A funeral procession through Schöneberg marks the launch of a supplement set to make a widespread ritual in the queer community obsolete.

A public funeral procession moved through Berlin-Schöneberg today, carrying a coffin with a two-meter anal douche to be laid to rest. Around 50 mourners in black set off from Nollendorfplatz at 3 p.m., led by a drag “priest” who delivered a eulogy honoring the douche as a loyal but unreliable companion. Before the procession began, the pallbearers had brought the coffin to Berlin's historic gay neighborhood of Schöneberg by subway, drawing puzzled looks, comments, and phone footage along the way. The open-air ceremony then closed with the unveiling of the alternative to rectal douching. Behind the staging stands Berlin sexual-health startup Every Health, which used the procession to launch its new product, Gut Feeling, a supplement designed to make rectal douching obsolete.

Behind the stunt lies a topic that's widespread within the LGBTQ+ community and among people who have anal sex, yet rarely discussed in public: douching before sex. The practice is considered invasive by medical professionals, can disrupt the gut flora, and irritate the mucous membranes. With the funeral procession, Every Health set out to publicly bury the old ritual while drawing attention to an alternative.

The Product

Gut Feeling is a daily dietary supplement in capsule form, developed together with doctors and nutrition scientists. The formula is based on psyllium husk as a source of soluble fiber, fennel seed, the African plant fibers baobab and acacia, and calcium from Lithothamnion red algae. It is complemented by three billion CFU (colony-forming units) of the Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 strain, which has been studied extensively in clinical trials, particularly in the context of digestive regularity, intestinal motility, and transit time.

The first units were raffled off among the guests on the day of the event. Gut Feeling is available now at www.every.health.

Quote

"The prep, the douching, the whole song and dance beforehand: everyone does it, no one talks about it. We felt it was time to change that. With Gut Feeling, we solve the problem from the inside. No anal douche, no stress, and no damage. And this isn't only about gay men: studies show that around one in three adults in Germany have had anal sex at some point, and many more are curious but hold back out of fear or shame. We want to help them prepare with peace of mind. At the same time, our formula is designed first and foremost to support the body's natural digestive processes, giving everyone a good gut feeling, with or without anal sex in the picture."

Dimitri Bilyarchyk, Co-Founder of Every Health