Thank you, Gwyneth Paltrow!

Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow recently posted in her own blog about the wonders of vaginal steaming. It seems she frequents a certain California spa that offers a procedure that sends heated water vapors, infused with mugwort, into the vagina. Gwyneth referred to the procedure as “relaxing” and “invigorating”.

Of course, talk show hosts and media outlets had a field day with this concept, labeling it kooky new-age quack medicine. Gwyneth’s down-under antics got a lot of people talking about the vagina.

This has been good for business! Especially if your business is selling a book called The Medieval Vagina. You see, in our book, we include a chapter on medieval douching and medieval vaginal fumigators, just a fancy word for Gwyneth-like vaginal steaming. Yep, Gwyneth’s new-age technique has actually been around a whole lot longer. In fact, it was commonly prescribed as a medical treatment during the Middle Ages to cure all sorts of things from menstrual cramps to yeast infections to urinary tract infections.

It worked by boiling water mixed with herbs in a specially-designed pot. This pot had a tight lid and a long tube protruding from it. The steam had nowhere to go but up the tube, which was inserted into the female patient’s vagina. Yowza!

Through the magic of social media, we were about to join in the conversation about Gwyneth and her steam cleaned va-jay-jay and inform a whole new group of people about The Medieval Vagina and the practice of medieval vaginal fumigation. It is funny how this networking thing works. We both enjoyed a jump in Twitter followers, saw an increase in book sales, and have been invited to write guest blogs. In short, Gwyneth’s vagina has been beneficial for us.

So we thank you, Gwyneth Paltrow, for opening up a conversation about hot, steamy vaginas that allowed us to capitalize on her momentary controversy.