain way. The core message is: bodies are bodies and we should all learn to accept that, instead of modifying them in a way that makes them not body-like, or unnatural.”