If you can't stand the bigotry get out of the bathroom!

We've all been there, the bathroom standoff. Some girl flounces in gives you the bitchy eye, bounces her immaculately sleek hair applies a trowel-load of lipgloss,..the girls toliets = the epicentre of bitchiness.
Australian Tampon company Libra portray this brilliantly in their new advert except it's not so brilliant, more along the lines of Transphobic really..

We watch shows like 'Rupauls Drag Race' and 'America's next top model' that are peppered with characters such as Ms J and Rupaul. Here, in the modelling world the cross-dresser is accepted. Generally in the media I think that Drag Queens are accepted. Even if they are sometimes caricatured and made to over-exaggerate themselves.

But Libra have done one better. Their now banned commercial portrays a bathroom standoff between a pretty ordinary looking girl and an overly made up drag queen. The girl gives a snide look to her opponent and applies mascara, they mirror her, she applies lipgloss so does her opponent, the girl next door then adjusts her bra, so does her opponent.

Now comes the part that has caused the transphobic accusations. For her next move the girl-next-door pulls out a tampon and smiles smugly as if to say 'you don't have female reproductive organs, now step bitch' and sure enough the trans woman scowls and leaves.

The commercial then flashes the delightful slogan 'Libra Gets Girls. Love Libra'.

What I dislike about this advert is the exclusion factor in it. What Libra are saying (whether it is intentional or not on their part) is that a trans woman can never be a proper woman, there is always going to be one hurdle that they can't overcome, anatomy. I.e you're not a proper woman if you can't menstruate.

Now to be fair Libra have released this statement

' We will immediately review our future position with this campaign based on the feedback received. There are no further advertisements scheduled in New Zealand.'

The company states that the commercial was tested before it was aired and that it was met with a positive response, my response to this is get a better sample next time, this commercial is really offensive and will upset a lot of people who have seen it! The thing is, can we really be making a joke out of this scenario, when it is one that many trans women will have encountered already i.e hostility in the bathroom, it's actually pretty poignant if you think about it.

This advert will make people feel alienated, trans or no...the commercial delivers a powerful image of the alpha female dominating the ladies bathroom, one mistake and you're out. I'm glad to see that Libra have removed said commercial from our TV screens, however they only did this because of a petition that was started, ad companies really need to take off those rose coloured glasses and take a look at their target audience, I'm sure this ad will have lost Libra alot of customers.

Sources from pinknews.co.uk and youtube x