This week I learned that there apparently exists a market in consumer-land for “internal feminine flavouring”. Since there is all manner of merchandise available preying on the insecurities of women’s body-images, this new product—called Linger—is hardly surprising but the notion of a vagina mint? Well now, that is intriguing. Linger is available to buy online and markets itself as “A small, naturally sweetened flavoring, free of artificial dyes, which was created to flavor the secretions of a woman when she is sexually aroused.” It’s a mint that is to be inserted into the vagina and then dissolves slowly over 45-60 minutes, generating a minty fresh aroma and flavour as it does so. And who is the intended market? Any woman who is concerned about her vagina’s scent interfering with oral sex.

Hmm, my first impression was that rather than be pleasantly surprised by the peppermint pong, potential lovers are probably going to think you have athlete’s foot in your fuzzy mimosa. Further investigation on the website revealed that this mint is more Tic-tacky than Fisherman’s Friend. Its primary ingredient is sugar, on which yeast infections thrive. Also, a cursory perusal of the website would lead you to believe that something ‘fishy’ is going on. For instance, the story behind the product’s origins is pretty fanciful and probably fabricated:

On a first time trip into the heart of India, I fell instantly for a soft spoken, aristocratic man…his skin the color of caramel.

Jen Phillips over on MotherJones.com smelled a herring as well and after doing some further research found that the manufacturers of Linger, a company called Admints, make tins of promotional mints which are usually handed out at trade shows. So the only difference between Linger mints and a corporate enticer? The price tag, of course. A tin of Linger mints will set you back $7.99. And that’s not including the expense of a few courses of Canesten.

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