For the Lady, a Lysol Douche

Today, you use Lysol to clean the kitchen or disinfect the bathroom. But for decades, it was marketed to American women for something far more intimate. Behind vintage ads promising “feminine hygiene” and marital happiness was a coded message about birth control at a time when contraception was restricted or illegal. Women were encouraged to douche with Lysol, even as its caustic ingredients caused burns, serious injuries, and death.