Pinky Gloves are just the latest ludicrous attempt to monetise the vagina | Arwa Mahdawi

If ever you feel you're not good enough, try channelling the confidence of a man who invents pointless feminine hygiene products and pitches them on TV

Do you ever lie awake at night thinking up ways to monetise the vagina? Judging by the number of ridiculous feminine hygiene" products out there, many people do. The latest are the enterprising German men behind Pinky Gloves: single-use pink gloves you can wear when removing a tampon so you don't get your hands dirty. Because, as any fule kno, if even the tiniest bit of menstrual blood comes in contact with your skin, it can't be washed off with soap and water - the poison is absorbed into the body and you spontaneously combust. The gloves, which cost 11.96 (12) for a pack of 48, can also apparently be used to dispose of period products when a bin isn't available.

While Pinky Gloves may be the perfect example of a solution in search of a problem, its creators didn't exactly struggle to find funding. I regret to inform you that the idea was pitched on the German equivalent of Dragons' Den Die Hohle der Lowen (The Lions' Cave); one of the male judges was impressed enough to invest 30,000 in the company. When the internet caught wind of Pinky Gloves last week, however, it was not quite so impressed. In fact, it saw red. After the outcry, the Pinky People apologised on Instagram and announced they will have a long hard think about the stigmatisation of menstruation.