The nice part about the applicator-inserted gel is that you have control over when you use it. The sperm can’t thrive, thereby lowering the chance it will meet an egg, said Karen Duncan, MD, OB/GYN, an assistant professor at New York University Langone Health. But if you insert Phexxi before sex, it keeps vaginal pH in an acidic range. Sperm temporarily makes vaginal pH more alkaline (about a 7.2 to 7.8), which allows for pregnancy. The pH for a healthy vagina is usually within the 3.5 to 4.5 range, although it might be higher if you’re going through menopause. PH uses a scale of 0 to 14 to rank how acidic or alkaline an environment is, with 0 being more acidic and 14 being more basic. “Phexxi is a non-hormonal birth control gel that works to immobilize sperm and prevent pregnancy by maintaining a woman’s natural vaginal pH,” Pelletier explained. One of my coworkers, who had seen the ad on Hulu, said she “hated it,” and another called it “weird,” and pointed out: “It was like one second of ‘there’s a new type of birth control!’ And then the entire rest of the commercial was warnings about side effects.” I wasn’t the only one who took issue with the commercial.
“There hasn’t been a new kind of birth control in decades… The brand’s goal is to empower women to be in control of their body, sex life, and pregnancy prevention.” “The campaign was designed to highlight some of the compromises women may wrestle with in everyday life,” Saundra Pelletier, chief executive officer of Evofem Biosciences (which makes Phexxi), said, when I asked her for comment about the commercial’s strategy. But is it necessary to even obliquely cast doubt on the safety of hormonal contraceptives or condoms when promoting your own product?
Having options is crucial, since a method that works for one person might not be right for another. I get that it’s an advertisement, but Phexxi’s bashing of other forms of birth control and the use of hormones in medicine is a problem. Personally, I’d consider the side effects that may be caused by Phexxi - including vaginal burning, UTIs, and itching - “compromises,” too. All contraception “comes with compromises” - except for, it’s implied, Phexxi.
But, she doesn’t like “relying on her man” to use protection. “No way would she put hormones in her body!” the narrator says. The ad opens with a shot of a person who’s labeled “Condom Cait” making a salad. I was interested in it: If it didn’t use hormones, how did it work? But I didn’t think much about it again until a few days ago, when I stumbled upon a commercial Phexxi had recently released. I first heard about Phexxi, a non-hormonal birth control gel, shortly after it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last May.
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