Introducing: Hands Off My Vagina
At goop, we believe in reproductive freedom, body integrity, and equal rights regardless of gender. In honor of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 22, we’re supporting the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU Foundation) with a new candle. We will donate $25 from the sale of each candle sold on goop.com and in our retail stores to the ACLU Foundation’s Reproductive Freedom Project* to aid its fight to protect the rights and basic freedoms that are under attack in America.
Lighting a candle has long been associated with prayer, intention-setting, hope, and, in more recent decades, the feminism movement as it developed. Which is in part why we chose to create this particular candle as a small sign of support for reproductive freedom—and against subjugation. It’s called Hands Off My Vagina. (If you’re new here, in 2020 we released a candle called This Smells Like My Vagina. It was a fixture around the internet and late-night shows.)
The scent of this new sister candle celebrates the power and strength of the great feminine, says Douglas Little, perfumer and founder of Heretic, who collaborated with Gwyneth on the candle. “We chose hinoki cypress for its ability to lift spirits and create a grounding strength and sense of calm,” says Little. “Damascena rose is prized for encouraging communication and balancing and strengthening the heart chakra. And we included flints of toasted cacao to deepen and add sensuality, plus coriander for sparkle.” The candle is made with a combination of essential oils and safe synthetics and blended in pure vegetable wax with a lead-free cotton wick. It burns for about sixty hours. “I love fragrance for its ability to tell stories and to give a voice to things that evade both sight and sound,” says Little. “Scent is invisible and silent, and yet it has the power to dramatically affect the way we feel.”
While Little was perfecting the scent with GP, we were also learning from the ACLU Foundation’s team. The stakes, as they outline them, are high, and this moment is critical: The Supreme Court gave states a path to ban abortion as politicians have done in Texas and could gut or overturn Roe v. Wade this summer. A country without Roe v. Wade would affect us all—and like most unjust systems, it would disproportionately harm people of color, people who are poor, and individuals and groups who are marginalized. If this fundamental right is taken away, much more is at risk than the ability to protect people from forced pregnancies. (For a more thorough understanding of the magnitude of Roe v. Wade, please listen to The goop Podcast episdoe with Khiara Bridges, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.)
We hope you join us in this essential struggle for reproductive freedom, whether you’re buying a candle, donating directly, engaging in protest, or otherwise advocating for change. Below are several resources and organizations to start with.
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Learn from and support reproductive justice organizations, like SisterSong, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, URGE, and In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda.
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Help people access abortion by supporting the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) and Needabortion.org.
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Join the national call to action to Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) and ensure everyone can get the abortion care they need.
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Listen to the ACLU’s At Liberty podcast episode on the anniversary of Roe and the long history of surveillance, criminalization, and control of marginalized bodies.
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Read the ACLU’s mini guide to discussing abortion rights at the dinner table.
*Donations will be made on each candle sold until the candle sells out or July 1, 2023, whichever occurs first, and are not deductible to purchasers.
