globalmappingofpleasure

Marie Stopes International Australia
Pinky Bits the Sex Fairy meets the big ‘O’
Contact Alice Clements
Marie Stopes International Australia
PO Box 6308 St Kilda Road Central
Melbourne
Victoria 8008
Australia
Email Alice.clements@mariestopes.org.au
Web www.mariestopes.org.au
Marie Stopes International (MSI) Australia is part of
the global MSI partnership, a UK-based registered
charity providing sexual and reproductive health
care services to people in 38 countries. MSI was
established in London in 1976, and grew out of the
organization originally set up by Dr Marie Stopes, the
family planning pioneer who opened the UK’s first
family planning clinic in 1921.
In 2007, MSI Australia teamed up with feminine
hygiene company Cottons to launch the Vixen male
condom brand, which, according to MSI Australia’s
Alice Clements, was developed in response to the
fact that condoms are generally marketed to men,
and are located near male shaving products in
shops. Vixen condoms are packaged in a stylishly
designed tin that appeals to women and which
slips easily into a handbag, and are being sold
near other feminine hygiene products in shops. The
condoms themselves are ultra-thin and pink, and are
individually packaged within an easy-to-open peelback
pack, as opposed to the traditional foil packet.
Vixen was created as a way for women to be
in control of their sexuality and to reduce their
embarrassment with purchasing and carrying male
condoms. However, the accompanying marketing
resources and clever advertising are the keys to
Vixen’s erotic appeal. The product’s website (www.
comebeautifullyprepared.com) features Pinky Bits
the Sex Fairy, wearing a frilly skirt and spreading her
legs – peacock style – above the strapline ‘Coming,
coming, coming … come beautifully prepared’. In
the animated short video ‘Pinky Bits the Sex Fairy
Meets the Big O’, Pinky Bits “mounts her favourite
pony, Roger...” and goes on a journey filled with
sexual innuendo and euphemism that is funny, sexy
and ends in Pinky Bits finally finding the big ‘O’.
Even the safer-sex information on the Vixen site
is eroticized: “Time to get it on … With the right
technique, rolling the condom on for him can be
sensational foreplay...” and “With a few drops of
(water-based) lube and a couple of swift strokes,
you’ll help him to forget he’s even wearing one.”
Time to get it on... with the right technique, rolling the
comdom on for him can be sensational foreplay...”
Vixen condoms website, Marie Stopes Australia
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