Left, a magazine advertisement from the 1950s; right, a storefront in Frankfurt, Germany saying Believe me, it’s only for massages. Apparently nothing has changed in seventy years. Despite women’s sexual liberation during the 1960s and 1970s. Despite gaining control of their reproductive choices via birth control and Plan B. Seventy years of progress and yet women must use code words when discussing masturbation? Is female hysteria still an accepted diagnosis in conservative circles? Sheesh.
Of course, the store front ad would be verboten in the puritanical USA, where the current administration wishes to undermine reproductive rights and essential encourage teen pregnancy. Another dagger in the hearts of young girls and women everywhere. Damn.
