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  • 1999-07-14 (xsd:date)
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  • Did a Woman Mistakenly Use Glitter Spray Instead of Feminine Deodorant? (en)
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  • The glittery mom story has been circulating online since at least 1994, as exemplified in this 1995 telling: This story also successfully made the transition to the social media era: The tale is older than one might think. A trading stamps version of it likely began in 1963, a version in which a lady, on her way to see the doctor, stopped to relieve herself in a public bathroom. With no toilet paper to be found, she used a tissue from her purse, thereby unknowingly transferring a couple of trading stamps from the bottom of her purse to her nether regions. Upon spotting the unusually-placed material during her physical exam, the woman's doctor supposedly quipped, I didn't know you gave Green Stamps with that. The key to the enjoyment factor of this story is the notion of an older (and therefore presumably less sexually avant garde) woman being embarrassed in front of her doctor. (Physicians are still seen as one of the ultimate authority figures.) Yearly gynecological exams are disquieting enough without the ones administering them getting an extra laugh out of the procedure, and it's this mortification the legend speaks to. Perhaps that explains the story's popularity — we often find ways to laugh about things we find humiliating. It's worth noting Joan Rivers' advice to women on how to balance the gynecological exam scales: Learn to throw your voice. Versions of this legend have been reproduced as first-hand true stories multiple times in various publication. For example, in 2004 a Cosmopolitan reader gave the following account: And in 2002, Redbook ran the following confession from a reader. The following variant has not, to the best of our knowledge, ever been told as a true story but has instead made the rounds as a joke. Still, it has just enough in common with the glitter legend to warrant inclusion here. Variations: In a 1997 version, the sparkly stuff was transferred to the older woman by way of her borrowing her daughter's washcloth, not realizing the girl had been using it to remove glitter makeup. Feminine deodorant spray or washcloth, it's the same tale with but a small detail changed. Sightings: During an interview with Conan O'Brien on 15 July 1999 (in response to his asking her to describe an embarrassing moment), Carmen Electra told the spray glitter story about herself. Fancy that. (en)
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